quebecelegy Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 At the end, the fbi agent looks sad on the subway vs jordan playing tennis in prison. was that on purpose or was it more complicated than that like im thinking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chapinator_X Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 It's timed with these lyrics from the Lemonheads cover of "Mrs. Robinson": "Laugh about it, shout about it When you've got to choose Every way you look at it, you lose" Essentially, he locked up the rich asshole banker, but that guy is still going to live out a relatively cushy sentence and cushy lifestyle after prison. Meanwhile, the FBI agent, in doing the right thing, is stuck on the subway just like everyone else, still in the same economic position. He wasn't crooked enough to take Leonardo's dirty money on the down low to help him avoid jail, but being crooked is what got Leonardo so much money and privilege. It's either do the right thing with little reward, or do the wrong things and reap the benefits of a society that rewards the special kinds of assholes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quebecelegy Posted March 20, 2017 Author Share Posted March 20, 2017 It's timed with these lyrics from the Lemonheads cover of "Mrs. Robinson": "Laugh about it, shout about it When you've got to choose Every way you look at it, you lose" Essentially, he locked up the rich asshole banker, but that guy is still going to live out a relatively cushy sentence and cushy lifestyle after prison. Meanwhile, the FBI agent, in doing the right thing, is stuck on the subway just like everyone else, still in the same economic position. He wasn't crooked enough to take Leonardo's dirty money on the down low to help him avoid jail, but being crooked is what got Leonardo so much money and privilege. It's either do the right thing with little reward, or do the wrong things and reap the benefits of a society that rewards the special kinds of assholes. even if he took his money, both sides would lose either way right? if he took the money would he close the investigation and say he couldnt find anything? I think jordan not wanting to step down would've just fucked that up too in the end. if he did step down then maybe both of them would've gotten better deals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chapinator_X Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 If the FBI guy took the bribe, he'd not only have betrayed his sense of justice and his duty as part of the FBI, but would risk being thrown under the bus anytime, get thrown in jail with the rest of Belfort's crew once their luck ran out, and have less of a chance to recover as a crooked FBI agent than Belfort whose crookedness got him a Scorcese movie based off his memoir. Because he didn't take the bribe and incriminated Belfort, he still did his job and has both a major accomplishment under his belt and his moral compass. The only con is that he lost out on a ton of bribe money, and the juxtaposition between a good person traveling on a subway and an awful person on a bus to a luxury prison does sting a little. The real FBI guy has no regrets about arresting him, but on a narrative level, the audience is supposed to feel that sting from the good guy not being celebrated or rewarded as heavily for his deeds than Belfort. Every way you look at it, you lose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarPanda Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 That's deep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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