A modern classy masterpiece.

Rating: 9/10 (12 November 2013)

With a flawless plot, and being arguably one of the best films from the 80s, Raging Bull tells the story of the raise to fame and the decadence of Jake La Motta, a man that is guided by his totally animal-like and impulsive personality. It's a very interesting story, i must say. The idea of making a film about Jake was brought by DeNiro himself, which tried numerous times to convince Scorsese to do the film. Scorsese, in fact, just accepted to do the film after knowing that he could relate himself with Jake.
In the technical aspects of filmmaking, this film is nothing less than great. The cinematography of the fights sequences are breath- taking. Super stylized and very different from the spectator's experience, we have a view of the fight into the ring, with a fast and very well- made edition in these sequences. And a curious fact: one of the film's main reason to be filmed in black and white was because that the colors of the gloves at the time would have only been with dark tones, such as oxblood and even black.
The acting is superb. The then relatively unknown Joe Pesci gives an extraordinary performance as Joey, the Jake's brother. DeNiro was without a doubt great, his dedication to the role leads him to a weight increase from 145 to 215 pounds (66 to 97 kg) to portray the post-boxing life of Jake. He also choreographed the fight scenes with the help of the real Jake La Motta. Not surprisingly, his job in the portrayal of Jake La Motta brought to him an Academy Award of best actor in a lead role.
I can proudly say that this film is without a doubt one of my favorites of the 80s.
So, Highly recommended. 9.4/10