Slashed masterpiece

When a movie screening experiences more sighs and grunts of frustration from viewers than cackles of laughter and gasps of amazement, you know you have a problem.

The Wolf of Wall Street started with a jam-packed theatre full of eager viewers waiting to watch a Scorsese film … 10 minutes in, and the number of people in the room cut by half, almost in exact correlation to the number of minutes slaughtered out of the film.

The Wolf of Wall Street has caused quite a stir across the region for having almost one hour cut out of the original … but many news sources failed to mention that all swear words had been muted out of the film as well.
 
Might I add that the script is made up almost entirely of profanity … they may as well have muted the whole film. According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), a certain word beginning with ‘f’ is used 569 times throughout the film … and that’s just one of the 74 examples of swearing used!

References to religious profanity were also cut and there was 24 scenes of a graphic nature, which goes without saying, were also slashed out of the film.

The rating system is complete rubbish. Why not keep this rated as 18+ and let us experience Scorsese’s masterful visual storytelling?

Needless to say, the badly-edited version of this movie is suitable for anyone over the age of 10, but even then, I would recommend waiting for it to be released on DVD!

This wolf may have bitten into the wrong audience who have been going on social media platforms to voice their disappointment. However, despite the frustration, anger and confusion in the sequence of events, The Wolf of Wall Street was excellent (from what little I had seen of it). The acting was superb, the script was great and Scorsese had created another masterpiece.

I have always been a fan of Leonardo Di Caprio, and the Di Caprio-Scorsese team rarely disappoints. The film combines all of the director’s classic techniques, with the long monologues, over-the-top performances, and once again the overuse of profanity.

However, this time around, Scorsese has fun and asks the audience to join him. He takes viewers back to when being greedy, materialistic, reckless and selfish was enjoyable. We might mock the way these Wall Street boys live their lives, but Scorsese let’s us all know, that secretly, it’s the life we all want.

Not only is the script vulgar, but it also includes so many cruel jokes, that you almost feel bad for laughing along with the characters in the film … but when everyone else in the cinema is laughing along, it makes it a little easier to accept you’re not such a bad person after all. In other words, the script was excellent!

What Bahrain audiences saw was a story taking place in the late 1980s/ early 1990s, where Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio) had been working hard to get filthy rich. Set in New York City, Jordan landed a great job as a stock broker just as the market went through one of its biggest downturns.

Jordan lost his job and finds employment in Long Island, as a penny stock broker, working with people who have never sold real stocks a day in their lives.

Jordan shows them the ropes of selling and before he knows it, he’s making thousands, driving a fancy car and has bigger ambitions.

Shortly after, he opens a trading firm with his friends and finds a salesman to work under him. Now, Jordan’s company is booming and he earns the reputation as the ‘Wolf of the Wall Street’.

After a ruined marriage, a new marriage, a couple of affairs, some narcotics, money, more money and a couple dozens of censored scenes later, Jordan is being threatened by an FBI agent (Kyle Chandler) and eventually he does time for his sins.

Jonah Hill, as Jordan’s friend and associate, Donnie Azoff, was excellent. Once again, he masters the comedy, but this time around he steals every scene. He definitely brought the biggest laughs, yet still showed his versatility in playing a character that isn’t a high school student on the prowl for women.

However, it was DiCaprio who had the hardest role to play. His character changes throughout the years and the audience watch him mature. As the wolf he roars when he needs to and shows real charisma. He uses his dry humour to draw the audience in and become his friend.

The supporting cast was also superb. It was great to see Jon Bernthal, who played Jordan’s friend, showing us he can do more than just chop zombies’ heads off and although I am not a fan of Matthew McConaughey, he did an excellent job as Jordan’s crazy mentor.

In conclusion, although this movie was butchered in the worst way possible, it will definitely be one of Scorsese’s most talked about films – whether good or bad… who cares?

For those of you, who like me, are still complaining days later … the countdown for the release of the DVD has commenced!
 
* Showing in Cineco, Seef I, Seef II, Saar Cineplex