Review of Raging Bull (1980) by Filippos1987 — 29 Nov 2021

Raging Bull, praised as one of director Martin Scorsese's finest films - in some circles, it is labeled his masterpiece - is a study in how a technically proficient, even masterful film can also be fairly uninvolving and dramatically unsatisfying when it's centered upon an unsympathetic individual who features insufficient character development and is given limited dramatic context.

Jake La Motta (ferociously played by De Niro) may as well be an alien; his cruelty, pomposity and insecurity is powerfully displayed, but is also distancing. We have little background on why Jake is as insufferable as he is; he just IS.

Ironically, although De Niro is rightfully given center stage, his co-stars' reactions to Jake are what actually give the film whatever dramatic form it has. Catherine Moriarty and particularly Joe Pesci are effective at providing foils for Jake, but his character's bizarre behavior and unrelenting hostility towards each of them somehow even further distances us from him.

Cinema isn't meant to only provide likable, virtuous characters (Henry Hill is similarly flawed, although undeniably more well-developed), but when a film is centered around the redemption of a character, it is important that there should be qualifying characteristics that promote sympathy or encourage the audience to empathize with the character onscreen.

It's the absence of these traits that doom Jake's voyage from blindness to self-awareness to nearly complete apathy from the audience. It is significant to note that, at least in terms of the technical, that this is one of Scorsese's most accomplished films, with his confidence here even outpacing his work on Taxi Driver; the score is also beautiful and entirely fitting.

One problem may be that Paul Schrader, after making the screenplay of a lifetime for Taxi Driver, was content with making a workmanlike screenplay that takes very little risk and follows a more traditional, less creatively compelling template.

Regardless, Raging Bull will endure as a film to study for its impeccable direction; its sensational editing; and its naturalistic, convincing performances. Just don't expect to enjoy watching it.