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Raging Bull (1980)

Some people are born into suffering. Some inflict it on themselves. And for some, it is their very own nature that ultimately destroys them. I've never been much of a sports movie buff because often the core elements of the sport are lost in an effort to sensationalize the play and attract bigger audiences. I was but a wee lad when "Raging Bull" came out, but I can still confidently say that it carries the same sort of knuckle-scraping message as the literary classic "A Catcher in the Rye."

The film, based on the autobiography of Jake LaMotta, depicts the rise and fall of a middle-weight boxer who gave his spectators a very real view of what it might have been like to witness an actual gladiator event. The sport in the background is of course boxing, which a condemned soul like LaMotta would indisputably be linked to. The portrayal of this man makes the case of such fallen-from-grace fighters such as Mike Tyson completely believable. Robert De Niro, one of the constants when it comes to mastery of the acting craft, gives not just a portrayal of LaMotta but an entirely new character previously unfamiliar to film. LaMotta narrates his own story from a modern day perspective, and the movie plays out as a series of flashbacks, beginning at a time when LaMotta ended his first marriage and re-married the local babe Vickie, played by Cathy Moriarty. Along with his brother Joey, played by Joe Pesci, the two relationships between his wife and his brother define the entire film. It is how he interacts with the two, and the role the boxing ring plays, that allow us to see his personal hell.

LaMotta's brother Joey serves as a counter-point to the fighter, and throughout the film you just get the feeling that he's doing whatever he can to not allow Jake to slip over the edge. Despite Jake's obvious success in the ring, he still lives a middle class life style, indicative that while he's a good fighter, he's had trouble breaking through to the top. He and Joey are a part of the Little Italy that the director Scorsese grew up with, and with that as a back drop and Jake and Joey's verbal sparring, you can understand easily how the stereotypes of the region are made. While Joey isn't afraid to stand up to Jake because he is his brother, Jake's wife Vickie also has no fear facing the fighter, and the conflict that the two experience is one of the most uneasy relationships I've witnessed in film. Unlike the typical husband who beats his wife, Vickie shows little fear in standing up to Jake and his rage, even if it means a taking the abuse. In the beginning she presents to Jake the ideal, perfect woman, almost too innocent and perfect to touch. But when Jake encounters her and brings her into his life, it's as if he has realized that he has permanently soiled the goddess, and now can only lament the loss of her purity and punish himself for it while punishing her for choosing to be with him.

The relationships define the characters in the movie, but it is the boxing itself that gives us the ultimate uneasy feel to the entire film. Scorsese chose to shoot the film in black and white, and while that choice is ambivalent for the normal parts of the movie, during the fight scenes it is absolutely a perfect decision. In the heat of battle, you lose sense of color, shape and form; all you can recognize is your enemy and seek and destroy it. Chocolate syrup was used for blood, soaked sponges were placed in the gloves to give a more explosive effect, and gun shots were used whenever a punch made contact. The end result is fascinating, horrifying, disturbing, and perfect. It is in the ring that LaMotta can approach all of his demons, make all of his sinful confessions, and let out his sexual frustration at the same time. It's almost like he's saying, "punish me, I deserve it." Yet at the same time, he understands that it is his lone avenue where he can truly release everything that is within him, and I think this is the one place where the film captures an element of sports that no other has, and that is how a competitive athlete motivates himself or herself. The best comparison is to Michael Jordan, who ascended to be called the best in the game after only five years and ultimately won championships. Stories were written about how he would have to motivate himself simply because he had run out of challenges. He would convince himself that he had detractors, that others felt like they could shut him down…anything at all that he could use to psyche himself up, he would take hold of it. In the same way, LaMotta used his sexual frustration with Vickie to motivate himself. He convinced himself that she was cheating on him, that she was flirting with other men. In one of the classic film moments, after Vickie says that Jake's next opponent has a pretty face, LaMotta unrelentingly beats him to a pulp. Looking on, one of the Mafia men privy to the situation says, "He ain't pretty no more."

Finally, as the last of the fight scenes are done, we return to the present where De Niro once again assumes the current LaMotta, overweight, out of opportunities, and living the sleazy lifestyle. After getting arrested, the final image that we're left with is a man who only knew how to release rage repeatedly punching a jail cell wall screaming, "Why! Why! Why!" It's uncomfortable and it is disturbing, not so much because of the violence it portrays, but in that it forces us to question what separates us from him.