Raging Bull (film)
"Raging Bull" is a 1980 biographical film directed by Martin Scorsese, depicting the tumultuous life of middleweight boxer Jake La Motta, portrayed by Robert De Niro. Unlike the more uplifting tone of the "Rocky" series, "Raging Bull" presents a darker, more complex portrayal of masculinity and violence. The film is based on La Motta's autobiographical account and showcases his self-destructive behavior, including abusive relationships and struggles with personal demons. De Niro's dedication to the role is noteworthy; he underwent significant physical transformations, including weight gain to depict La Motta's later years, and performed his own fight scenes after intense training with the boxer.
Cinematographer Michael Chapman employed a distinctive visual style, using black and white film and unconventional camera techniques to evoke both gritty realism and artful expressionism. The film also explores themes like guilt, redemption, and the aggressive dynamics of post-war Italian American culture. Despite its male-centric narrative, the film critiques toxic masculinity, particularly through La Motta's abusive tendencies. "Raging Bull" received critical acclaim, winning two Academy Awards, and is recognized as a significant work in American cinema, solidifying Scorsese and De Niro's legendary collaboration.
Raging Bull (film)
Identification American film
Director Martin Scorsese (1942- )
Date Released November 14, 1980
A poll of film critics in the United States and abroad conducted by Premiere and American Film magazines in 1989 named this biopic of boxer Jake La Motta as the best motion picture of the 1980’s.
Released midway through a crowd-pleasing series about a fictional boxing hero—Rocky (1976), Rocky II(1979), Rocky III (1982), and Rocky IV (1985)—Raging Bull offered a more complicated, less resolved, and far darker look at men who live in the ring. In contrast to the likable Rocky, the protagonist of Raging Bull is a self-destructive, obsessive batterer. Based on the ghostwritten autobiography of middleweight Jake La Motta , director Martin Scorsese’s biopic completed a trilogy, with Mean Streets (1973) and Taxi Driver (1976), of Scorsese-directed films set in New York in which actorRobert De Niro delivered raw, visceral performances portraying men who live by and through violence.
De Niro brought the La Motta project to Scorsese’s attention; the actor’s commitment to the part became legendary, as he spent a year training with the former boxer and did all the carefully choreographed fight scenes himself. He gained more than fifty-five pounds to replicate La Motta’s middle-aged, bloated body for the scenes of Jake as a nightclub performer that frame the central narrative. Also delivering outstanding performances were Joe Pesci as Jake’s brother Joey and Cathy Moriarty as Jake’s second wife. In a film of great visual beauty, cinematographer Michael Chapman moved between gritty realism and stylized expressionism. Filmed in a wide-screen format, almost entirely in black and white, sometimes at varying camera speeds, utilizing an unorthodox sound track, and focused on questions of guilt and redemption, the film resembles a European art film more than the typical Hollywood movie of the 1980’s. In a decade characterized by feminist concerns, Raging Bull presents a milieu—male-dominated 1940’s and 1950’s Italian American working-class neighborhoods ruled by the mob—known for reactionary sexual politics. Even within this context, Jake’s wife beating and homophobia are presented as excessive and indicative of his self-hatred.
Scorsese ends the film with a biblical quotation that indicates that La Motta has won the crucial fight for his own soul, an interpretation contested by many critics. In a decade of increasingly impersonal filmmaking, one of the greatest shocks in this shocking film is the final title, which dedicates Raging Bull to Scorsese’s recently deceased mentor and college film professor, Haig Manoogian, “With love and resolution, Marty.”
Thelma Schoonmaker’s brilliant editing and De Niro’s unforgettable performance were rewarded with Academy Awards . Scorsese and others who were involved in the production won many other important awards.
Impact
The creative direction of Scorsese and the bravura performance of De Niro in Raging Bull solidified their individual reputations and marked their ongoing collaborations as some of the most memorable in contemporary American cinema. The modest commercial success and considerable critical success of Raging Bull enabled Scorsese to secure financing for even riskier future projects.
Bibliography
Hayes, Kevin J., ed. Martin Scorsese’s “Raging Bull.” New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Kellman, Steven G., ed. Perspectives on “Raging Bull.” New York: G. K. Hall, 1994.
La Motta, Jake, Joseph Carter, and Peter Savage. Raging Bull. 1970. Reprint. New York: Bantam Books, 1980.