Acclaimed But Heavy Going Biopic Drama Of Skilled But Self-Destructive Boxer

Rating: 6/10 (16 August 2013)

In the forties, Jake LaMotta is an aggressive middleweight boxer from NYC nicknamed The Bronx Bull, who is desperate to get a shot at a big title. Things are looking up after a series of successful fights, but can Jake control his temper and his possessive streak ?
Raging Bull is a movie I both admire a lot and simultaneously don't really like, which I think was partly the intention of the filmmakers. It's a mixture of frenetic, intense boxing scenes, which leave you gasping and are among the best ever staged in all cinema, and blunt, drab, kitchen-sink domestic squabbles which are beautifully played but stark and squalid. They deserve kudos for depicting Jake's life with unflinching honesty, but his suspicious, intolerant, violent nature goes on and on for about three times as many scenes as necessary. If you watch the 2004 animated children's film Shark Tale, there's a great scene where a puffer fish (voiced by Scorsese) and a shark (voiced by DeNiro) argue about what each other meant by using the word "what", which is basically all the drama in Raging Bull condensed into thirty seconds. Where the movie really scores though is in the style, and particularly in Michael Chapman's fabulous black-and-white photography. The fights are all beautifully shot, with dazzling cuts and different approaches for each of them - the rings seem to stretch out to eternity at points and close into tiny arcs at others. Every conceivable angle is used and the horrific bloodbath of LaMotta's final 1951 showdown with Sugar Ray Robinson is particularly stunning. I'm not quite sure what to say about DeNiro's Oscar-winning turn as LaMotta, which some cite as one of the best performances of all time. As an actor disappearing into character it's most definitely an amazing piece of work (DeNiro famously gained sixty pounds for the fat scenes and learned to box to a professional level), I'm just not convinced that's what an actor's job is. The film does a terrific job of evoking the period and recalls the stylish pictures made by Martin Ritt or John Cassavetes; it reminds me of a comment the latter once made citing a great compliment was when someone said they didn't like his movie but they couldn't get it out of their head. Featuring great sound design and an inspired use of period source music - Jake's main theme is the beautiful Intermezzo from Mascagni's one-act opera Cavalleria Rusticana. Scripted by Mardik Martin and Paul Schrader, based on the book by LaMotta, who is still alive (aged 92) at this time of writing, and lovingly dedicated to one of Scorsese's film professors, Haig Manoogian. Boxing movies tend to be formulaic, where the protagonist is a moral man who triumphs over adversity. If nothing else, Raging Bull rejects both of these ideas and gives us someone who survives his harsh environment through sheer tenacity alone.