Please give me your thoughts and feelings about this week's film, which - as I said in class - is currently considered one of the greatest American films of all time. Besides giving me your honest thoughts and feelings (which you can hopefully back up with references from specific moments/scenes) - I would like you to briefly reflect on why you think critics and the general public alike hold Raging Bull in such very high regard.Finally, at the end of your response, consider the following: at the end of the film, Jake LaMotta sits in front of a backstage mirror reciting a monologue from On the Waterfront. One reviewer called it the most violent scene in the film. Scorsese himself said: "When [Jake] says in the mirror, 'It was you, Charlie,' is he playing his brother, or putting the blame on himself?' It's certainly very disturbing to me." Please respond to Scorsese's question: do you think Jake is 'playing his brother' or putting the blame on himself? And why do you think this is 'very disturbing' to Scorsese?
I look forward to reading what you write - and to receiving your second essay proposals in class on Tuesday.
King of Comedy - here we come!
17 comments:
Matt Fagerholm
Raging Bull might be my favorite Scorsese film. It’s not as popular as Goodfellas, or as controversial as The Last Temptation of Christ, but I believe it resonates as his most fully realized artistic creation. As we discussed in class, Scorsese was directing this film like it was the last of his career, of his lifetime. He poured every fiber of his being into making the film, and it nearly killed him. It’s as immediate, as visceral, and as alive as existence itself. No boxing film has ever come close to equaling Raging Bull’s portrait of the bone-crunching, animalistic sport. When the camera follows Janiro’s head as it falls horizontally onto the mat, the audience actually feels the disorientation of the bloodied, disfigured boxer.
I believe critics hold the film in such high regard precisely because it pays off on the promise of all the method-acted, super-masculine, anti-heroes of the previous few decades (Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire, Paul Newman in Hud, etc.). Like those classic characters, LaMotta gradually alienates himself from all of his loved ones until he faces a wall that equals his bull-headed defiance. The scene where he beats his head against the prison wall is one of the most nakedly sorrowful moments in film history. Raging Bull is operatic in its emotional intensity, but it never once becomes heavy-handed. It’s one of the best examples in American film of style (fire under the lens, animal noises, etc.) being completely synthesized with tangible reality (the deeply complex characters, the excruciatingly awkward seduction scene reminiscent of Who’s That Knocking at My Door?, etc.).
I absolutely do not believe LaMotta (in the final scene) is putting blame for his failings upon the brother that obviously cares about him. Of course the ambiguity of this line would’ve disturbed Scorsese, who was putting so much of himself into the character that he was scaring himself with its implications. LaMotta’s story is one of redemption, and through recognizing his sins, he is now seeking reconciliation. He already “scourged” himself through losing punishing fights and gaining grotesque amounts of weight. Now, he’s seeking to make peace with his brother, whom he chases through the street after years of not speaking. LaMotta recognizes himself as a bum, and is willing to pick up the fragments of his shattered life and start anew. These feelings are echoed in his opening monologue:
“So give me a stage
Where this bull here can rage
And though I could fight
I’d much rather recite
That’s entertainment.”
Raging Bull is not merely entertainment. It is cinematic art of the highest order.
After watching the film Raging Bull I can see why it is considered a great picture, but I don’t think its one of the best films ever made. I’ve thought about it several times during the week trying to help myself justify its status as one of the greatest and try and figure out why so many others honor it as so.
Perhaps it is the potent emotional energy throughout the picture, or how Jake LaMotta’s constant urges to punish himself in the ring for the sins he had committed is something many people relate to. It could even be something as simple as its timeless black and white look that makes it last through the years.
I can’t say exactly why critics have given it so much praise, all I know is how the film has affected me. As in almost all of Scorsese’s films, Raging Bull focuses on the dark and sometimes disturbing life of its anti-hero Jake LaMotta. This character is presented in such a powerful way through the fantastic performance by Robert De Niro that I left the film exhausted and speechless. I was so emotionally drained that I felt like I myself had spent 10 rounds in the ring with Jake himself.
The extremely well-crafted boxing scenes by Scorsese were a work of art in themselves. Because each boxing match had its own distinct aesthetic style, it allowed the matches to advance the emotional themes of the picture and also communicated Jake’s personal perspective of each fight.
The fight that had the deepest impact on me was the boxing match that was made to look like a fight in hell. When I saw the heat rising from the fire out of frame and below camera it gave me chills. I could feel the heat from that fight.
At the end of the film when Jake is looking at himself in the mirror and quoting from Marlin Brando in On the Waterfront I believe Jake is putting the blame upon himself. He is not a boxer anymore so he has no one to physically punish him for the sins he has committed. Boxing was a type of therapy for Jake when he was a fighter. Now that he has retired he must punish himself so he can have the strength to keep living.
