Gritty yet still maintains beautiful artistic illustration (Like most of Scorsese's movies in that period)

Rating: 10/10 (16 March 2008)

The partnership between revolutionary director Martin Scorsese and iconic actor Robert De Niro which spanned for about 20/25 years will forever be remembered by critics and fans as one of the greatest periods for cinematic achievement. A time were both of these legends peaked in their careers. Of course there were other actors involved (Joe Pesci, Frank Vincent, etc) But the two constants of these movies were Scorsese and De Niro. They are credited with making some of the greatest movies of all time IE; Taxi driver, Raging bull, Goodfellas and Casino just to name a few. These movies have received marvellous critical acclaim and continue to be loved even after 30 after some of them were made. They gave us a look at a world most of us had never seen, the underworld of society. They made us feel for characters we wouldn't usually associate with. And they set a standard for their type of movie which hasn't yet been conquered. But as much as I could talk all day about how these two geniuses revolutionised cinema the main concentration of this review will be based on the 1980 movie raging bull. To an outsider given only a vague idea to the story of Raging bull it is just another boxing movie. But if we look deeper into the surface we find that it is much more. It is more than just another rocky movie, it's not about a brain dead boxer who tries hard and wins it has much more deaph than that. The movie tells the story of an emotionally self destructive boxers rise (ish) And fall. It is a study of a man (Jake La Motta played by De Niro) who keeps knocking himself down everywhere he goes in life. A man who we learn more and more about throughout the course of the movie. We see he abuses the women in his life he sees them as slaves not human beings. We see throughout the course of the movie that he ends up despising himself. We see that he will be willing to change himself just for the sake of masculinity something which most men can relate to. The boxing ring is nothing more than a symbolic parallel to his life outside it. it's almost as if he is punishing himself for what he has done in his life. La Motta ends up in a state were he doesn't demand pity but the audience feels sorry for him anyway. Although La Motta is a scumbag we are still interested and relating with the character throughout the 2 hour long movie. Scorsese makes Raging bull a lot more classical with the use of classical music throughout the films gritty tale it gives us a feel of beauty beneath the surface of this man tough guy exterior.
The film won Robert De Niro a best actor in a leading role Oscar although Scorsese's fully deserving best director Oscar went to Robert Redford.