Since 2008 there have been many cinematic musings on the unscrupulousness of certain financial institutes. Few however reflect such a blatant disregard for personal damage as Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Jordan Belfort‘s memoir.

When Belfort’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) promising career is nearly cut short by the 1987 economic crash; Black Monday, he bounces back by founding the boiler room brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont, specialising in selling worthless penny stocks. In the following years Belfort (and his employees) fraudulently earns millions of dollars, becomes reliant on various illegal substances and is eventually brought down to reality by the FBI.

Scorsese has been accused of glorifying Belfort’s moral depravity. While he undoubtedly graphically depicts the degenerate excess, rather than glorify, Scorsese’s lens paints their deeds with more of a pitying disgust. Despite the rousing soundtrack, elements that could be aspired to (material objects) are balanced by showing Belfort’s shallow and facile life. The film also frequently asserts how ethically corrupt this behaviour is, one particular quote when discussing dwarf tossing, ‘If we don’t consider him as human…’ seems an appropriate description of Stratton Oakmont’s attitude towards clientele.

Due to the extraordinary nature of Belfort’s account, (much of what sceptics will call exaggeration, Time Magazine has described as fact) it’s understandable that Scorsese has stretched to the 180 minute run time; his antics make an exceedingly gripping narrative. However it does get a little tedious. Constant images of narcotics and/or hookers become wearing and although Belfort’s personal life is interwoven with the financial plotting, a more emotional telling of his family’s unravelling would make a refreshing change to the blitzkrieg of social and professional iniquity. Although DiCaprio and Jonah Hill play their conniving personas with fatuous tenacity, what’s most striking (and depressingly so) is how the law favours the wealthy – not the victims. Not only is Belfort assisted by a horde of insidious cronies: hiding his money, digging dirt on officials and bargaining deals, but when eventually tried, he only serves a 22 month sentence!