Raging
Bull
(1980)
Rated: R
Runtime: 2 Hours and 9 Minutes
Reviewer: Dale
Grade: A+When talking of great acting, you cannot help but mention the name De Niro. You can't.
Trust me. It's impossible. Why? Well, I point to this performance as an example. Long before Tom Hanks gained and lost weight in order to talk to a volleyball on a deserted island, Robert De Niro underwent radical weight gain and loss in order to essay the character of Jake LaMotta, and he did it all within two months.
"Raging Bull" is the story of Jake LaMotta, a boxer who you may never have heard of, mostly because he usually lost to "Sugar" Ray Robinson. Not always honestly, if you believe this movie. While most boxers use the fight for their livelihood, LaMotta seems to treat the ring as a form of therapy. He uses it to exorcise the demons of his daily life, which are plentiful. He suspects his beautiful young wife (Cathy Moriarty) of infidelity, despite the fact that there is no evidence. His brother (Joe Pesci) is trying to get him to ally with the Mafia, something which Pesci believes will make things easier on the boxing circuit. He does not entirely trust his brother. He does not entirely trust anyone around him. In truth, LaMotta's life is rife with problems. But, quite honestly, each and every one of them is due to LaMotta himself. If he were not so suspicious, were he not so incapable of trust, if he were not such a jealous and self-loathing monster, he would be fine.
De Niro has never, ever been better than he is here. He was awesome as Travis Bickle and he has been pretty much excellent in any movie I have ever seen him in, but here he takes things to a whole new level. He is raw, uncompromising, terrifying and tragic. He is a monster and a simple man. He is driven by rage, yet totally unaware of his own terrible motives until it is far too late. When his wife says that another boxer is attractive, for example, LaMotta is certain that she is having an affair with the man...despite the fact that the two of them have never even met. So he gets in the ring and batters the man to a pulp, demolishing the fighter's nose. "He ain't pretty no more." Now there is a man with some personal issues.
Aside from De Niro's astounding performance (which even the Academy could not ignore) the film has any number of virtues. Scorsese's direction is brilliant. The staging of the boxing scenes, for example, is fascinating. The camera puts us right in the ring like another boxer, bobbing and weaving with and against the fighters and bringing us so close and intimate that we can almost smell the sweat. The black and white cinematography is gorgeous and effective. Pesci and Cathy Moriarty are both remarkable in their supporting roles, showing us the pain and sorrow of living so close to a raw nerve like LaMotta. Scorsese has drawn magnificent performances from the entire cast and has shown astonishing technical finesse.
Between this, "Goodfellas" and "Taxi Driver" there is no doubt that he is one of the greatest directors that the cinema has ever seen and I must see more of this man's amazing work.
Add all those things up, and you have a terrific, scarily intimate and unflinching portrayal of a man on the road to self-destruction, a man who is taking all those around him down with him.
A census of all the major film critics revealed that the majority of them thought this was the best film of the '80's. While I don't quite think that is the case, I must still say that this is one of the most powerful things I have ever seen. Want brutal honesty in a film? Look no further than "Raging Bull".