Martin Scorsese’s 2013 financial crime biopic “The Wolf of Wall Street” is —like most of Marty’s work— a cult film classic that tells us the life of disgraced financier Jordan Belfort as he rose from a petty job at a trading firm in New York to manage his own firm while making millions of dollars in the late 1980s and early 1990s —all while swindling his investors out of their money in the process.
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, the sensual Margot Robbie, and Jonah Hill, this movie by Scorsese has everything that makes the Academy Award-winner director worthy of his style: Gritty and utterly-realistic depictions of the hedonism that is characteristic of the excesses of Wall Street with his now-iconic and signature long tracking shots, and camera movements that put the visual energy so peculiar to all his filmmaking, coupled with the right soundtracks that enhance the tone of the scenes he gives us.
What Is The Wall of Wall Street About?
This film begins by showing us Jordan Belfort at his peak point: Riding a white Ferrari —like Don Johnson’s in Miami Vice—, having sex with prostitutes, consuming large amounts of drugs, showing off his wife —played by Margot Robbie— and telling us how good is it to be him. Then, he starts chronicling how he began on Wall Street as a junior broker, where he meets a senior broker at a firm that tells him that the whole idea of that job is not making money for the clients but rather for himself.
Jordan lives in a run-down apartment with his wife, who supports him every step of the way, and after passing his “series-7” test for his brokerage license and on his first day at the job, the stock market crashed, leaving him without a job. So, what does Jordan do? He takes his salesman skills and goes to a low-rent penny-stock investors’ center where he sells worthless stocks to blue-collar people, and there he realizes he can make thousands of dollars worth of commissions.
Jordan Belfort Founds Stratton-Oakmont
One day, Jordan meets Donnie Aazoff, a furniture salesman at a diner, and after a beer-and-crack cocaine-infused adventure, they decide to start working together, so Jordan rents out a warehouse, puts some desks and phones, and hires a sordid cast of characters —mostly drug dealers with shady pasts— to work with him and Donny in his newly-founded brokerage firm.
Additionally, Jordan comes up with a script for cold-calling that authoritatively convinces potential clients to invest their money with him, and the success is enormous.
Out of the blue, Stratton-Oakmont goes from a filthy warehouse in the Tri-State area to a posh floor in New York City’s financial district, and money flows in spectacularly. As such, Jordan and his crew engage in cocaine-fueled orgies and are having a blast. All the while, that lifestyle catches the press, and the press begins to write negative pieces about him that enrage him, but Jordan’s wife tells him to relax because there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
Also Read: Leonardo DiCaprio And Camila Morrone’s Breakup: What Happened?
Jordan Meets Naomi
As Stratton Oakmont’s success builds up, they have a lavish party in the Hamptons, and Jordan is doing Quaaludes with his buddies; meanwhile, one of the guests, a girl named Naomi, catches his eye and he begins to court her. They go out on a date and have sex, a little later, Jordan’s wife catches him cheating on her with Naomi, and they divorce. After that, Jordan marries Naomi, moves to a new condo, and starts living large.
It’s at this moment when Jordan and Donnie decide to put a shoemaker’s company into the stock while holding the majority of the shares of the price —which was illegal— and on the first day, they make $22 million dollars. After that, Jordan and his buddies begin to have problems with the cash flow, so they decide to clandestinely funnel the cash to Switzerland. All while catching the eyes of the authorities, who begin closing in on him.
The FBI Corners The Wolf Of Wall Street
Jordan finds a way to funnel cash into a Swiss bank with one of his buddies and Naomi’s aunt, and meanwhile, he continues in his drug habit and keeps making errors in judgment. The FBI slaps him with a fine after running a big investigation on Stratton Oakmont, and Jordan decides to take a backseat at his company not-so-quietly, goes on yacht trips with his wife, and has Donnie take care of the business until one day Donnie gets into an argument with one of Jordan’s money-laundering buddies and the dude ends up behind bars.
The Downfall
When Jordan and Donnie are in Italy with their wives, they get a hold that Naomi’s aunt died, killing his money laundering scheme, so Jordan decides to navigate in the middle of a storm in the Mediterranean. Still, their yacht capsizes, and they have to be rescued by the Italian Coast Guard.
A couple of years later, Jordan’s Swiss banker gets arrested and spills the beans, implicating Belfort. To save him from a lengthy sentence, Jordan wears a wire and tries to implicate his buddies but fails to do so. Naomi divorces him, gets arrested again, faces trial, does his time, and becomes a motivational speaker.
The Wolf Of Wall Street Ending Explained
While this flick may seem like a glorification of Belfort’s excess and greed, the ending highlights the fact that he ultimately faced the consequences of his actions. After the feds discovered how Jordan secretly funneled millions of ill-gotten money to Switzerland, we see how Jordan faced the authorities, assumed responsibility for his actions, went to jail, and then became a motivational speaker.
But it is revealed that he still hasn’t changed his ways as he promotes a new scheme to the audience, implying that he may still engage in fraudulent activities. However, it also raises the question of whether or not he has truly learned from his mistakes or if he will continue down the same path once he is released from prison, leaving his future to be questioned.
Also Read: The Irishman Ending Explained: What Did It Mean To Leave The Door Half-open?