This was one of the most disturbing scenes for Scorsese. He may have thought this because he had emotionally identified with Jake’s character. It was very personal for him. Scorsese felt like he needed to also be punished for the sins he had committed. This scene was not only therapy for Jake but therapy for Scorsese as well.
Raging Bull
This was my first time seeing Raging Bull, which I’m told is quite a crime, and I will admit I enjoyed it a great deal this first time through. Being told that this film is considered one of the greatest American films of all time made me reflect a little more on what made this film enjoyable for me as well as reflect upon the bold title placed on this film. Half of me wants to think that the title of “one of the greatest American films…” is a bit pompous and makes me wonder who exactly decides this and tells us that this film, or any film, is that great. However, the other half of me understands the title and the reasons I can see for placing it upon this film are the same reasons I enjoyed the film. One of the which is I think the film is incredibly innovative in the realm of story telling as well as in terms of technical filmmaking and this was achieved I believe by Scorsese putting everything he had into this film. When we put the gun to our head we can make great leaps forward and I think this is exactly what Scorsese did, he made this film like he had nothing left to live for after it and before he pulled the figurative trigger he was going to leave something behind.
The story is something extremely interesting to consider because the main character of the film offers the audience very little in feeling any sympathy for him. He is a dark, violent man, cold to those in the ring and the ones who love him. However, at the same time we in the audience hold little pity for him as he spirals downward, it is when he hits rock bottom I personally started to see beyond the asshole we just watched on screen and in his darkness I think we can all see ourselves, and that is what is most frightening. The darkness in Jake Lamotta is fueled by this perpetual guilt he holds inside himself and it is because of this guilt he constantly feels the need to punish himself. I think there is a little bit of all this in all of us. We all know when we have done something wrong but admitting it is an entirely different story. Therefore, we keep our guilt inside, but the more it stays inside the more it needs an outlet. This outlet can come in many forms but for some, Jake Lamotta included, this outlet may be seeking the punishment we deserve in our own eyes. I believe this approach to creating this dark of a main character was a different venture into storytelling and I think its effects on the audience create a strange reflective experience by the end of film. This may be one of the many reasons the film is considered so amazing.
At the end of the film when Jake has the monologue in the mirror Scorsese refers to it as “very frightening” and one critic called it “the most violent scene in the movie”. Having only seen this film once it is hard to make such a judgment or claim, it still seems so ambiguous in my mind and the way I remember it. Was it that Jake was using someone else’s words to finally come to grips with what has happened to him without having to admit it in his own? If this is the case, then by using someone else’s words to make such a realization is Jake skirting the real chance at self-redemption and self-actualization therefore making this gesture as empty and Jake has been throughout the rest of film? This scene brings up a lot of interesting questions for me in relation to the film as a whole as well as the character of Lamotta. I am hoping that through more viewings of the film I am able to stream line my analysis of it a little more and maybe better understand the darkness that resides in Scorsese’s Jake Lamotta.
One of the things that stands out to me about this film is the violence. It’s so intense. The difference between the violence in a ROCKY film and in RAGING BULL is that the violence is internal for Jake and the violence exists in every scene of the film, not just when he’s boxing. Jake feels sporadic the whole movie, his feelings and how he’ll react to a person seem completely up in the air, to the point where I don’t know if he’ll laugh at something or just explode and try and beat the crap out of someone. The scenes with his wife were so hard to watch, I’m just waiting for Jake to snap and kill someone. The shot that really sticks out to me in the film is during Jake’s final fight with Sugar Ray. Jake’s leaning against the ropes, blood dripping down his face. The shot is from Jakes point of view, but it drops down a little, pans in and zooms out, causing the background and foreground to separate. And Sugar Ray is just standing there breathing heavily, this crazy look in his eyes, and the camera’s effects just make him look even more ominous. It’s just amazing that Jake sees this for what it is and still just takes the hit.
I think many critics enjoy the film because of Jake’s character. Superbly acted by Robert DeNiro, Jake is never a likeable character. There is no scene at the beginning of the film showing him having a hard life growing up or showing him saving a cat. The first time we see him we don’t really like him, and he doesn’t ever become a good person, at least not the type of protagonist you look for. But despite how bad of a person Jake is, it’s impossible not to care for him. You can’t help but watch him sink lower and lower. We can see situations arising and we can see Jake start to over react, hoping that maybe just once he won’t, that maybe once he’ll let it go. But he never does and yet somehow, we hope that maybe the next time he’ll surprise us. I think critics really enjoyed watching a film (that’s technically amazing) about an anti-hero unlike any anti-hero that had come along. DeNiro’s portrayal of Jake is amazingly deep and subtle, but it comes through all the same.
