Raging Bull (1980)

         Raging Bull, directed by Martin Scorsese, is a beautiful black and white film about the success and demise of boxer Jake LaMotta. Based on the actual life of LaMotta, the movie shows the heartbreaking crumble of a seemingly once great fighter. The story goes back and forth between Jake’s personal life, family and love, and his fighting and work after his retirement. Angry, jealous, and almost always on the verge of a fight, LaMotta is not painted as a lovable character from the beginning, however as the audience, we still route for him through the majority of the film. His extreme jealousy and suspicion towards his wife is a constant source of stress

throughout the movie. Jake further and further drives himself away from his family and fans with his attitude and determination to make a name for himself, by himself. He is even described once as the sort of guy that everyone is routing against, which the audience can relate to after watching him at home with his wife. The inevitable fall from glory at the end is almost expected, and the contradiction between his life as a famous fighter, and as a nobody, cabaret comedian show the sharp juxtaposition of you reap what you sew.

         Raging Bull is a cinematic vision and the storyline moves along, but the real masterpiece of the thing is De Niro’s performance. Robert De Niro plays LaMotta with a delicate hand: he became the character, and showed every inch of human imperfection. No amount of planned character development and scripted direction could provoke such a performance. When LaMotta is put in solitary confinement after being arrested for introducing a fourteen year old girl to some men, his true snapping point is revealed and De Niro slams his head and fists into the wall with such force I expected actual brain damage. This moment is so poignant and powerful, and the audience expects a turning point: for LaMotta to beg for forgiveness and change his ways, to amend the years of wrong he’d done and for everything to become good again as soon as he was released. In reality, nothing much changed, but this less “fairy tale” ending gave more power to the movie, and more power and complexity to the character De Niro builds. Captivating and poingnant, the combination of De Niro’s acting, and Scorsese’s directing, Raging Bull deserves it’s fourth place on the AFI’s top 100 of all times list.