The pinnacle of the DeNiro/Scorsese collaborations.

Rating: 10/10 (26 December 2011)

Martin Scorsese is the epitome of the modern filmmaker. My idol if you will. The guy puts his all into everything he touches. His energy and attention to detail are rarely matched. And he consistently churns out one solid movie after another, with even his lesser works [(Gangs of New York (2002), Shutter Island (2010)] standing out above almost everything else that comes out in terms of quality. While his movies are consistently solid even if not always perfect, more than a few have stood out as timeless, essential classics that will forever go down in film history. Goodfellas (1990) and Taxi Driver (1976) are widely noted as being arguably the greatest films of their respective decades. His greatest masterpiece, Raging Bull (1984), follows in this tradition. It's the best movie of the 80's.
Scorsese brings us the life of middleweight boxing champion Jake LaMotta, one of the least likable protagonists in cinematic history, in a way that makes us fully sympathize with him. That alone is a testament to Scorsese's power as a director, but it's also no coincidence that Scorsese's holy trinity all star Robert DeNiro. Without DeNiro, there'd be no Raging Bull, literally and figuratively. This is a passion project between two friends that went a long way, and that passion shows in every beautifully crafted image. And Robert DeNiro's performance is the stuff of legends, easily one of the top five performances ever caught on film. If LaMotta had been played by anyone else, he most likely would have come off as a soulless thug, not worth caring about. DeNiro plays it differently.
Jake LaMotta is a born champion in the boxing ring, with a knack for fiercely annihilating his opponents. He is becoming a true star in the sport. Life should be good. But it isn't, and it never really has been. Jake LaMotta is a completely insecure and self-destructive individual with a brutal temper. His friends and family, though they care about him, are always on their toes and watching what they say around him. His emotional instability causes him to destroy his relationships with everyone close to him. He truly thinks that he loves his wife, Vickie, and she honestly wants to see the good in him. His brother Joey stands by him, isn't afraid of him, and tries to keep him in line while managing his boxing career. But when Jake begins to suspect that Joey and Vickie are having an affair, the rage that leads him to the top in the ring begins to seep into his personal life, worse so than ever before. It may even mean the last straw for the eternally patient Joey.
The story works because it explores the soul of a hopeless misanthrope without judging him. You feel like you better understand certain people after experiencing Raging Bull. Jake is as three- dimensional as characters come. Despite his inability to be a good person, his desire to do good is always clear. So is Jake a bad person? More a pathetic one. He's his own worst enemy, and that's why we can't completely fault him. This is what Scorsese and DeNiro clearly understood. The movie doesn't tell you what to think of him, and DeNiro doesn't play it any certain way. Raging Bull simply is LaMotta's life, and DeNiro is LaMotta.
Contrary to popular belief, Raging Bull isn't really a "boxing movie." The boxing scenes occupy only a few minutes of screen time, and there is no big match to determine the fate of the characters. It's a character movie, and boxing is the only thing that keeps the character going. As far as the fight scenes go however, they are as good as they've ever been done. The black and white cinematography compliments them very well. It emphasizes the splattering blood which appears as black and thick as Hershey's syrup. Also different from other boxing dramas is the lack of crowd participation in the fights. Rather than focus equally on the drama in and out of the ring, Scorsese's camera puts you right in the ring with the fighters. Every punch is felt, and as brief as they are, the scenes leave you feeling bruised. They're as raw as it gets.
I could pontificate on this movie's endless list of quality attributes for pages and pages. I'll close by saying that Raging Bull is quite possibly the greatest movie from the greatest living filmmaker. It's cinematic art at it's highest form, a tone poem, a character study, and a biography all flawlessly rolled into one majestic package. Unless you're offended by raw language and uncensored depictions of the uglier side of life, there's essentially nothing to complain about when it comes to Raging Bull. 10/10.