With controversy raging about the copious cuts to Martin Scorsese’s latest –held over in UAE cinemas for the coming week – we set out to see if all the fuss is justified. Chris Newbould asks: is it worth your Dh35?
You've probably heard about the controversy sweeping the nation since Martin Scorsese's latest, The Wolf of Wall Street, was unleashed on UAE cinemagoers at the weekend. In case you've been camping in the desert, a quick recap: the film, which features a reported 506 uses of a certain cuss word – not to mention copious scenes of drug abuse and sexual debauchery in keeping with the bacchanalian atmosphere of the 1980s New York stock exchange – has been subjected to cuts of around 45 minutes, or 25 per cent of the film, for its UAE cinema release.
This, in turn, has led to recriminations over exactly who ordered or didn't order the cuts, outraged film fans taking to social media to vent their spleen and a general incomprehension at the distributor Gulf Film's logic for releasing the film here at all in such a butchered format, when more typical practice is simply to scratch the release altogether when cuts render the director's intentions meaningless (think 2010's Black Swan).
For this experiment, however, we’re not interested in any of that. Instead, in the spirit of scientific research, we set out to our local multiplex to answer some simple questions: does this film actually make any sense in its current form? Can you take an award-winning film from one of the world’s greatest directors, chop out a quarter of it and still leave an enjoyable spectacle? And is it worth your Dh35?
In the interests of disclosure, the following may contain spoilers, though there’s a fairly solid argument that the spoilers were in place long before I settled down with my popcorn.
I’d initially planned on setting my stopwatch for the first obvious cut, but thought that would be too pedantic, even for a self-confessed pedant. I was soon to rue my decision as the film can barely have been two minutes old when the first blatant chop kicked in and I sensed I may be in for a long afternoon (albeit not as long as Scorsese had intended). We weren’t just talking the occasional muted word here, either. Whole sentences and sections of dialogue were lost, while visually the amount that was being taken away led to the characters moving around as if dancing under strobe lights while unintelligible occasional words spat from the booming surround speakers. Of course, having not seen the uncut version, it’s possible Scorsese was experimenting with a new, ground-breaking camera technique, but I suspect not.
One particularly memorable scene saw Leonardo DiCaprio’s protagonist pop into the flat of a woman he had just met for a cup of tea (hibiscus), then, in the very next scene, he was telling his wife that he loved his new flame and was seeking a divorce. I’m all for moving fast when Cupid’s arrow strikes, but I can’t help sense that we may have missed some development of the blossoming new relationship somewhere in there.
For all the much-criticised cuts, I did still manage to enjoy the film and it offered a reasonable portrayal of the testosterone-fuelled sales floors of the booming, monetarist 1980s, albeit a less sweary one. The original motion picture soundtrack was a high point, too, and seemingly unharmed by the cuts, featuring classics from the era by the likes of The Lemonheads, Devo and Cypress Hill, among others.
Whether that makes it worth your Dh35 to see a partial version on the big screen – when so many methods exist these days of seeing it in your living room as the director intended – is, however, a question only you can answer.
artslife@thenational.ae
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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More Expo 2020 Dubai pavilions:
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Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP
Group A
Paraguay
Japan
Switzerland
USA
Group B
Uruguay
Mexico
Italy
Tahiti
Group C
Belarus
UAE
Senegal
Russia
Group D
Brazil
Oman
Portugal
Nigeria
Results
Stage 7:
1. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal - 3:18:29
2. Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep - same time
3. Phil Bauhaus (GER) Bahrain Victorious
4. Michael Morkov (DEN) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5. Cees Bol (NED) Team DSM
General Classification:
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates - 24:00:28
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers - 0:00:35
3. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 0:01:02
4. Chris Harper (AUS) Jumbo-Visma - 0:01:42
5. Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo - 0:01:45
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
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Shipping%20and%20banking%20
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
EA%20Sports%20FC%2024
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The specs
Engine 60kwh FWD
Battery Rimac 120kwh Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (LiNiMnCoO2) chemistry
Power 204hp Torque 360Nm
Price, base / as tested Dh174,500
RACE CARD
6.30pm: Baniyas Group 2 (PA) Dh 97,500 (Dirt) 1,400m.
7.05pm Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,200m
7.40pm Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,400m
8.15pm Handicap (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,400m
8.50pm Rated Conditions (TB) Dh 120,000 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm Handicap (TB) Dh 95,000 (D) 1,200m
10pm Handicap (TB) Dh 85,000 (D) 2,000m
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, Group B
Barcelona v Inter Milan
Camp Nou, Barcelona
Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Griselda
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