Movie Minx

Starring: Robert de Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty
Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Plot: Jake La Motta, a US middle-weight champ, watches his boxing career rise and fall again as his temper causes his life to crumble around him.

But is it any good?

I put off seeing Raging Bull for a long time. I’d heard people rave about it before, but boxing movies have never been my thing, and besides, when are you ever in the mood to watch a movie about blood and domestic violence and a violent brute? But someone owned the DVD and wanted to finally watch it before they went overseas…

We were gripped by the movie as if plugged into it. I’d seen Taxi Driver and, er, Meet the Fockers, so I knew De Niro was an actor to be reckoned with, but this is different. You can’t imagine him not being Jake La Motta, and it’s not just the added girth he has near the end of the film that convinces. He’s thoroughly unlikeable - he elicits horror, fear, contempt and maybe a little pity by the end, but not much. He’s sweaty, angry, bloody and surly (no, those aren’t the 7 Dwarves), matched in aggression perhaps only by Jake Heke of Once Were Warriors.

I thought the movie was going to be all about boxing, but that really takes equal footing with his private life. There’s tenderness at the beginning, when he meets and marries Vicki, but that soon makes way for his misogyny and possessiveness. His relationship with his ever-loyal brother comes under strain too as La Motta’s fuse becomes ever shorter.

That’s not to overlook the boxing scenes, which even to my disinterested eye were powerful indeed. Shot in black and white (like most of the film, which captures that newsreel feeling of the ’40s), the disjointed editing makes for brutal and stunningly intense fight scenes. You’re in the ring with the boxers, feeling like you’ll be punched in the face any second. One scene in particular where he messes up a pretty boy is reflected in Fight Club years later, where Angel ends up with a mushed face. It ain’t pretty, in either case.

The boxing scenes were also filmed to reflect La Motta’s recollection of each fight, meaning no two are the same. Sound effects are heightened and some shots are blurry as if the fighter has been punched and is momentarily dazed. Let’s just say it’s the closest I’ll get to boxing.

Anyway, La Motta is clearly a brute who can’t control his aggression. He drives away his closest friends with his drinking and violence and paranoia - and ultimately he drives us away too. After watching this movie I felt I’d encountered something very powerful, and it’s a compelling character study, but although I admired the skill involved there wasn’t much to love.

IMDb’s rating: 8.2/10
My rating: 8/10

Next movie to be reviewed: Amadeus (oh god)

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