In this movie Oliver Stone decided to turn inside out the brokerage world, which for most of us, is behind the scenes. He has succeeded his goal incredibly easy. Brokerage world, including the stage of buying and selling shares was shown dynamic and incredibly stylish, so the tension in these scenes was enhanced. The film seems to be easy, even in terms of direction, but that is what makes the quality of the movie really high, and forced to watch almost all of it in one breath.
The script is very good. A person who is far from the world of financial market and corporate giants wars was easy enough to understand the terms and the environment. It, even, makes you to feel involved, because of its accessibility and the how brightly and realistically the process of rebirth and destruction of a particular company was shown. Movie shows the development of the hero, from an ambitious and inexperienced broker to big businessmen, who is controlled by greed and the desire to be the best. The story itself is realistic, reveals, modern version of good old fairy tale of “Cinderella”. The main point of this story is "Climbing up, do not forget to be human." The idea has been deployed in many films and fiction but in this film it was shown under a different angle.
Wall Street is the financial center of the world; money is being made in here, big money. Gordon Gekko is a shark is the world of finance. He is ready at any moment to buy a company, bankrupt it and get his profit. "Away with emotion," - one of the catchphrase of Gordon. Is it Pity? Nonsense! Compassion, ethics, and principles - he does not know about it. Money and time - that's the only thing that interests him. That is the only value he recognizes. Greed. The working title of the film. Greed is the essence of Gordon. Despite the lack of principles, the character of Gekko can attract. His sincere passion, obsessive lifework, self confidence can cause either admiration or bitterness and disgust. However, for some reason, bad heroes have the charisma. I assume, that is because of excellent role playing by Michael Douglas. He has perfectly embodied the character on the screen. Gekko also knew very well the human nature - like jewelry he pinned on the hook Bud Fox, along with his ambitions. He showed "beautiful life" to the guy and deprived a hope for the future. I assume, this technique of manipulation has been improved by Gekko to perfection.
Bud Fox is young, hot, ambitious, good at gambling. This is a good base for a guy who starts his way to success. That is why he meets Gordon Gekko, as his main idol. Mr. Gordon opens all secret doors, shows how to manipulate inside the system to get the bigger profit. Quick and easy money is like a drug. Once you try it, you can never stop. Such way of life changes human ideology. Buddy became cynical, arrogant and opinionated man under Gekko`s guidance. Although, Budd`s morality is in sleeping mode, he still has it. And this is the main difference between Bud and Gordon, in addition to the age and size of the status. Gekko did not count this factor and he paid for this mistake. His loyal marionette has turned away from him.
But there is one more factor. Buddy is not alone. His father is a person living in this evil capitalist world, but knows what moral values, duty, responsibility. Thanks to him and his upbringing, Bud Fox did not go on about the Gekko. People are fallible. Hunting the dream, Bud risks to lose his humanity. But mistakes make us better when we fix them. It is great to have the person near you, who can show you better way or a way out from your situation. Bud has chosen his idol as well as the own way– to be a human. In conclusion, I would like to say that this movie is worth to watch because it teaches us a good lesson. I am sure, that a lot of people might recognize themselves in its characters. That is why this story leaves deep mark in viewer’s minds and hurts.
