The Story of a Brother, Husband, Boxer, Comedian and Human Being

Rating: Null/10 (30 July 2007)

I've been wanting to watch 'Raging Bull' for a long time. Finally 'got the collector's edition DVD and watched it. Now I can see why people call it one of the best movies. Yes, I absolutely loved it but it's one of those films that makes you think (long after the credits have rolled) and when you think about it you understand it better and appreciate it more.
The screenplay is tight, concise and balanced. There's been some very skillfully wonderful editing. Nothing is loud or over the top or irrelevant to the main plot. Cinematography deserves mention as the camera movements are fantastic and very effective. Lighting and sound effect deserve mention too (as its a black and white movie and must have been one of the hardest tasks to achieve, while the sound is very well balanced).
'Raging Bull' tells the story of the infamous Jake La Motta (played excellently by the one and only Robert de Niro). Its classification as a boxing movie is totally erroneous because the film is just too much more for it to be labelled as such. And by giving such a label one would be ignoring it's brilliance. Yes, boxing is a part of Jake's life (it's what he does for a living) and that's how it's portrayed. It hardly had any significant resemblance to other Boxing movies like Rocky etc. The film is more about his relationship with his brother and wife, his ups and down in his professional life ie, his rise and fall to and from fame.
'Raging Bull' belongs to Robert de Niro but Joe Pesci (as the brother and manager) and Cathy Moriarty (as the wife) are equally effective in their smaller roles. The relationship between the brothers was very moving and one can't help but feel bad for La Motta when he tries to reach out to his brother in one of the final scenes. Moriarty gives a very subtle performance of the tolerant wife.
Even though we see La Motta as this mean hateful jerk, we see his vulnerable side and feel sympathy. Maybe that's also why his wife Vickie stood by him through all these years. It's also interesting to see that he wasn't physically abusive to his previous wife but towards Vickie he was quite violent. His brother too tries to protect him and his family (although he has his share of flaws) but in the end when La Motta's paranoia takes over things go from sour to very bad. We just see how human these characters are and at times we hate them, we like them and we feel sorry for them.
Martin Scorsese deserves special mention for putting this beautiful piece of work on the glass canvas. He obviously has a very compelling way to tell the story. It is without any doubt one of his finest works and it has stood the test of time (one of the greatest achievements for a director I suppose).