Raging Bull is a powerful motion picture directed by American filmmaker Martin Scorsese and based on the life of American boxer Jake LaMotta. LaMotta was middleweight champion of the world from 1949 to 1951. The film was released in 1980. Robert De Niro won the Academy Award as best actor for his intense performance in the title role. A poll of American film critics named Raging Bull as the best motion picture of the 1980’s.
Raging Bull is primarily an uncompromising portrait of an unsympathetic, inarticulate man who can express himself only through violence. The movie covers the period from 1941 to 1964. It traces LaMotta’s career from a promising young fighter to his championship years. The boxer’s violent, self-destructive personality leads to his decline from a champion to a has-been. At the end of the movie, he is trying to create a new career for himself in show business as a nightclub comedian.
In the film, LaMotta is a primitive, savage destroyer in the ring and just as cruel in his personal relationships with his wife and his brother. Some critics have suggested that the root of LaMotta’s violence may have been doubts about his own masculinity.
Scorsese filmed Raging Bull in black and white to reinforce the realism of the story. Sports experts commended the boxing scenes for their brutal authenticity. Critics praised the brilliance of the camera work and called De Niro’s performance one of the greatest in movie history. The film also featured Cathy Moriarity as LaMotta’s second wife and Joe Pesci as the boxer’s loyal brother.
See also De Niro, Robert ; Scorsese, Martin .
