Scorsese's magnum opus

Rating: 10/10 (6 January 2016)

Martin Scorsese is one of the best directors to ever stand behind a camera. Every frame of his movies shows a cinematic master firing on all cylinders. Of course, his many wonderful movies aren't perfect. Hugo and Taxi Driver are a bit too slow, Shutter Island and The Wolf of Wall Street go on a little bit and Goodfellas is a bit meandering, although all of those movies are very fine. Raging Bull is the one where nearly everything is perfect; a devastating, rage fuelled, borderline harrowing meditation on masculinity, inner demons and jealousy. It may look like a film about boxing, but it's really a character study showing Jake La Motta's battling his inner demons in the ring instead of his opponents. Although, it should be noted the fight scenes might be the greatest combat scenes I've ever seen in a film. Shot in black and white, Scorsese edits and directs RB to haunting perfection. Scorsese expected it to be his last major film and put a lot of effort into it. The result is his masterpiece.
Robert De Niro has likely never been better than he is here. He may rarely give genuinely good performances now and inexplicably decides to be in things like Little Fockers, but here he lives and breathes Jake La Motta. His performance is one of the deepest and most enthralling performances I've ever seen from any actor, and he deserved that Oscar. Everyone else in the film is great as well. As a screenplay, few are so powerful and intelligent. The best metaphor for watching the film lies within the film itself. The hard hitting boxing scenes which have to be seen to be believed sum up the film pretty effectively. It's a heavy, brutal and relentless assault on the viewer, and as a result isn't the easiest movie to watch, but it's very much worth the effort. If there was a better movie made during the 80s I would be very surprised. Overall, a masterpiece and something every film fan should see. Goodfellas may be higher on the IMDb Top 250 but this is Scorsese's best film.
10/10