Review of The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) by Echoplex01 — 27 Dec 2013

I don't usually review movies but this one really bothered me and I have to share my thoughts. The Wolf of Wall Street is well written, well shot, and clearly well directed overall. The acting is fantastic, especially from Leo He put in one of the best performances I seen in a long time. I have never been so universally approving of how a film was put together yet had such a negative reaction to it.

I'm a white male and I don't identify as a feminist, but if this film is indicative of the new norm, I may have to start doing so. The misogyny in this film is so unforgiving and goes so unaddressed that it simply cannot just be satire or a cultural mirror. I'm not talking about the hookers either. Repeatedly, women in this film are shown to be unbelievably weak. Sex is their only commodity, beauty is the only thing that matters. When Jack's first wife, with whom he has multiple children, finds him cheating with Naomi, all she can do is cry. We never see her again. She never even mentions their kids! Naomi is worse. Even though she is never presented as anything more than a vapid beauty, she is worshiped. During her most "powerful" scene, the only one where she exerts any kind of force over Jack, she is calling him daddy and giving him blue balls. During the movie, she is completely powerless to address any of Jack's problems with drugs or cheating. We never even see her try. The female lead of the movie is a beautiful accessory and nothing else. All she has to offer him is sex, and she knows it. Even the woman who is ostensibly the most female stockbroker at Jack's firm is weak Jack even gives a teary eyed speech about how she never could have made it if he didn't lend her $25,000 when he gave her the job.

If the intention of this movie was to wake up people like me, who have probably been watching films like this without batting an eye for years, then Scorcese has succeeded. Many viewers, however, will probably be too taken in by the flashy editing, language, and fantasy to give it a second thought.

It’s a shame that something this destructive has to come in such a well executed package.