Oscar Season: The Wolf of Wall Street

This weekend I (finally!) took in the controversial smash, the Wolf of Wall Street, the tale of stock tycoon Jordan Belfort.  I'm always amazed at how Martin Scorsese, who seems like a sweet grandfather of a man, can cut to the core of the darkness of the human soul.

So, why was this one nominated?  First off, for a movie that was a few minutes shy of 3 hours, it sure seemed to go by quickly.  While Terence Winter already had an incredible story in Belfort's memoir, which almost seems too fantastic to be real, he turned it into a masterpiece of an adapted screenplay.  The music was phenomenal.  The cinematic flourishes were subtle, but effective.

Most of all, it came back to the acting for me.  I was enthralled with each and every character: Jonah Hill as Donnie Azoff, with his Chiclet teeth and WASP-wannabe ways; Rob Reiner, the morally-conflicted father, Max Belfort; beautiful, sweet, gold-digging Naomi (Margot Robbie); vigilant and humble Agent Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler).  Even Matthew McConaughey, who makes a tiny appearance, leaves a big impression. The king of the film was the Wolf of Wall Street himself, Jordan Belfort, masterfully played by Leonardo diCaprio, who became more and more wolf-like throughout the film.  The character was detestable and likeable at the same time.  The development of this arguably sociopathic character was a tantalizing trainwreck.  I knew I was supposed to hate what was going on, and I found my skin crawling, but at the same time, it was totally titillating.

The trouble with the movie, and Belfort's story in general, is that there is no redeemable moral lesson here.  The moral lesson is that morals are irrelevant.  But, when do Scorsese's movies ever offer a moral lesson?  I mean look at the Departed.  (spoiler 

alert) Good and bad, everybody dies.

My hope is that viewers are smart enough to realize that even material riches beyond one's wildest dreams are not worth destroying the lives of innocent people.  I think a percentage of the audience, though, will take away from this story that if you're smart enough, you can get away with anything.