Entertainment

Bad Boys, Bad Behavior: Leo Defends 'Wall Street'

by Maitri Suhas

For anyone who hasn't seen The Wolf of Wall Street, skip it, unless you want to see Jonah Hill be a vicious asshole with fake teeth and Leonardo Dicaprio doing cocaine off of a prostitute's ass. What's that, you say? That sounds like the kind of film which exalts the greedy Pleasure Principles of Wall Street culture, ESPECIALLY because Scorsese's screenplay and protagonist are based on Jordan Belfort, the epoynomous Wolf who wrote a book about his sordid, anti-Robin-Hooding with penny-stock cons in the 1990s? YOU'RE WRONG, says Leo DiCaprio, who plays Belfort—when asked if he thought the film condoned greed: "I think anyone who thinks that missed the boat entirely."

What boat is that, exactly? The behemoth yacht Nadine, which in the film Belfort sinks (SINKS) in a rush to get to Switzerland to close off-shore accounts? I don't buy what Scorsese and Leo are selling. Dicaprio went on to say:

"The unique thing about Marty is that he doesn't judge his characters. And that was something that you don't quite understand while you're making the movie, but he allows the freedom of this almost hypnotic, drug-infused, wild ride that these characters go on," DiCaprio continued. "And he allows you, as an audience -- guilty or not -- to enjoy in that ride without judging who these people are. Because ultimately, he keeps saying this: 'Who am I to judge anybody?'"

Maybe it's not Leo's place to judge, but it's a judge's place to judge. In fact, the real life Belfort was stricken down with a sentence to pay over $100 million dollars in restitution to his victims, which he has not yet fulfilled. The very existence of Scorsese's Wolf on a certain level condones the behavior of Belfort and his band of Dionysian henchmen. By investing in Belfort's story, Scorsese is marginalizing the VERY REAL victims of Belfort's depraved and wanton behavior.