Review-
Jordan Belfort (Leo Dicaprio) likes
to play. He plays with people, he plays with stocks, he plays with his clients,
he plays with the law, he plays with his marriage, and more than anything...he
plays with his life in the free world. What he finds most enjoyable is being
put in a situation that he can, and must, turn to his advantage. Winning is
something he doesn’t seem to ever get enough of. With every win, he feels
less and less mortal, more and more invincible. Quitting seems like a slow kill
to him, resigning to the life of a mere mortal in the normal world. “But, who the fuck wanted to live there?” he
asks bewildered. It’s only fun for Jordan when the stakes are continuously
raised.
I would expect most people to characterize The Wolf of Wall
Street as a dark crime-comedy, and while I agree with that categorization, I
think the film is more a biopic than anything else. Jordan Belfort was a
stockbroker convicted of stock manipulation, securities fraud and money
laundering. Scorsese traverses his storyline while constantly evoking his
inextinguishable spirit. And by the end of the film, I felt like I knew what
made this guy tick.
