The greatest movie I have ever seen.

Rating: 10/10 (26 August 2000)

First of all this movie is not about boxing. It is about a fighter. Someone who has no good qualities what so ever. He fights constantly with the people around him and also uses his anger in the ring. The women he meets is the only thing in his life that brings him happiness ( notice in the montage sequence with the music playing the shots through the home video recorder of his family and wife are the only scenes in color which are disturbed with pictures of his fights in black in white witch represent his character clashing with family). Also, the film is about how the choices you make as a young person can drastically effect the rest of your life. Robert De Niro's performance is the most painfully realistc piece of acting I have ever seen. Martin Sorsesse's directing is also the finest in the history of cinema. Also, Thelma Schoobaker's film editing is the most meticulouse and brilliant ever. Joe Pesci, for the first time gives a fully rounded performance as Jake La Matta's younger brother. This film has a lot of heart and has more about life in it than any other. Jake La Matta is a terrible person who, by the end of his destructive life, when he is a fat bum working as a stande up comedian in skanky lounges, then and only then does he understand what it means to be human, of course by then he is a lonley sad man.