Poor Old Ordinary People

Rating: 8/10 (26 January 2002)

Raging Bull often turns up at the top of critic's polls as one of the best films of the 80s (and sometimes of all time). Often there is a reference to how it is a vastly superior film to Redford's Ordinary People - which took home the Best Picture Oscar in 1980. In my view, this is overstated. While Scorsese's virtuoso technique in Raging Bull is up there at the top of cinematic achievement, both the themes explored in the film and LaMotta's life story are not that compelling. It seems to me that Redford's film is penalized for its deliberate pace and seemingly conventional shot selection. It would have been absurd for him to shoot the film in any other fashion. I feel these two films are of equal effect and value.