Finally, in the last scene, it seems Jake is blaming himself for his life and accepting it. Despite having seen his brother days prior and bestowing him with hugs and kisses, the scene in the jail cell really seems to point to Jake blaming himself. I think he knew what he’d done and what he turned into. I think that he had a lot of problems, and it wasn’t until he was forced to think about them that he realized he was the cause of all of them. It’s in jail that he realizes this. I think at the end, when he’s looking in the mirror, it just goes back to how we all see ourselves. What’s scary is that whether he’s accepting his own actions finally, or playing his brother, either way he’s to blame. If he’s accepting his actions well then maybe he’ll stop punishing himself, but if he was just playing his brother, that means that he’s still punishing himself, he still feels that after everyone and everything he’s lost, that he still needs to lose more. How much further does he have to fall?
Logan M. Futej
Raging Bull
Poetry in motion best explains Raging Bull. A vile, brutal sport such as boxing is presented in such a way that shows it as a horrible and beautiful art form all in one. From the animalistic sounds, and cuts throughout La Motta’s fight with Robinson, all the way to the inter cutting of stills of a series of fights, and a faded 8mm stock of family film. We see the beauty and horrors of this individual, Jake LaMotta. I believe this is why we, or at least myself can sympathize with Jake. We see him as an abusive, violent, and very angry person. But we also see him when he is completely vulnerable. The scene where Jake is trying to fix the television is one of the lowest points I believe Jake gets too. It’s sad that Jake clearly cannot trust anyone, and the ironic part of it all, is he knows that Joey is hiding something from him about Vickie. Where it becomes demented for me is when Jake says he’s going to kill someone, and Joey lists a bunch of people he could kill. Jake groups him with all the others that he feels are against him. He states that Joey doesn’t even know what he means, and I think Joey knows he didn’t do anything wrong, but some how Jake instills him with this fear that he did do something wrong. Here we see a fat, lonely Jake, who cannot trust anyone, which leads to him beating Joey and Vicki. His loneliness, and lack of trust in those who clearly do care for him, is something that is just simply very sad.
In the end I think Jake is blaming his brother. This goes back to everything throughout the whole picture. From Joey having his friends come to the ring to watch him train to Jake asking him if he fucked his wife. I believe Jake never reaches his sanctuary, and all the way up till the end believes that everybody is against him. I believe his hugging and kissing with his brother is just like the transition with his first wife after he flips out on her and says he wants to kill her. Immediately after he flips out. He says lets have a truce and begins to smile. Then quickly after he tells Joey to punch him in the face, immediately after smiling and grabbing Joey’s cheek. Jake seems to be somewhat of a Bi Polar person with the quick shifts in his moods. All in all Jake started out with a group of people that truly did care about him, and he ends up a fat washed up boxer by himself staring into the mirror at what he’s become. “An up and comer, who is now a down and outer.” In Scorsese’s personal case, this is maybe something he feared. In the sense that something an individual becomes so involved and infatuated with, blocks out everything else in their life, which could lead to complete loneliness and lack of trust for everyone.
I agree that this is one of the greatest Films ever made. We see incredible acting; amazing shots, cuts and a score that anybody could only wish to create when making a picture. It’s something I can watch over and over, and it gets better and better each time I see it. I think it helped that Scorsese didn’t really have an interest in Boxing. It stayed true to what this film was really about, and really got us involved with Jake LaMotta. Even so, the boxing scenes in Raging Bull are the best depiction of the sport that I’ve ever seen on the screen.
Jake La Motta, the Raging Bull, wasn’t blessed with much brain, but strong fists. He leaves the business to his younger brother Joey and lets his punches speak for himself throughout his boxing career. Though aware of his bad personality, he can’t help but give in to his obsessive need to be in control of everything. Mistrust, jealousy and scam in the ring eventually break him turning him into a forgotten box champion who could have gone far but lost the battle and is left with nothing.
I admire the work Scorsese has put into this film, I admire the story, the camera work, the whole arch and the outcome. Yet I can’t call this film one of my favorites, simply because it is too depressing, too sad, too overwhelming and uncontrollable. There is nothing after this film, a big hole and I as a viewer am left with a bitter-cold aftertaste and an empty dressing room.
Having seen this film now for the fourth time, I noticed one scene early on where Jake shows Joey his hands and points out that they’re too small. “Women hands” he has. He looks at Joey and tells him that he will never be a big shot; he will never be able to beat the best of the best, leaving him with the middleweight bunch. It struck me as something so human and vulnerable that this time all my sympathies were on Jake’s side. To be born with something and realizing at some point that all of one’s ambitions and goals are somewhat limited and probably never reachable is both discouraging and depressing.
