What The Rise and Fall of Jordan Belfort Reveals About Us
Ten years after its release, Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street remains a biting social commentary
The advertisement we see at the beginning of Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street is a good metaphor for contemporary social media culture. Behind all that love, success, and unity lie shades of darkness and hatred that remain untouched.
The advertisement is for Stratton Oakmont, a brokerage firm founded and owned by Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio). As the camera glides through the office space, we see calm, focused, and sincere employees. They sit at their desks working.
The voice narrating the advertisement is smooth and relaxed. It promises extreme care and wealth to its investors.
The advertisement ends with a sparkling display of Stratton Oakmont’s logo, after which we see the brokerage firm for what it truly is — a chaotic hell-scape far removed from the the firm grasp of human morality and ethics.
Jordan throws a human dwarf at what appears to be a human-sized dartboard before he goes on to narrate his life.
He seems to have it all — a white Ferrari, a massive manor for a place of residence, a beautiful and sexy model named Naomi (Margot Robbie) for a wife.
He boasts about his monthly salary and extravagant life filled with drugs, alcohol, and hookers. There is no one to administer or question him, no manager that he has to worry about, and for a while, one does believe that he has everything that a man could ever need to lead a great life.
He explains his life almost as though he wants us to envy him, to make us feel miserable about ours. He believes he has that one single key to unlock all of life’s pleasures that most of us do not have.
“But of all the drugs under God’s blue heaven, there is one that is my absolute favorite. You see, enough of this will make you invincible, able to conquer the world and eviscerate your enemies. Ah! See, money doesn’t just buy you a better life, better food, better cars, better pussy. It also makes you a better person. You can give generously to the church or political party of your choice. You can save the spotted owl with money.”
The film then proceeds to showcase his economic rise and simultaneous deterioration of character. The meek and respectful Jordan that first stepped into Wall Street harboring the American Dream turns into someone who has no problem lying to people to take their money, cheating on his wife, and getting high on every drug he can get his hands on.
As much as the film is about his rise and fall, it is also about the general public. For most of the film, Jordan hardly faces any consequences for his actions. Not only is he not condemned by the people around him for his activities, but he is encouraged and admired by some of them.
Even his first wife, Teresa, who initially seems to be the only person who finds his means of making money suspicious, later stops caring.
When Forbes magazine names him The Wolf Of Wall Street and calls him “a twisted Robin Hood”, Jordan is offended and hurt. The next day, however, when he finds a large queue of men waiting to join his firm, he is surprised.
It strengthens his feelings of superiority and the enormous power he thinks money gives him. The people standing in queues do not care about the unethical ways Jordan and his firm make their money.
All they seem to care about is that he makes his employees extremely rich.
Even his father doesn’t seem to mind his ravenous use of money for entertainment and sexual pleasure.
He presents his view on money and life in numerous motivational speeches that he gives to his employees:
“There is no nobility in poverty. I have been a rich man, and I have been a poor man. And I choose rich every single time. Because at least as a rich man, when I have to face my problems, I show up in the back of a limo, wearing a $2,000 suit and a $40,000 golden watch!”
The story of his downfall isn’t solely material or tangible; as he faces federal indictment, he gradually loses those close to him. His wife decides to leave him because she realizes she no longer loves him and can no longer tolerate his infidelity and abuse. She takes their child with her, and he can hardly do anything about it. His best friend and co-worker, Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill), whom he tries to save, betrays him to save himself.
He loses even the tiny affinity and care he had for his subordinates and snitches on all of them to reduce his sentence.
He is sentenced to three years in jail.
“I’m not ashamed to admit it. When I arrived at the prison, I was absolutely terrified. But I needn’t have been. You see, for a brief fleeting moment, I’d forgotten I was rich. And I lived in a place where everything was for sale. Wouldn’t you like to learn how to sell it?”
He does not have to complete his three years and leaves jail after a meager 22 months.
He takes up the job of motivating and teaching people to get rich, and we see him give a speech in an auditorium filled with people eager to learn from him.
The film, over the years, has been involved in many controversies — for its profound usage of profanity and depictions of drugs and nudity. Some even complained that the film was a glorification of Jordan’s lifestyle and that the film was promoting his greed and abuse.
His downfall is a spiritual one. He loses everyone at the end and hardly has anyone by his side, but he still has his money and comfort. He manages to make a fairly decent life for himself teaching people how to make more money.
For all his cheating and scandals, he never really faces any severe punishments whereas the FBI agent who was hell-bent on making sure he was punished for his criminal activities gains practically nothing. He still has to take the metro to work.
The camera pushes in and cranes up to reveal the audience in the auditorium as they sit mesmerized by his words. He is there to teach them how to get rich. His past and the means by which he obtained his wealth do not matter.
The film is as much a commentary on our society as it is a portrait of a nasty and money-crazed man. Deep down, parts of us envy him for the lavish life he lived.
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Originally published at https://www.disrobeworld.com on September 25, 2023.
