Raging Bull (1980)

Genres

Biography, Drama, Sport

Director

Martin Scorsese

Country

USA

Cast

Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty, Nicholas Colasanto, Theresa Saldana, Frank Vincent, Johhny Barnes

Storyline

It follows two decades of the life of middleweight boxing champion Jake La Motta (Robert De Niro) involving a lot of violence, not only inside the ring, and jealousy.

Opinion

After putting off Raging Bull for years because I wasn't in the mood, I finally decided to give what critics call Martin Scorsese's finest film a shot. And I do not agree, this is not Scorsese's finest. I do agree, however, that it's painful to watch and powerful. While the powerful is a good thing, the painful is not as it's referred to how boring the film eventually gets.

The biggest problem is arguably the story. It's based on the true story of boxer Jake La Motta, a man so horrible that does not deserve a movie. A story about a man who self-destructs for no apparent reason, and that I struggle to find something interesting about. There is barely a plot, it's tedious and hence hard to follow. 

The characters are equally boring and uninteresting (most of them don't even have a reason to be in the film), although I have to admit Jake La Motta has some impressive characterisation and development. If done right, De Niro's obnoxious and unlikable character could have been very fascinating. The lack of proper writing did not prevent De Niro from giving a great performance though. He delivers La Motta's violent temper and obsessive nature beautifully and you can really see what a disturbed man La Motta is - or was. I hope he got better with age. Like wine.

But, now that I've mentioned several times how boring and uninteresting Raging Bull is, let's talk about the good stuff. Like the cinematography and the graceful camera movements. The use of black and white instead of colour is just brilliant and proves what a great filmmaker Scorsese is. It's perfect to put even more emphasis on the violence, and the fighting scenes come off more brutal and shocking than ever.