(Guardian) Bank of America and JP Morgan's CEOs are more productive targets for rage at injustice than a Hollywood blockbuster.
Greed is still pretty good. Con enough people out of millions of dollars and you'll get to live a life of hedonistic luxury where you can surround yourself with chimps on roller skates, pay women to have sex with you and enjoy midget throwing contests during slow days at the office. You might crash the odd helicopter during quaalude-fueled binges or sink the occasional yacht off the coast of Italy, but all in all, it will be a good life. You'll be the envy of many, and even if your treachery finally does bring about your downfall, the landing will be relatively soft.
So goes the basic story line of Martin Scorsese's latest film, the Wolf of Wall Street, featuring the debauched shenanigans of Jordan Belfort, a penny stock broker who swindled over $100m from thousands of investors, many of whom never recovered. The filmmaker has been criticized for glamorizing the protagonist's greed and failing to infuse the film with an Oliver Stone (director of the original greed's not really so good Wall Street flick) style message that the decent folk will prevail in the end. It's kind of odd though that so much resentment would be directed towards the filmmakers for doing what artists are supposed to do – be a witness to their time in history – rather than the real life enablers that allow the Jordan Belfort's of this world and their less ostentatious, but ultimately more deadly, counterparts to survive and thrive.
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