Jake tries to keep the ropes in his hand, tries to control everything. But the tighter he holds on to Joey and Vicky, the more he pulls them into a hole he has started digging years ago. As his manhood gets questioned he finds himself caught in an entrapment of jealousy, mistrust and anger. Right before Jake boxes for the middleweight championship title, that despair and mistrust is vividly shown as Jake observes how Joey and Vicky sympathize with the older bosses. Again he can’t help but be violent and therefore authoritative to keep control over the situation. The blocking and the acting make this scene frightening and remind me of my own childhood whenever I got into trouble with my dad. Vicky is far at the left, almost pressed against the wall, also tightened by the frame and is almost in a profile which makes her come off as very vulnerable with no value.
The last scene, Jake’s monologue in front of the mirror comes off to me as a silent blame onto his brother to ease his pain and disappointment of being a faded and almost forgotten middleweight box champion. But I believe at the same time, Jake knows or has learned to understand that he screwed up too many times and overall the blame can only be put on one single person: himself. The violent thing for me in this scene happens at the end when Jake gets up, takes another look of himself in the mirror and does his punches. These punches show a lot of different things, at least for me. It is grief that he’s trying to punch away, it is disappointment, it is also a way of pushing himself because he’s about to open another comedy night.
Watching this film and knowing about Scorsese’s struggle and circumstances make this an amazing experience that can only be repeated every once in a while.
One sequence in Ragging Bull struck me more then any other it is when Jake decides to destroy his belt so that he can get money from the jewels, but the jeweler doesn’t want the jewels he wants the belt itself. This moment made my heart sink, I know it’s not the most powerful moment, Jake isn’t in prison, or beating his wife, or resisting lines in mirrors, he is just a boy who made a painfully regrettable mistake. To me this is where the truth is, all of those powerful moments are just window dressing. This moment is real, and you can see it on Deniros face when he reacts to the jeweler’s response that the belt is what has real value not the Jewels. Deniro shows a moment of confusion followed by a moment of sadness followed by a moment of regret, and then masks it in a shroud of anger and frustration, every other part seemed like acting but this felt like reality this felt like Jake.
I think the film is an amazing study of a person’s life, I don’t know why it’s held in such high regard because this was my first viewing, but in the aforementioned paragraph I described a feeling that vary few films have created in me. A feeling that I think only great films can create. Scorsese is able to get that out of his actors but more importantly he is able to get that out of his AUDIENCE, this kind of vulnerability when presented honestly has an effect on people a real impact on them, so I can see why it is held in such high regard.
I don’t think Jake has the capacity to play his brother, it’s not that I don’t think he is smart, I just think he is too narcissistic, but on the other hand maybe he can’t see himself at fault because he is so self absorbed, I’m not sure what to say I think it may be both, I know this is a cop out but honestly, could he be giving and taking the responsibility for both he and his brother, I don’t know it definitely warrants a second viewing on my part.
There’s a long shot in this film I absolutely love that I think could pretty much sum up Jack LaMotta and Raging Bull. Tommy the mob boss comes to visit Jack before his fight with “pretty boy”, and Tommy entire visit gets under Jack’s skin. Jack’s annoyed by his brother’s warm welcoming of Tommy, yet it’s Vicki’s actions that fuel the fire. Vicki gets up off the couch, and then gives Tommy a goodbye kiss on the cheek. Scorsese gives us the moment in his signature slow-motion cinematography, and we, the audience can feel the rage in Jack building up.
Now, the shot I love is where Jack’s very slowly pacing back and forth across the hotel room.
Scorsese holds the camera on him, refusing to take it off! This built the intensity of the scene even higher, even though there’s no quick cuts action cuts, musical score swells, etc. Just by simply holding the camera on Jack do we feel this built intensity in Jack, and actually feel it in ourselves. I felt like I kid watching an angry father contemplate a harsh punishment after getting caught doing something real wrong. The kids are Vicki and Jack’s brother in the room, and we knew Jack was going to give them an earful at the least.
This is what Raging Bull is about. How funneling that rage can turn a man into his dream as a champion or into his(and our) worst fears as an uncontrollable washout.
I believe when people and critics watch this film, this is what they see and love about the movie. They see a protagonist who is so messed up, yet has the abilities to overcome his personal problems. The problem is, Jack leads himself into his failures. He purposely breaks down himself, very subconsciously believing he is not worthy of success. This is what the public loves because in some twisted way, every human being has this messed up thought pattern deep down in their minds!
This is why Scorsese said Italian Catholics would get this film, yet French Catholics might not. I think it’s farther deep down than that. I don’t think it’s not our beliefs, yet our god-given humanity that makes this film so powerful. Just like in Taxi Driver, again here we have a flawed protagonist who demonstrates a very strong aspect of the human psychological condition that we all feel and have experienced living in today’s society. The audience, as unlikable as Lamotta’s character can be at times,still strongly identifies and relates with his him, and it is this simple human connection that makes the film, and Jake Lamotta, as memorable as they are.
