Director: Martin Scorcese, 1980
Starring Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci
Boxer Jake La Motta channelled his raw power in the ring and punched himself
to bloody victory in the 1940s, becoming the Middleweight Champion of
the World. He was brutal, precise, and the energy in his punches only
hinted at a fiercer strength and an animal side that lay dormant, ready
to erupt. All that held the man together was a small amount of self-control.
And as his cult grew, he lost it.
Raging Bull tells La Mottas story his rise to success, and
his catastrophic fall in a way that reflects the mans own
temperement: it is acted intensely, lashes out at you brutally, and its
perfect images are the disciplined expression of something more dangerous
the talent of the director Martin Scorcese, who treats this film
as his prize fight.
The film details La Mottas life and career as he goes from small-town
boxer to prize-winning monster: his relationship with Vicki (Cathy Moriarty),
a woman able to reach the boxers sensitive side; his struggle to
get a title shot, and his paranoia and insecurities. La Motta is not a
nice man, but Scorcese makes him fascinating, giving an intimate and detailed
treatment of his life and showing us both his bouts of testosteronized
rage and his fragile moments of humanity.
Jake La Motta is famously played by Robert De Niro. De Niro actually becomes
La Motta. In doing so, he finds a frail human at the heart of the monster,
and his performance is totally convincing. When De Niro fights as La Motta,
he does so to a professional level. And when he needs to play the older,
fatter washed up version of the boxer he piles on the pounds. Most
importantly, of course, he acts.
La Mottas stages of violence and downfall are seperated by vicious
boxing matches just as we look back on our own lives and see them
defined by key events, the drama of Raging Bull is built around the breathtaking
fights. Each match is filmed in a way that mirrors La Mottas own
mental state. When hes losing, the ring is distorted and flickering
like an inferno. When he wins, the ring is a wide and open expanse. Scorcese
is famous for planning every one of his shots meticulously, and in this
film it really shows.
Most biopics either skim over the unspectacular part of the main characters
life, as in Ed Wood, or treat it dishonestly. Raging Bull really comes
into its own when La Motta starts to come apart. De Niros body tranforms
before your eyes, the film is polluted with shadows, and the boxers
life sinks and unfurls until he is left in darkness, protesting Im
not a bad man.
Raging Bull is artistic, unconventional, challenging and personal, without
obscuring the tragic story at its heart.
Scorceses finest film. De Niros finest performance. The best
film of the Eighties.
PS.
The Phoenix only seem to be showing this once so SEE IT WHEN THEY SHOW
IT because this a film that will truly live and breath on a big screen.
Jason Theodorou, July 2004.
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