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.
