Raging Bull
Raging Bull
“Raging Bull” (1980) is not a so much a film about boxing but more of a story about a psychotically jealous, sexually insecure borderline homosexual, caged animal of a man, who encourages pain and suffering in his life as almost a form of reparation. Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece of a film drags you down into the seedy filth stenched world of former middleweight boxing champion Jake “The Bronx Bull” LaMotta. Masterfully he paints the picture of a beast whose sole drive is not boxing but an insatiable obsessive jealously over his wife and his fear of his own underling sexuality. The movie broke new ground with its brutal unadulterated no-holds-bard look at the vicious sport of boxing by bringing the camera into the ring, giving the viewer the most realistic, primal, and brutal boxing scenes ever filmed. With blood and sweat spraying, flashbulbs’ bursting at every blow Scorsese gives the common man an invitation into the square circle where only the hardest trained gladiators dare to venture.
The movie opens just as it ends, the camera pans down to the pavement revealing a sign outside the Barbizon Plaza Theater: “An Evening with Jake LaMotta Tonight 8:30.” The film then cuts to a punched out overweight shot of LaMotta babbling a barely coherent rhyming rant mixing Shakespeare with the infernal jabber of an half illiterate has been boxer. Quickly the scene shifts from backstage of a nightclub to a close up of a younger LaMotta receiving repeated jabs to the face. The bold white title card “Jake La Motta 1941” jumps out against the stark grey images of the match. LaMotta between rounds sits in the corner surrounded by his trainer, manager and cut man giving the impression of lion tamers antagonizing a corned animal by telling him he is “out pointed” and “You’re gonna have to knock him out.” When the fight continues LaMotta crouches like a coiled snake boring his way into a barrage of punches only to explode in a flurry of flashbulbs sending his opponent to the canvas. With a bombardment of hard stuck lefts, LaMotta sends Jimmy Reeves on a return trip to the mat. Again, in the final round a bloody pulverized Reeves lies pinned to the floor only to be saved by the bell after the count reaches nine. LaMotta then proceeds to strut around the ring proudly wearing a leopard skin robe with hands held high while the ring announcer declares Reeves “the winner by unanimous decision.” In a foreshadowing of what is to come, a defiant LaMotta refuses to leave the ring.
The film then cuts to the title card: “THE BRONX New York City 1941.” After a short talk between Jakes brother Joey and a small time Mafioso Salvy about allowing fellow mobster Tommy Como to take control of Jakes boxing career the scene cuts to the kitchen of a cramped New York apartment. Still bruised up from the from the Reeves fight Jake in a “wife beater” undershirt sits at the kitchen table harassing his first wife about overcooking his steak. Like an true animal he wants it raw and bloody. Sick and tired of his relentless badgering she throws the plate down in front of him in defiance. Again, the dormant beast is awakened up ending the table sending the steak across the kitchen. Just then Joey enters the apartment and an off screen neighbor yells down in true New York fashion “What’s the matter with you up there, you animals?” Already irate Jake leans his head out of the window and screams the carnivorous threat, I’m gonna’ eat your dog for lunch. Overwhelmed with furry Jake sits down and whines to Joey about how his girl hands are going to keep him from fighting the heavyweight champion of the world Joe Lewis. Then in a strange sadomasochistic display of machismo, Jake taunts Joey to punch him in the face as hard as he can. When Joey resists Jake begins to taunt him: “Come on, don’t be a little faggot. Come on hit me. You throw a punch like you take it up the ass. Come on harder.” Joey lays repeated rights to jakes face until his eye begins to open up, and blood begins to drip down his face.
Already in the first two main scenes of the movie, the animal that is Jake LaMotta has already reared its nasty head. In brutal displays during the Reeves fight, the steak scene with his wife, the yelling match with his neighbor and his childish punching challenge with his brother, Jake LaMotta has already proved himself a genuine psychotic beast. Along with the animal nature, an underlying sexual insecurity