Finally, Scorese’s disturbing question for us all! Do you think Jake is playing his brother or putting the blame on himself? Truthfully, I don’t think there’s going to be an all around right answer to this question. I think the answer is going to depend upon the individual answering. (and probably say something about them also!) This is one of those questions where our life experiences, psychological and sociological conditioning, and current frame of mind shape our answers to this scene. Truthfully, I think the scene’s displaying LaMotta as being incapable of accepting the brunt of the responsibility on what has become his life, and that’s what’s very disturbing to Scorsese. The fact that Lamotta can’t accept his past actions and find that redemption/salvation/ piece of mind means he will continue on the same tract unless he’s able to acknowledge and admit “who he is.” This is something that is very, VERY hard for people to do. Very hard. And if they can’t, ultimately they and everyone they love and love them are loss to each other in the end.
This was my first viewing of Raging Bull. Immediately following the film I was rather speechless. I knew I liked what I saw, but I could not pinpoint exactly why. After letting it soak in for the past couple days I think this is the very reason for its massive success. Not only are first time viewers left speechless afterwards, but they continue to ponder what they had just seen and continue feeling the aftershocks of greatness.
From the very first shot of the film to the very last this film was filled with perfection. The first shot shows the theme of the whole movie. Deniro is left alone in the ring fighting no one but himself. Scorsese did a brilliant job planning this sequence. Aesthetically setting up an isolated environment for which Deniro can truly be at peace, alone and in his comfort zone, the boxing ring.
One major reason why this film has been said to be one of the greatest American films ever is because it is not your typical biography film. Most of the bio-films are overdone showing the hero in an incredibly optimistic fashion or an extremely dry factual walkthrough of their life. Martin Scorsese’s portrayal of Jake LaMotta’s life is a very honest, sad, and at points horrifying. In fact, Jake LaMotta at first did not appreciate the overall theme of the film because he felt he was going to get a bad rap of being nothing more than an insensitive animal. This is exactly what set the film apart from the other bio-films. Even with the release of other boxing films like Rocky for example, Raging Bull strays away from the protagonist underdog rising to the top. Quite contrary, pries on the dark and disturbing demons in LaMotta’s head. LaMotta could surely be called the antagonist of the film whom in fact could not be any closer to rock bottom at films end.
Throughout the film Deniro and Scorsese work hand in hand to show all the insecurities of La Motta’s life, which result in complete isolation. In the scene with LaMotta and his brother in his apartment, LaMotta goes as far as to accuse his brother of sleeping with his wife. He can not accept that a beautiful woman is truly in love with him and beats her with accusations of infidelity. He pushes the people away that love him most in life. He gets so caught up in his boxing lifestyle; he himself turns into a vicious boxer out of the ring and carries his wife around like a trophy.
When LaMotta says, “It was you, Charlie.” I do not believe he is putting the blame on himself. LaMotta had many chances to change how he was treating his family, but he never did. He always went back to the shallow, insecure, head case that he is.
Overall, when someone puts their blood, sweat, and tears in a film as Scorsese did, it definitely shines through. Scorsese said he made this film like it was going to be his last. His personal desperation is felt through Deniro’s superb performance. Critics and the general public can feel this sense of perseverance and determination of Scorsese while watching the film. This brings a certain reality and honesty to the film and in turn is what attracts people to it so dearly.
It was really and interesting film. I was actually in a relationship with a man who was just like Jake. It was painful to watch this film for me. I think this is one of the best films I have seen by Scorsese.
It shows how humans constantly like to destroy themselves. Jake was given opportunity after opportunity and as if he felt he didnt deserve success he destroyed himself.
The film was a beautifully rough film. I loved the look of the black and white. To me it was like a flash back or a dream. I do find it funny how scorses hints toward the color red with black.
I believe the final scene with Jake LaMotta is not him playing his bother or putting the blame on himself. I believe Jake is searching for closure and someone to blame. Jake is unable to make the connect as many people are that it is their own thoughts and beliefs that hold them back.
This is his way of making closure and possibly forgiving his brother but Jake still has not forgiven himself and until that day comes he will always find himself falling short.
Blake Burkhart
I had seen Raging Bull three times already before attending class last Tuesday, but I feel like I found the film far more meaningful in this viewing then ever before. For me, it is not surprising at all that this film has received such critical praise. It is undoubtedly a film that causes the audience to feel. By that I mean the film shows a large portion of a man's life, from his rise, to his highest accomplishments, and inevitably his downfall, and all the while we the viewer have felt for him as a human. As Jake LaMotta struggles through rough relationships, regrettable mistakes and self destructive tendencies, we see him as being far from perfect, yet in an odd way we can relate to him. Ultimately, that is why this is a brilliant film in my opinion, and I am sure that critics share similar sentiments when praising the film.
