Social media has gone wild for new drinking craze ‘neknominate’, a ‘game’ consisting of students downing large amounts of alcohol mixed with all sorts of unthought-of ingredients. Is there any coincidence that this raucous obsession for extreme drinking follows the release of equally absurd display of recklessness in new film, The Wolf of Wall Street?
Contemporary cinema is so often filled with displays of extreme excess; violence, sexuality, drug use, alcoholism, recurring themes which immerse on the big screen. From Hollywood with Tarantino’s Django Unchained all the way to British cinema with Winterbottom’s 9 Songs, modern film is obsessive and thrilling. Into this arena comes Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street. With the charming and easy on the eye Dicaprio who plays a Wall Street banker with an unprecedented appetite for both drugs and women. We are introduced to a world full of crazed, unruly individuals who cannot quite grasp their own greed. Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, we follow the life of a banker whose deceit and corruption ends in an inevitable downfall. Scorsese seems to, perhaps unintentionally, glamourise this party lifestyle for over half the film. Entertained by the displays of outrageous action, there seems to be a lack of moral conduct that works in idealising the opulent and uncontrollable lifestyle.
Both Dicaprio and Jonah Hill accumulate a perfect pair, fuelled by the desire of money, a dream of a self-made man, even if it is through the loss of other people’s wealth. Dicaprio perfectly encapsulates the sly and obnoxious Wall Street banker of American capitalism. Once again Scorsese presents a male anti-hero who, through all of the immorality and sexism, we cannot help but root for. Eventually, the film shows the repercussions of their behaviour, however there is a question over whether the fine displays of overindulgences may be a contribution spurring on binge drinking, and in a sense, glorifying it. Or is it merely a realistic interpretation of a world already fixated with this lifestyle?
A truly well-acted and entertaining display of extravagance with jaw dropping moments which perhaps should not be taken all too seriously.