Director: Martin Scorcese
Year: 1980
Country: US
Language: English
Truthfully, I have never been a fan of sports films, they have all felt the same. An underdog team/person decides that they want to win the championships n their sport, they change something about the team (usually a coach) or they find something within themselves, and they either win or lose but learn a corny heartwarming valuable lesson. I became sick of these films, and therefore sought out something more when I decided to watch Scorsese's Raging Bull. After I saw it, I knew I found a gem. Who would've thought a director known mainly for epic gangster films like Casino and Goodfellas could make a boxing film so beautiful and destructive as this?
Raging Bull is not merely another sports biography. It is about Jake LaMotta (Robert De Niro) and the jealous obsession and sexual insecurities that drive him both inside and outside the ring. In one scene his wife comments that another boxer is decent looking, in another the boxer's face is beaten ugly by the enraged husband. "He ain't pretty no more!" the commentators of the match exclaim. He then looks at his opponent, then his wife, she know fearfully understand the consequences of looking at another man and perhaps is worried that she too will share the same fate. LaMotta's boxing tactics are not driven by intense training, but by his mind and emotions. If he was angry, you better watch out. When he is raging, he is dangerous. De Niro won an oscar for his frightful performance, and I must say that it is well deserved.
The fight scenes within this film are the most intense, beautifully shot scenes I have ever seen in a sports film. Edited by Schoonmaker, the camera is always inches away from the boxer's fist. Sometimes the scene is meant to feel claustrophobic, as I'm sure a boxing fight would be, sometimes a scene is stretched. Slow motion is used to heighten awareness so we feel the anger and frustration Jake feels. The film is black and white, because the amount of blood in this film if it was in colour would distract from the emotional intensity of the film. Finally subtle noises are heard in the backround. Sounds of chants, cameras,shreiking. It helps us feel like we are in the arena, watching these brutal matches.
However, despite how intense and ingenious the boxing scenes were made, the film is not about the sport, that is not what fuels LaMotta's anger. His inability to communicate and trust women is what infuriates him, drives him to his boiling point. For the enraged boxer it seems that women are untouchable virginal beings, until they start to be flirty with him. Then they should not be trusted, any man she talks to could be a threat to his manhood. It's a complexity that doesn't even stop at his brother. "Did you f*ck her?" he dares ask his brother, who was recently seen innocently talking to his wife Vickey. Though LaMotta has no evidence of adultery she MUST have cheated. It's a suffocating self-destructive behavior that unfortunately a lot of men are prone to.
In Conclusion, Raging Bull is a startling study about the nature of jealousy. About how it is a self-destructive force of the mind that rips you from everyone you love. I have met people like LaMotta, who can't seem to let their girlfriend's out of their sight. Who seem to be driven by rage and let that aspect control their lives. I have been that jealous person before, worried that my girlfriend was cheating because she had been out with guys the night before. It is an incredibly unhealthy and dangerous state of mind. One that everyone has experienced. This film serves as a warning for those who stray too far off the path, that if you are determined to fully control the lives of others, you will end up not even being able to control yourself. Praise it! 5/5
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