I believe the tragedy of the final scene in which LaMotta recites the famous lines from On the Waterfront is the fact that he truly is acknowledging the fact that he is to blame for his own problems. This is a particularly scaring scene because it shows a man truly being honest with himself while looking back at his life. After all the ridiculous, chaotic, and flat out stupid things we see LaMotta do in the course of the film, perhaps the most disturbing of all is his own face as he copes with his own faults and wrongdoings.
Brandon Schiffli
Raging Bull is the story of a guy who is obsessed and jealous over everything his wife does… and he just happens to be a boxer. De Niro plays a guy who is driven by his passion for boxing but lets his personal life, feelings and thoughts get in the way. Jake LaMotta is not a hero. Jake LaMotta is not a good guy. This character that both Scorsese and De Niro have created is someone who is set up to fail. In my opinion, that is one of the reasons why this film is so highly regarded. It is not a happy ending. This is real life.
I really like how this is not a boxing film. This is no Rocky. There is no happy ending here. This is the story of a man and his relationship with his brother and his wife. He focuses on the wrong things. When he should be practicing, he’s messing with his television. He’s worrying about a guy who his wife said hello to. He’s busy blaming his brother for messing with his wife. He focuses on the wrong things to the point that he fails, even if he is a good boxer who ends up winning a belt. He fails himself because he is stubborn in his relationship and arrogant when it comes to boxing.
I really like how Scorsese kind of ends the film after what seems to be the fourth act. He does this in a couple of his other films. The story doesn’t end at the high point. It continues to show us what happens to Jake afterwards. He is old and fat and literally has nothing to show for his life as a boxer, especially after he destroys his belt to get money to get out of trouble. His arrogance and stubbornness continues into his career as washed up comedian. He turns out to be a guy who can’t have relationships. His wife is gone. His brother is gone. He hangs around night clubs drinking and picking up young girls. He looks terrible. I don’t want to see De Niro like this let alone his character Jake. It’s terrible, but it’s real. It’s cold and lonely and real. It’s a hard blow to the stomach for the audience. This has to be why it is so highly regarded.
The end is creepy. He speaks so softly into the mirror it seems like he is speaking to someone. I think he is talking to himself. He is pointing directly to himself and accepting what he made his life to be. This is disturbing because it seems he has finally brushed off that arrogance that he has had the entire film. He literally acts different in this last shot. His mannerisms make him seem more accepting and less bull headed. He says these lines as if that is all he has to say to himself. It seems like he has been trying to say it to himself for a while. More disturbing is that he gets up and straightens his tie and exits as if he hadn’t heard what he just said.
From the moment the film begins, Raging Bull fuses itself with the psyche of the audience--at least, that's what it does to me. It is the slow-motion camera work of Jake LaMotta in the ring, coupled with the beautiful, almost operatic score that resonates with the core of humanity resting within us all. Raging Bull is almost human in that it is a film beyond mere honesty. A friend of mine often says that the human experience is actually very limited, despite appearances to the contrary, and because of this fact we are ridiculously equipped with the capacity to relate to and understand, in our own personal ways, the lives of others. In other words, it doesn't matter how different one's position in the world is from another's, both will experience and encounter the same basic emotions, thoughts, problems, and inevitabilities. Essentially, all we really have to do is recognize the similarities and get along. What happens after that is anyone's guess.
One moment in Raging Bull that perhaps indicates my point is when LaMotta (DeNiro) is at a club with his brother Joey and he can't keep his eyes off Vickie. Finally, she leaves with her gangster friends and the others partying together, while LaMotta, so compelled by his attraction to her, clandestinely follows the group out of the club. Outside, he watches as the party gets into a parked car across the street in slow motion, set to a cool jazzy song. The car pulls away and LaMotta is snapped back into reality--the jazz song fades away, but not entirely--and he realizes he's in the middle of a small riot. Apparently, some young immigrants are being thrown out of the club; LaMotta wastes no time in assisting the bouncers; he starts to shove and kick people out onto the street and finally says, as the scene fades to black, "Go back where you came from." The scene is over and the screen is black before the final words come out of his mouth. Now, what makes this sequence so extraordinary is that it illustrates both the virtues of and problems with humanity. LaMotta is struck by a lighting bolt at the mere sight of Vickie, which means he has temporarily forgone his autonomy and allowed his instincts to take over (which is one of the things about him that connects him with the rest of humanity), but once she has gone, however, LaMotta quickly recovers his formal persona, his tough-guy veneer and participates in the fight (the thing that ultimately divides people into little, distinct categories from which there is no escape) and he does so willinging but not necessarily knowingly.
