Harsh, Brutal and Violent and that's outside the ring!

Rating: 9/10 (26 October 2002)

****SPOILERS MAY BE IN HERE SO BEWARE****
Not so long ago Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro would pair up to produce a stunning film that would be applauded by the audience and critics alike but recently neither have chosen to work together. This is a great shame as the films produced were ground breaking and thought provoking. One of these films was Raging Bull.
With only about 12 minutes of boxing being in you would be forgiven for thinking that this film is boring, it is never in the slightest bit tedious or long winded but instead the events outside the ring that show the sordid parts of La Motta's life are intriguing and complement the fight scenes like wine with a well prepared meal.
The main asset of this film has to be its fight scenes which are legendary and ingeniously fabricated by Scorsese. These are some of the best choreographed in cinema history, well above the standard of the Rocky series. This film is certainly not for the faint heart as it is filled with abusive language and violence from the outset. A quality which makes this film one of the greatest films of all-time is the way the film manages to look deeper, rather than just showing the fight scenes, by making the boxer Jake La Motta (Robert De Niro) human and suffers decline into mediocrity.

This human element injected by De Niro makes us empathise with his character instead of righting him of as a violent thug who we want to suffer. If you ever get the chance to see this film on the big screen then I truly recommend it as the scenes seem more powerful and more meaningful than shown at home. A must see for any Scorsese or De Niro fan.
Grade A