Even among the films that are worshipped by critics, film historians and cinephiles there are those that may make viewers ask questions whether they truly belong among the Greatest Films Ever Made. Career of Martin Scorsese, arguably the most talented, respected and influential American film makers in last decades of 20th Century, provides one such example. His 1980 biopic Raging Bull is often hailed as the undisputed masterpiece of Seventh Art and the finest title in his filmography. It is also known as one of Scorsese’s less popular works.
The plot is based on the 1970 book of memoirs by Jake LaMotta (1922 – 2017), professional athlete who held the title of middleweight boxing champion between 1949 and 1951. Film begins with a prologue set in 1964 New York night club, where overweight and visibly aged LaMotta (played by Robert De Niro), prepares to deliver stand up comedy act, and than continues in 1941, when young LaMotta begins slow and arduous path towards the title. He is very talented boxer, able to withstand and, more importantly, deliver punches with little finesse and a lot of animal-like energy, which proves overwhelming for most of his opponents. Same character traits that help him in the ring, on the other hand, have devastating effects on his private life, which includes marriages failed because of his violent and abusive behaviour. While still married, he notices Vickie (played by Cathy Moriarty), local 15-year blonde beauty who would ultimately become his wife and bear his children. Jake’s younger brother and manager Joey (played by Joe Pesci) wants him to co-operate with organised crime that controls the sport and can help Jake’s career, but Jake stubbornly refuses until being forced to take a dive in a humiliating match against obviously weaker opponent. He finally gets opportunity for title and wins it, but the success is short-lived and his life and career start to fall apart because of his violent outbursts and pathological jealousy which would ultimately create irreconcilable rift with his brother.
Make no mistake, Raging Bull is a well-made film. It is well-directed by Scorsese who portrays seemingly simple and unremarkable story about the rise and fall of boxing champion in a confident, inventive and effective way. He deliberately chose to make the film in black-and-white, partly because the large amounts of blood being spilled in the ring during the fight are more bearable for sensitive audience, and partly because this technique allows more authentic portrayal of 1940s and 1950s – period most of the audience knows mostly from the black-and-white newsreels and primitive television recording (some of which is in semi-documentary fashion inserted in the film). This effect is somewhat compromised with somewhat confusing quasi-documentary scenes of LaMottas’ home films made in colour. Scorsese, on the other hand, just like in many of his other period films, pays great deal of attention to props, costumes and other details. His skill is, however, best seen in the scenes that take place in the ring, where he uses many inventive techniques to show the violent nature of boxing from the perspective of fighters instead of audience, especially in nightmarish scene near the end that show LaMotta’s loss of champion’s title.
While being clearly Scorsese’s work, Raging Bull could also be interpreted as De Niro’s film. It was De Niro who read LaMotta’s book and got the idea that it could be adapted for big screen. It was De Niro who talked Scorsese (who had been in hospital recovering from cocaine addiction) into starting this project. De Niro, as an embodiment of a Method actor, even took LaMotta as his personal trainer to get into shape and learn boxing skills so that he could perform in ring like a real boxer. De Niro, famously, even endangered his own life by deliberately gaining weight in two months simply in order to portray old LaMotta convincingly. Needless to say, all this dedication and energy resulted in one of the greatest acting performances in history of cinema, gaining De Niro another Oscar for the Best Actor. De Niro plays physically and psychologically demanding role with great ease, making the audience keep attention to a character which is anything but sympathetic. His role is enhanced with great chemistry provided by Joe Pesci in first major role of his career; character of Joey, which actually wasn’t even mentioned in the book, is portrayed as flawed, deceptive, occasionally violent but more intelligent, more reliable and more “normal” than Jake. Pesci and De Niro had great chemistry together and became lifelong friends on the set; their pairing was repeated in three more films by Scorsese, with Pesci sometimes playing more violent and more unrestrained characters than De Niro’s. Cathy Moriarty, cast mostly due to her looks that correspond to the aesthetic ideals of 1940s American males, does great job in her difficult role and it is shame that her performance in Raging Bull didn’t lead to more fruitful screen career afterwards.
Masterful direction and great acting, on the other hand, can’t solve a major problem of Raging Bull. Script by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin portrays the main character as violent and destructive thug without any redeeming qualities, while the boxing is shown as bloody and corrupt spectacle controlled by shady characters, with even Jake’s victims being only a notch better than him; Joey openly cheats his wife, while Vickie is more attracted to Jake’s fame and fortune than his great looks or splendid characters. This dark film, which could be interpreted as New Hollywood answer to American Dream crowd-pleasing fantasy of Rocky, becomes even darker due to long scenes that show Jake’s decline in the years after the end of his boxing career. Despite Thelma Schoonmaker’s editing hailed (and winning another “Oscar” for this film), Raging Bull has some problems with pacing and length, although not as excessive as in The Irishman. While still a very good, this film could be best recommended only to the most hardcore of cinephiles and the fans of De Niro, Scorsese and boxing.
RATING: 7/10 (++)
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