A Poetic Masterpiece for the Ages

Rating: 10/10 (11 August 2007)

Martin Scorsese' "Raging Bull" stands as one of the greatest films of all time. Its the greatest work of Martin Scorsese' career and Robert De Niro's greatest acting performance. This film stands atop my all time list. Robert De Niro's performance is also the best and most authentic acting performance I have ever seen. What a transformation it is to watch him become middleweight boxer Jake La Matta in this true story of more than just boxing. It's a film of one mans decent into misery and loss. The film will stand the test of time because it's realness and its captivating look is purely mesmerizing, astonishing, and jaw dropping.
Right from the start we are punched in the face as Jake La Matta is eating dinner. The ordinary dinner scene turns into a husband and wife fight like nothing you have ever seen. All over an over cooked stake that isn't ready for eating. Right from the start we see that Jake La Matta is a tormented and troubled man with serious issues ranging from paranoia to insanity to inadequacy to emotional instability to reckless abandon to raging anger. La Matta is a complex character that is brought to us in a riveting performance from one of films all time greats. Throughout the film we see La Matta battle his inner demons as he's always in a 12 round bout with himself. His emotional pain is relentless and his physical pain pails in comparison. He's always trying to prove himself, not to anyone around him, but his own demons and inner pains. His brother Joey (Joe Pesci) tries to manage Jake to a title shot, but that is nearly impossible thanks to Jake's relentless and constant problems that he causes. In a highly memorable "Hit Me" scene following the dinner fight; Joey is ordered, then demanded, to punch his brother in the face by Jake himself. Joey after some talking into, starts beating on Jakes face until his cuts- from his previous fight- start to bleed and crack open. What is the purpose Joey asks. Jake responds with a smile and a playful pinch on the cheek. Right from the start we see that Jake has no purpose. All he has is pain. It would hurt too much to stop it so he takes it.
As Jake climbs up the boxing ranks his tormented life and his inner demons start to take a toll on not only him but everyone around him. His life style mirrors his fighting style. Jake La Matta' fighting style is just like his personality. There's no technique or any strategy given to him by his corner. He uses outside forces to take out his opponent inside the ring and the inside forces take out the people outside the ring that he loves. He is relationship impaired and knows of no way to deal with women(or with anybody for that matter).
Some of Scorsese' greatest moments come during the boxing scenes. We hear the cringing cat cries and exploding light bulbs and we feel the brutality even though we may not even understand what we're hearing. In a fight with the "good-looking" Janrio, Jake is a large imposing animal taking out all his frustrations on the face of Janrio. He makes him ugly and pierces a hole right through his wife (Cathy Moriarty) who called Janiro "good-looking." Then as his career starts to unfold due to his misery and paranoia. He looses the belt, then he looses himself.
After Jake retires from boxing a weight has been lifted off his shoulders- but physically a weight has been added. Now he doesn't have any responsibilities and he no longer has to worry about his weight, which fluctuates in the film and by films end; De Niro gains 60 pounds. Without any worries or responsibilities, La Matta is still incapable of being happy. He looses everything that he has ever fought for and in a brutally emotional scene at the end of the film where La Matta finds himself in jail; we actually sympathize for his character. We wish he did right, but he never does. Something appeals to us, maybe we see some good in him even though it never shows through. Maybe we want some good in him because it never shows through. Maybe we see how troubled he is and we just want to see some happiness in his life. The dark scene is shot in perfection and Jake takes his past regrets out on his jail cell's cement wall. Jake lets out a fury of punches and head butts, but not even this bull has a punchers chance in hell. After his cries of "Why! Why! Why!" go unanswered. All he has is his 10X10 Miami jail cell to sit and stew in. Completely in the dark, Scorsese' final touches bring us into the cell as Jake breaks down emotionally. We see no remorse as he doesn't see himself as the bad guy that everyone says he is. He believes he's just a troubled man not wanting to hurt anyone. The worst part of it all is: He doesn't think he has hurt anyone; when all we see is that's all he's ever done- is hurt the ones he loves. There are no apologies. He has no acknowledgment of anything he's ever done being wrong, which is truly heartbreaking, because it looks as though he will never change. A brutally honest portrait of an animal.
10/10