Movie Review: The Wolf of Wall Street

The wolf of Wall Street outlines the ups and downs of Jordan Belfort; a Wall Street stock broker who manipulated the market in 90’s and notoriously earned the nickname of The Wolf. He is credited to reinvent some of Wall Streets’ infamous tactics which is illegal but highly profitable if done properly. The movie is an autobiographical tale, which is based on the book carrying the same name, penned by The Wolf himself.

Unlike the most autobiographies, the movie does not start from childhood rather it gets to the business right away-an ambitious man who will do anything to change his fortune. After an initial hiccup in a well established Wall Street farm, thanks to Black Monday, Jordan is forced to join a small Boiler Room which only trade penny stocks. Although not something he was looking for, he is soon drawn toward it because of high profit margin and earns a name for himself due to aggressive and strategic salesmanship. After a small stint in there, Jordan decides to open his own farm, Stratton Oakmont, and hire some of his old friends, people who are not necessarily brightest of the bunch but had reasonably good sales skills. Together they revived what is popularly known as Pump and Dump strategy in Wall Street lingo which is nothing but picking Junk Stocks, beefing up their price in whatever way possible and then sell them before anyone else to make a handsome profit. As the firm starts to pick up momentum, his life starts to get crazier. While it begins with big real estate, fancy cars, lavish parties, hanging with supermodels and ending up marrying one, soon it gets out of hand with excessive drug intake and a long hide and seek with FBI.

The work of Martin Scorsese is flawless, as expected from the one of the most renowned living directors. What strikes you most are the films’ unapologetic and honest treatments of the craziness that Wall Street embodies in a relatable way. It has used f**** word for 506 times and there is nothing ethical or right about the film’s protagonist-he is dishonest, immoral, drug addict, adulterous-but still you start rooting for this guy as soon as the movie starts and his dreams and aspirations become yours. The credit for this kind of magic does not belong only to the director or Leonardo Di Caprio, who probably has done his best work so far and a serious contender of this years’ Oscar, but also Terence Winter who has written both popular and critically acclaimed TV serials, such as, The Sopranos and The Boardwalk Empire. The supporting cast, also, does great justice. Jonah Hill as Jordan’s real life associate is priceless while Australian actress Margot Robbie as Jordan’s supermodel wife is insanely gorgeous and an absolute revelation to Hollywood.

The film is pretty original to the core-all the outrageous, hilarious, larger than life incidents of the movie have actually happened. It is as close as you get to the insatiable life of Wall Street and is a masterpiece of a motion picture which surely will stay fresh in moviegoers mind in years to come.

-Phoenix.