NAIROBI'Z BLOGAZINE: THE IRONY OF THE BANNED U.S FILM: THE WOLF OF WALL STREET IN KENYA

#FILM

The film Wolf of Wall Street has just been nominated in the Oscar’s best picture category alongside Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave starring Kenya’s Hollywood star-sensation Lupita Nyong’o.

Directed by Martin Scorsese; The Wolf Of Wall Street is based on a memoir by stockbroker Jordan Belfort, who created the investment firm Stratton Oakmont in an abandoned garage.

He spent much of the 90’s swindling his way to an enormous personal fortune. According to critics; the film dwells on Belfort’s criminal route to the top; and the limitless supply of girls and drugs he finds there. A typical week at Stratton Oakmont involves dwarf-tossing, naked marching bands and a spectacle Belfort describes as a “stripping stampede.”

As such, the film stands accused of glamourizing his crimes, prostitution, homosexuality, ignoring his victims and filing to satisfy the audience’s need to see justice served. The movie holds a record for 569 f-bombs used.

Attending a scripting for screen class at Daystar University Nairobi this week; the movie created a lot of buzz because the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) banned the movie that stars Leonardo Di Caprio.

Movie buffs and students attending the class claimed KFCB move was a big shock to movie lovers, with many disapproving the drastic action.

“You let series like Spartacus, which have sex and violence. You let Game of Thrones and many others and you think you will stop us from this one?” posed James Gatithu on Facebook.

The irony is that; with pirated movies retailing as KSH 50 and even less at Downtown Nairobi’s legion of movie stores, the ban has only but heightened curiosity and appetite for the film- ending up a business boom amongst the pockets of pirates.