A compelling study of an unlikeable man

Rating: 10/10 (11 February 2000)

There are quite a few films that I could mention where the lead characters are wholly unlikeable and because they have no audience appeal, the film suffers greatly. Raging Bull is NOT one of those films. Robert De Nero puts in one of the best performances of his career as middleweight boxer Jake LaMotta. And LaMotta is not a nice chappie at all. Arrogant, rude, abusive, paranoid and obsessive are just some of the more complementary words I can think of to describe him. Yet extraordinarily this enhances rather than detracts from the film. Rather than hating him we feel deeply sorry for him because he was a man who had everything and then lost it through his own selfishness and personal insecurity. Director Scorsese's camera work is brilliant, with the boxing scenes some of the most vivid (not to mention graphic) ever filmed, all impeccably edited by Thelma Schoonmaker. The performances are all superb: Pesci as LaMotta's brother and Moriarty as his wife but especially De Nero as the self-destructive LaMotta himself. Raging Bull is the first Scorsese film that I have seen to date. On this basis I shall be seeing many more.