A great human drama

Rating: 8/10 (16 January 2009)

Unlike most boxing films where our star is the main boxer, this story, based on the life story of boxing star, Jake La Motta and his downfall is brutal and honest.
That's what you get with the wonderfully talented Martin Scorsese movie. Raw honesty. As in a lot of his movies, on gets a sense of a great Greek drama.
Robert De Nero carries that further with his great performance in this film. He physically and emotionally embodied himself in this character. I think I heard that he gained something like 50 pounds and then had to lose it! Whatever he did, the sequences before and after the weight gain looked very impressive.
There are great performances by all of the other actors in this movie, including portrayals by Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty.
Michael Chapman's cinematography was outstanding