The Wolf of Wall Street - Understanding Scorsese's Anthropological Skills

I finally sat down and watched the Wolf of Wall Street. Before I write my review, I should disclose I am a huge fan of Martin Scorsese. The bar is set very high when it comes to viewing a Scorsese film. Since the early days of Mean Streets, to his popular films of today, Martin Scorsese offers films that entertain and provide. More importantly, for future generations, his films provide anthropological evidence of the time periods set as the background for us to explore. His attention to detail of the characters and themes are simply spot on.

Scorsese always places a value on history. For example, Mean Streets is an important period piece. Watching this movie, you can understand what NYC was like in the 70's. Parts of NYC were virtually uninhabitable. Yet, people learned how to survive and adapt to a very hostile living environment. When we fast forward to today, and ask tough questions about the Police, Law Enforcement, and Judicial inequities, one can watch Mean Streets and understand a different time in NYC when justice had different inequities that led to a greater amount of violence than their is today. How do we as a society measure those gains? Learning from the past could help temper the debates and protests by provided a historical balance to the discussion.

This is why I love many of Scorsese's films. He spends a lot of time on getting the historical aspect of his films to be accurate portrayals by the actors. His use of sex, drugs, and violence in film is to provide an insight into a character's moral sense of being. Joe Pesci and Robert DeNiro gave some amazing performances in some of Scorcese's earlier movies. Their characters were period pieces.

The Wolf of Wall Street is a very good attempt at a character analysis of greed. Leonardo DiCaprio is the new gatekeeper of Scorsese's recent attempts at film. Sometimes, I am skeptical of the casting of DiCaprio by Scorsese. However, he is today's DeNiro and Pesci. The portrayal of Jordan Belfort is simply spot on. Some may watch the movie and think that Scorsese over dramatized the sex and drugs. However, if you know the real story of Belfort's antics on Wall Street, you would think again.

The movie is again, one of Scorsese's analysis of a time period in the United States that is not very flattering. An expose of how the system is ripe with fraud and abuse when it came to securities and stock trades. Quite simply, one should watch the movie with a critical lens that this is a story that repeats itself daily in our country. The disparities of rich and poor come at an expense. People are taken advantage of every day in the United States. Wall Street is leveraging the middle class. When prices are low or high, it is not always about supply and demand as we are taught in school.

I could not help to reflect upon our recent drop on Oil and Gas prices. There will be winners and losers. A temporary gain for the average citizen for a few hundred dollars. Then, oil will become a commodity that is used against us. One percent of the population will benefit from the rise in prices. They will make millions. The Wolf of Wall Street is a reflection upon a very greedy system of buy and sell that exists in our global economy. In a perfect world, his films would also inform and educate his audiences to question reality. Unfortunately, his use of violence, sex, and drugs seems to be the center of discussion. Take the time to view his movies, and analyze with a critical lens what Scorsese is trying to capture on film. For each film, is a period piece into American History for future generations to watch and explore with great debate.