An Oddly Rousing Chronicle of the 'Bronx-Bull'!

Rating: 9/10 (26 March 2015)

Unequivocally unsentimental in every respect, Raging Bull offers a searing character study of boxer Jake La Motta (known as the Raging Bull). Despite being the story of a middle-weight boxer, the movie refuses to be pigeonholed as merely a 'boxing' movie. It reigns as poesy of spectacle and presents a disconcerting vision of a beastly character, who dished out savagery in the ring and also at home, yet rose in his day to be idolized to a certain extent by our pop culture.
Robert De Niro stars as Jake LaMotta, the Bronx-based boxer whose public bouts and private demons Raging Bull chronicles with bruising acuity, without judgment or sympathy. It delves even deeper into the psyche, exploring the destructive life in whimsical detail. Taking us through the highlight reel of LaMotta's life from the early 1940s through the mid-1960s, the film details how the Bronx bruiser boxed his way to professional stardom then lost everything to debilitating paranoia only to find his life in shambles, eventually descending into self-loathing and loneliness. It is a mesmerizing exploration of the mind of an emotionally disconnected man; as likely to crush those he loved as much as his opposition in the ring. It's impossible to resist following such a talented born loser on his inevitable trip into oblivion, though it's not fun. Watching his downfall from champion to pitiful stand-up comedian and club owner is no more enjoyable than it sounds, yet it is immensely rewarding.
One of the triumphs of Martin Scorsese's direction comes from how fascinating Jake remains despite his conspicuous inner rage and crippling sense of sexual insecurity. These inner struggles dovetail with La Motta's performance in the ring, and the film's artful, seemingly improvisatory construction serves to juxtapose these two worlds: the intimate, naturalistic domestic world and the smoky, expressionistic world of the boxing ring. The most obvious basis for the film's claim to greatness lies in Scorsese's devastating critique of the basic codes of masculinity and finally in Robert De Niro's performance, through which that critique is made flesh. De Niro's colossal act (astounding not in the least for his now famous weight gain) firmly holds the film together, virtually hypnotizing the viewer with intensity, pathos, and even innocence. The true power of De Niro's performance rests in his ability to crawl his way into this lug's twisted psyche and air out his personal demons for all to see.
It will be impossible to look away from your screens, much like a real boxing match. And for that, Raging Bull remains a profoundly treasured experience: bold and bloody, yet oddly stirring. What eventually pours out on the screen is pure cinema, and pure Scorsese!