Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Premise: Character study of boxer Jake La Motta
(Robert DeNiro), following the ups and downs of his life and career.
What Works: Raging Bull is one of the de
facto examples of cinematic craft in much the same way as Michelangelo’s
"Statue of David" is an example of excellence in sculpture or Leonardo
DaVinci’s “Mona Lisa” is held as the ultimate in Renaissance-era oil
painting. Raging Bull pulls together the elements of cinema, bending and
weaving the possibilities of sound and image together in ways that make the film
a tour of the possibilities of the form. Varying everything from color and focus
to film speed, the cinematography captures the claustrophobia of a Bronx
apartment, the savage violence of the boxing ring, and the isolation of a prison
cell and demonstrates the right techniques at the right moments to amplify the
meaning of the scene and explore the character’s psychology through cinema.
The sound is used equally well, especially in the boxing scenes, which
incorporate great sound effects work; Raging Bull uses silence when it is
most effective, and relies on music of the 1940s to give the period feel and
fill in the cultural background of Little Italy. Raging Bull has a few
great performances by the cast such as Cathy Moriarty as Vickie, La Motta’s
wife, and Joe Pesci as Joey, La Motta’s brother. But the performance of the
film that stands out, partly due to the structure of the film but largely due to
the excellence of the work, is Robert DeNiro as Jake La Motta. It is a
performance on par with Daniel Day Lewis in There
Will Be Blood, Forest Whitaker in The
Last King of Scotland, and George C. Scott in Patton.
DeNiro portrays La Motta as a monstrous human being, good at what he does for a
living but self-destructive and unable to control himself outside of the ring.
The tension between how the character sees himself and how he behaves creates a
portrayal of a man and his masculinity that is complex and, if not sympathetic,
is extremely empathic and allows insight into this tortured soul and more
broadly into the conflicts of post-war men in America.
What Doesn’t: This is a film of a different era
and it is unconventional in its narrative structure and how it handles the
boxing than many other fight films like Rocky.
Here the fighting is not a means to an end; it is an end in itself and is used
to explain the psychological make up of the lead character. Raging Bull is not a feel good movie and audiences who expect films to be easily accessible
may find themselves locked out of the movie if they won’t put forth the effort
to try and understand it.
DVD extras: The two-disc special edition of Raging
Bull includes a four-part behind the scenes feature, a short documentary,
comparisons between DeNiro and La Motta’s fighting footage, newsreel footage
of La Motta, and trailers.
Bottom Line: Raging Bull is necessary viewing for fans of DeNiro and Scorcese and one of the key films of the New Hollywood era. It is not an easy movie to screen but it is worth the time and effort not merely to watch, but to re-watch, dissect, and learn from.