The Great Gatsby, the important novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, is brought to Hollywood life with great exuberance and respectability by director, Baz Lurhmann.  The film is set in a fictional hamlet of Long Island and allures with decadence and exudes the glamorous lifestyles of the haves(and a few have-nots that have snuck their way into the mix).

It is, exactly, society's haves and the have-nots that, really, set the tone for the film.  Dubbed into several scenes are rips of hip hop and rap with takes of what appear to be modern day gangsters - those born in impoverishment in current times - pumping in old cars with beats blaring as they struggle in the American dream.  But, do not be fooled by this.  The inclusion of rap and hip hop doesn't take away from the original story, at all.  It enhances it on so many levels.

Written about a time during post and failed prohibition - the age of Jazz - at every turn, there is excess bubbling out of Champagne bottles while partygoers dance their cares away well into the mornings at the lavish parties at Gatsby's home on the sea.  Within this, a conflict evolves - one that is proved through history to end, only, in one way - that between the rich and the poor.

However, as these two opposing bodies - the money of a poor, Mid-west farmer's son and the money of a well-to-do heir collide, something even deeper than the message of gross indulgence and its' failures that can come with a boom in the stock market reaches out from the smoke and tears.

I find, more, in this film a tragedy on a personal level than that of societal.  As Gatsby refers to other gentlemen as "old sport" more than 30 times, to my count in the film, it reflects a very sad truth about the very place where he came, personally, - the have-nots.

As somebody that had nothing, Gatsby's hopes were once whirled together as a young boy who saved the life of a multi-millionaire who called him, "Old Sport.  In his longing for more than the shanty town he was raised, his imagination led him to a false sense of safety in his fear of the future in that he thought he would be on the receiving end of the inheritance of the man's life whom he saved.

He could not have been more wrong.  Fitzgerald's message, here, is quite clear:  Although much of his work points to decadence, idealism, and the American dream, the more profound truth and message is the broken ladder of society that not only fails to lay provision for the poor to keep up with opportunity but, even, suppresses them if they try to climb it.

Yes, I'm sure I'll get some criticism for straying away from  the interpretations of what almost every critic of what is considered to be "The Great American Novel" have spoken and written.  But, I find something different.  The point that Fitzergerald and, now, Laz Lurhmann are trying to convey is that you are more likely to fail, no matter what you do, if you come from a difficult life.  It is the reality that people are born into sad homes and born into lonely lives and once that vibration is instilled, it seems, human beings have a terrible time shaking off the cloak of ugliness which has resonated in their soul since birth.

In this story, there is no hero.  There is no path to success and freedom and the vibration that made Gatsby desperate and strong so that he found a way to build success and get back the girl of dreams is the very same vibration that makes him fail in his illusion of being something he is not - born into success.

As sad as it is, there is, still, no better libation to pair with this film than Champagne.  I love this movie and hats off to DiCaprio.  A toast to the whole cast.  There is so much exuberance and decadence and bubbly popping throughout this film that a Champagne pairing is a must.  We will toast, on my recommendation, Moet and Chandon for those in this country who do make it through the cracks that sometimes appear in this land of opportunity and, also, for those who will never have a chance to ever taste something of this caliber.

 However, it is while we toast that we are asked to remember what the director would like us to - the message in beats from Jay-Z and Beyonce and Andre 3000, black artists, who represent the streets where black artists come from - nowhere - where the have-nots live that cannot afford Champagne.  These songs tie-in so fluidly with, both, Fitzgerald's and Lurhmann's theme at the finish of the film with the quote, "So, we beat on, boats against the current, borne back, ceaselessly."  Gatsby was born with, nearly, nothing and died with even less.