Cinema defends Scorsese's Wolf of Wall Street

Martin Scorsese's latest movie The Wolf of Wall Street has come under fire for its heavy use of sex, drugs and swears.

But while some consider the tale of Jordan Belfort's fraudulence and excess in the late 80s to be a reckless and self-indulgent glorification of greed and immorality, others have applauded the spectacle.

[Wolf of Wall Street breaks expletive record]

And it's clear that one California cinema is on Scorsese's side. Perhaps fed up of complaints, the Directors Cut Cinema at Rancho Niguel in Liguna Niguel posted a sign to warn customers that they should know what to expect from the movie. 

"Some are offended by language and explicit scenes in the film," it reads. "But Mr Scorsese is an auteur and his work is rated brilliant by critics and academic bastions of thought."

There's no arguing with that.

Speaking to Deadline recently, the director defended his work against critics, saying: "The main factor to be considered here is the mind-set and the culture which allows this kind of behaviour not only to be allowed, but encouraged. And what they do is never shown.

"The values now are only quite honestly about what makes money. To present characters like this on the screen, have them reach some emotional crisis, and to see them punished for what they’ve done, all it does is make us feel better. And we’re the victims, the people watching onscreen.

[DiCaprio: Wolf is misunderstood]

"So to do something that has an obvious moral message, where two characters sit in the film and hash it out, or where you have titles at the end of the film explaining the justice, the audience expects that. They’ve been inured to it.

"I didn’t want them to be able to think problem solved, and forget about it. I wanted them to feel like they’d been slapped into recognizing that this behavior has been encouraged in this country, and that it affects business and the world, and everything down to our children and how they’re going to live, and their values in the future."

The Wolf of Wall Street has already been nominated for several high-profile awards, including BAFTAs for best director, actor in a leading role and adapted screenplay.