There are so many forces at work on people all the time that it can be difficult to know who you really are; for LaMotta, these forces are is brother, his trainers, his boxing opponents, the gangsters who want to "deliver a kid from their neighborhood", Vickie, his ex-wife and all the other women in his life, and society as a whole. In the final soliloquy LaMotta isn't sure who he's talking to or what he's talking about. Perhaps this is what was disconcerting for Scorsese about this scene. It is so impossible to know who or what makes you into the person you become and why. In On the Waterfront, Brando blames his brother because his brother truly is to blame (within the logic of the film) for not protecting him. But LaMotta's case is different; Joey did protect him and always did whatever was asked of him. LaMotta knows this, which is what makes the scene so ambiguous because he's not totally blaming himself either. Raging Bull is a film that takes on the issue of humanity on a micro level, whereas On the Waterfront does so on a macro level; because of this fact, the individual character of LaMotta, finally stripped of all the people who may have been able to shed light on these personal issues (Joey, Vickie) are now gone and he knows nothing can ever change that fact. Perhaps the only concrete message in this scene is that for individuals--real people with real experiences that are not unlike those you know and LaMotta knows--life doesn't really break down into these neat, generalized categories as they conveniently do in On the Waterfront. Perhaps this is what Scorsese learned in the process of making Raging Bull and what makes it such a frightening concept; people can never truly know other people and, worse, they may not be able to know themselves either.
Raging Bull is another one of Martin Scorsese's films that deals with a similar theme. In the film Jake LaMotta is unable to connect to other humans. There is a piece of circuitry that he is missing which leaves him incapable of developing a fully formed relationship with another person, leaving him lonely and miserable. As an emotional human being he isn't fully feeling, he can't sympathize with other people and as a result, hurts those who are closest to him.
His interactions with other people are shallow and utterly vacuous. When he meets his future wife at the pool when she's a young girl, the way he speaks and interacts with her is so devoid of sentiment and emotion that it's almost comical. His only means of wooing her is by giving her a ride in his shiny car. Later, they sit at his table in silence, LaMotta totally incapable of coming up with even the simplest topic of conversation.
This character is very reminiscent of the character of Travis Bickle, who much like LaMotta, is the shell of a man. Neither of them have the capacity to connect with other people, and bot both of which spend most of their time in misery. This reoccurring theme leads one to believe that this is a sentiment that Scorsese himself feels. Perhaps there is something missing within Scorsese that makes him feel like an outsider and makes personal relationships so difficult. Perhaps that's why he's had numerous failed relationships with women.
Jake LaMotta recognizes that he is missing something and he hates himself for it. This is beautifully, albeit disturbingly, portrayed when he is in the jail cell in Florida and he violently smashes his head on the concrete wall, punishing himself in a way for the misdeeds he's done. I also view his boxing as a form of self flagellation. Why is he a boxer? Why not a painter or a waiter or a construction worker? Sure he's a good boxer, but the reason he does it is because the act of beating another human to a pulp, and more profoundly, allowing another human to beat you into a pulp is a sort of confession, it's therapy. In the book Scorsese on Scorsese there was a quote which I thought was very telling and powerful. Scorsese said that LaMotta fought like he didn't deserve to live. This is a very revealing quote, one which sheds a lot of light on the character of Jake LaMotta, and I think to some extent, on the character of Scorsese at the time he made the film.
The final scene is incredibly powerful and quite disturbing. I feel that the recitation of the On The Waterfront scene is the first time that Jake shoulders any sort of blame for the trouble he's caused and for the state of his life. The entire time he had consigned all the troubles of his life onto other people and this is the first time he takes any of that blame, as meek as it may be. I found the scene to be more sad than disturbing. Here is a man who was once a prize fighter, a celebrity with money and fame. But because he couldn't connect to people he had become this fat slob doing bit comedy in a smoky nightclub.
We open the film seeing an overweight LaMotta, who needs to work just to breathe. He has pushed his anger and frustrations inward, as there is no longer anyone he can lash out at. Next we see LaMotta inside an empty rin surrounded by white smoke, which I can only interpret as his mind. This is the one place where he can have complete focus, he can take his anger out on the opponent physically, without restraint.
There has always been a fascination with boxers in hollywood. The act of taking violence out on another person is often the reflection of the difficult past that boxers have often had to face. There is a hero story behind every boxer, they have had nothing and built something. This is where Scorsese makes a better film on the subject than anyone before him. In this film, the subject, matter is not so much the boxing itself, but rather the mind of the man delivering the punches.
There are only brief moments of calm in the life of LaMotta. These are the times when he is seeking something he desires. But any search for comfort is continuously thrown offcourse by his own desire for self destruction. He understands that he has wrecked the lives of many of the people around him, and in turn he continuously pushes them away. The first scene outside the ring, we are introduced to him bickering with his wife over how to cook a piece of meat. The dialogue is a great metaphor for how he sees life. He wants the meat immediately before it's done, he has no patience for glory and no patience for the people who see the world differently.
