A Great Film But ...

Rating: 8/10 (3 August 2005)

Scorsese's RAGING BULL is rightly up held as a wonderful piece of film making . Robert DeNiro takes method acting to new heights . Yeah we've all heard the story about how he built his physique up by going to the gym and then after these scenes were filmed he did nothing but sit on his butt and gorge himself on junk food so he'd physically resemble the bloated and overweight Jake La Motta in later life , but this story is worth repeating again and again . Look at the scene where DeNiro uses the public phone box , he raises his arm to speak into the receiver and you can subtly see DeNiro's pot belly bulging out from his shirt . All the performances are good but DeNiro totally dominates the movie
It's not just an acting masterclass we see . RAGING BULL is very much an art house movie brought to mainstream cinema by Scorsese . Look at the scenes inside the ring . I doubt if a boxer would recognise these scenes as being realistic as such since everything about them are highly stylised . It's not a film that shows the gritty realism of being inside a boxing ring where two modern day gladiators fight one another , it's a film that paints the pain , poetry and ugly beauty of boxing . On a technical front this is absolutely superlative where editing , cinematography , make up and sound mix all come together
" Hey Theo , if it's such a great movie why have you only given this eight out of ten ? "
True it's a great movie and you didn't need me to point that out and when I say it's a very honest movie this is not meant as a criticism , in fact I do wish more movies would be far more honest when it comes to biopics , it's just that the problem with RAGING BULL can be summed up with the scene that starts with Jake and his brother banging on the TV set wondering why they can't get a picture . It's a scene that's wonderfully structured and built upon by the screenwriters , it's absolutely brilliantly acted by all the cast and superbly directed by Scorsese. It's just that it culminates with some extreme domestic violence and finishes with a haunting , nay heartbreaking scene of two children standing there as members of their family are brutally assaulted by La Motta . Don't be confused by what I'm saying , I don't want want biopics to be revisionist sycophants charters , it's just that for a movie to work perfectly the main protagonist must achieve some sort of empathetic connection with the audience and this is where RAGING BULL fails somewhat