Review of Raging Bull (1980) by Shin K — 15 May 2018

Raging Bull is a movie directed by the great Martin Scorsese and stars Robert De Niro as Jake LaMotta, a boxer who eventually rises to the top but his life outside of boxing is... well destroyed because his jealousy and anger is affecting the people around him.

To start things off Robert De Niro does a superb job and was amazing in the film, Joe Pesci is fantastic in this film too and so did Cathy Moriarty. Jake LaMotta is a complex character, he has a lot of flaws and the movie does not shy away from that.

He takes things the wrong way almost all of the time and he gets angry a lot because of it hence the title. Unlike Rocky this is not really a movie about inspiring someone, this movie is a look behind the curtain on a boxer who has a lot of problems.

The little things like the the title in the beginning being red symbolizing rage and anger don't get enough credit. The scenes where Jake is slapping Vicky because he took something that happened the wrong way or when Joey was reaching his breaking point because he is getting sick of Jake are my favorite scenes in the movie because it shows a good look into reality and are emotional.

He may have been a prizefighter in the ring but in real life he is not. The movie presents it's real fights outside the ring, the fights that break Jake down as a person and that's what I love about this movie.

And when I think back at this movie I don't think about the boxing I think about everything outside of it but that's not to say the boxing in this movie is good because it sure is, boxing is just a way to release is anger and it is not really a central part of the movie.

Overall it is a very well edited, raw, great movie with fantastic performances and this is a must watch for movie fans.