Plot:
Based on the autobiography of the same title by Jordan Belfort
(Leonardo DiCaprio), “The Wolf of Wall Street” is a black comedy about the self-made
millionaire who rose to fame through the stock market and founded Stratton
Oakmont. Jordan Belfort begins his career in 1987 working for a big city stockbroker
firm only for the firm to go bust due the Black Monday Wall Street crash. He
discovers the penny broker business and builds up his own empire. However,
Belfort’s life of excess, fraudulent enterprises and pursuit of money have some
dire consequences…
Review:
“Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no
hurry, no desire, no trust.”
Zig Ziglar
The above quote was randomly generated on one of my email
servers today and I thought it was very apt for the theme of the film I viewed
yesterday. Ziglar’s quotes seem to be in the very fabric of modern American
ideas about success. So much so, that I have found myself tripping over them in my dealings
with various aspects of cut-throat business and self-help culture. I doubt this
guru of both respective fields would care for me associating him with this
review, but nevertheless the life story of stockbroker Jordan Belfort is
provides the archetype for the alpha salesman in the modern age who eventually became a motivational speaker. Ziglar’s quote
is echoed in the lessons Belfort tells his trainee brokers. The myth of the
equal relationship between the client and broker is destroyed within the early
stages of the film, and we see its principles laid raw in drug-dealing,
stockbroking, money-laundering and self-help.