In this film Scorsese manages to bring the viewer to see through the eyes of LaMotta and occassionally sympathise with him. This may be the great feat of this film. We are bombarded with repetitive scenes that traditionally wouldn't work, but everytime I watch the twist of suspision in LaMotta's mind I know that he is not coming back and I sympathize for his inhability to ever let things go. This is often the symptom of a great artist, who will argue a point until it is so downtrodden that nobody cares about the problem anymore, they only care about distancing themselves from the man who can't let anything go.
Similar to the life of Scorsese, LaMotta loves the attention of people but he doesn't have the patience for him. His own agenda must always be the best one, and the thing that everyone around him should follow.
The last scene in the film, we have come back to the place we started, with LaMotta in the corner of a dressing room, preparing to go on the mic. He has nobody left to yell at, and he is left in his own twisted thought, as to how he lost all the people he loved. He explains it the same way it was explained to him in a movie he once watched, as though the dialogue is meant to bring him peace. However, LaMotta has already passed his last moment of reconcilliation, and any explanation he can come up with will only serve his own mind, it will never bring him back any of the connections he once had.
Maybe people are obsessed with boxing in America, the way America stereotypes Canadians as being obsessed with hockey. Maybe people are so moved by stories about tortured souls (or whatever the hell phrase suits their ideologies best) that they can’t help being enraptured. Maybe somewhere between the two, boxing and being boxed, is why critics flipped over and over for this movie.
It’s a good movie, sure, but the possible main reasons for critical acclaim are the reasons I didn’t like the film. And I liked it, just, you know, not nearly so much. I think because it was hyped so much. That can always ruin a movie. Never underestimate overstating.
And don’t get me wrong, I love a fucked-up character. A guy who denies himself sex with a classic-looking beauty, and not just denies, but pours ice on his dick to make sure nothing happens, is clearly suffering from something. Sadly, though, I wonder if La Motta mainly suffered from ambition. Somewhere in the hoopla, I’m certain it’s said that La Motta’s failings are in his masculinity. This plays into that stereotype, that men are the hunters, that men want power and glory, that’s it’s the manly thing to do, blah blah blah. But I don’t know. Ambition can exceed the grasp of a lot of people. In cases like this, ambition exceeded the influence of La Motta’s own loins.
Technically, this movie clearly received every bit of effort Scorsese had. Boxing bores the shit out of me, but Scorsese made each fight intriguing. But the fights also made me sick to my stomach. Yeah, in the back of my mind, I was thinking, “that’s just Hershey’s Syrup squirting everywhere,” but it was gruesome. It’s tough watching someone suffer. The only reason La Motta doesn’t die in the fight scenes is because the bell saves him.
And, talk about further denial, La Motta’s obviously a guy who loves his food. For a guy who wants enough food to weigh 300 pounds to force himself to weigh 150 is pretty goddamn serious. Maybe denying oneself some sex and steak is silly, but, come on, those are some of the most basic and powerful chemical addictions humans can have.
So, for me, Scorsese’s meticulous and melodic shot sequences and seamless weaving through years of a tortured life saved this movie from being boring. Because, as interesting as a self-destructing man may be to watch, I got tired of watching him do some of the same basic shit over and over. Paranoia, paranoia, paranoia. It’s like the guy had smoked an ounce of weed every twenty minutes (maybe that’s why he wanted so much food!). I grew tired of watching La Motta question the loyalty of everyone around him, and, yeah, maybe that’s partially the point. People who are never satisfying are tiring and annoying.
I don’t know what to think of the “On the Waterfront” bit. Personally, I somewhat just got the vibe that Scorsese wanted some kind of self-reflection, some kind of mirror scene, to end the movie. The words spoken weren’t the most important part. It reminded me a little of “Night,” where the man, after years of surviving concentration camps, finally stops and sees his body in the mirror. La Motta, while not a prisoner of the Third Reich, is plenty abused and deformed by the end of this film, and to stare right at yourself and think about what’s happened to get your body to such a state can be pretty sickening.
Raging Bull to me is about a man who sees himself as a loser. Someone who is never ahead and always behind but in all reality to most he is a winner and ahead of the game, except to those who know him best his brother and wife. In many ways Jake wants to do it all by himself but also can't help but be dependent on someone at all times. He's a double edged sword being pulled both ways.
I love the fact that this move means so much to Scrosese because he thought it might be his last. To me Scorsese and Jack are extremely similar characters that both have insecurities about themselves.
Lastly I do believe that the final scene is about him beating himself up. Though I believe he blames many other people for his problems I believe in the end when he is alone in the world he can only blame himself. In many ways this as well is in contrast to Scorsese and how he puts all his films on the line and in the end he is the only one to blame and blames himself if anything goes wrong.
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