Raging Bull

Raging Bull is widely lauded as Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece, but it’s also the kind of film that people disagree on. It’s about the boxer Jake La Motto, who has a dazzling career ahead of him, but his personal issues, such as his anger and his love of food, ruin his family life and then his career. He ends up washed up and overweight performing jokes to a crowd who are not laughing, estranged from his wife, children and brother.

I thought it was a very good film, and enjoyed it greatly, but equally I could see how people would find it boring and dull. There’s not much that actually happens, and the film moves at a very slow pace. The fight scenes have been criticised as being unrealistic, but I think they are meant to be more artistic, and should be interpreted as Jake La Motto looking back on his fights. Nevertheless, love it or hate it, you have to sit back and admire Martin Scorsese’s direction once again. For me, he is the greatest director of his time. His choice to produce Raging Bull as a black and white film increases the artistic feel to the film, and I felt much more connected with the memory of the protagonist for it. But this may just be me.

Robert de Niro, working with Scorsese for the fourth time in his career, is absolutely masterful in this film. Not only does he manage to play a lead character who is totally and utterly dislikable, but he does it perfectly. He has played bad guys before, and he has played guys who should be dislikable, such as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, but in Raging Bull his character doesn't even has a drive or a motive to make the audience empathise with him. Personally, I didn't even pity his character at the end of the film when his wife leaves him and he becomes a washed up failed sportsman. Raging Bull is also a dedication to how much de Niro likes to throw himself into every role he plays. There are some impressive stories of him doing this, but for Raging Bull he gained 60 pounds of weight to play Jake in his older days. 60 pounds! That’s just over four stone. He captures every single aspect of his character, from the ambitious boxer to the man who hits his wife, begs her back and then does it again. In my opinion, Robert de Niro is the greatest actor, not just of his time, but of all time.

Joe Pesci stars in Raging Bull, making his first appearance on a Scorsese movie, and performing admirably as Jake’s brother and manager. His patience with his brother is admirable, and the audience really begins to sympathise with him when Jake starts to throw his life away. However, there is a sense of ‘something coming’ throughout the movie, and when Jake begins to get paranoid about his wife, he attacks his brother, believing him to have slept with her. This leads to a period where they don’t talk, and the scene where they are eventually reunited is one of my favourites. Jake tries to make amends with his brother, and Joe Pesci delightfully portrays a character who is so sick of his brother’s ways that he just doesn't care. On the basis of this film it is not hard to see why Scorsese wanted to work with Pesci again: he is simply excellent.

Cathy Moriarty plays Jake’s wife Vikki. She starts the film as being beautiful and desirable. However, mainly due to Scorsese’s direction, she becomes more and more ruined by having Jake in her life. When he hits her for the first time, Moriarty’s response is perfect. Instead of leaving him like the perfect wife would in Hollywood, she does what is most common in cases of domestic abuse, and believes it is a one-off event. Now I don’t want to get onto domestic violence because it is too sensitive an issue for my humble blog, but when she eventually does leave him, and takes her children with her, I found myself delighted, and feeling that Jake deserves everything he gets.

People have lauded Raging Bull as the best sports movie ever made. Now this is a claim I disagree with. I think that the movie is not a sports film. Undeniably it focuses on the life and career of a boxer, but for me the movie is more about his life and his character than it is about the sports. For an out-and-out sports movie, Rocky would be my first choice, just because it focuses more on the sport and less on his character.

At the start of the film, Jake is surrounded by people who all adore this future boxing star. However throughout the film, one by one these people leave him and by the end of the film, he is standing alone in his dressing room reciting lines for his show that few turn up to. Raging Bull is an absolute classic. Many people disagree on whether it is brilliant or boring, but I think that you should see it for yourself and making your own mind up. Personally, I loved it, and I consider it to be one of those films that you just have to see.