Jake LaMotta, nicknamed the Bronx Bull, is a boxer. And all his psychological and sexual complexes erupt violently in the boxing ring. In the heat of the moment he gets his own brother, the victim of Jake’s obsessive paranoia and jealousy, and a fifteen-year-old girl who is destined to become Jake’s greatest reward… and his haunting obsession.
4k movies reviews
Scorsese – De Niro (or vice versa), one of the most fruitful tandems of world cinema. Together they have made more than one great film, be it Goodfellas, The King of Comedy, Cape Fear, etc. Also, the guys have two masterpieces, one of which, “Taxi Driver,” which is my favorite movie. And the other masterpiece is, of course, Raging Bull.
I have been a fan of Scorsese and De Niro for a long time, but I must admit that until recently, I never got to see this film. And I think it’s even for the best, because if I had seen it a couple of years ago I probably wouldn’t have been able to appreciate all the advantages of this picture. So my viewing took place just when I needed it, just when I was ready to see something like this. I must say that, in spite of the fact that the film is old (1980), it is not a day old, just like “Taxi Driver” and other ageless masterpieces, but on the contrary, it looks much more impressive than the trash they show in movies now. The picture itself is filmed in an innovative, incredibly effective (especially the fight scenes), and the inner drama of the main character was and will always be interesting. So we can safely say that the film has withstood the most important thing, the test of time.
The story is based on the real life fighter Jake La Motte. In order to give a historical emphasis, the director created a very interesting manner of stylization of the picture. On the one hand a black and white aesthetic look at history without blackness, without snot, without pathos. On the other hand, an innovatively filmed and powerfully edited film with the addition of newsreels and real photographs (the first battle scene). And the story itself covers the most important moments of life, each of the episodes, which begins with the credits date and place of specific events, which gives the film, almost a documentary-chronological subtext. Naturally and the story is told, without any pity for the audience.
A very brutal and harsh story of a man who is satisfied solely by committing an act of destruction (“hit me”). The story of a fighter who, with all his potential, could have become a god of the boxing world, but because of his controversial nature he is remembered as a fighter with potential but no brains. He had brains, but instead of boxing he was thinking about “who’s fucking my wife”. So the fighter’s life went from beating to beating, with the eternal self-assertion in front of his family, instead of self-expression in the ring. Though he was in the ring too, but the main thing was not to win, but to feel invincible and not to care who had the title, “I didn’t fall down and that’s it”.
Naturally, such a man simply could not finish well. Subsequently, his relatives and wife left him, and even his friends went somewhere, so there was no place to get 10,000 dollars. And this is where the hero becomes pathetic (“why me”), but he buried himself, he poured his life and his undeniable gift from God down the toilet, instead of using it, only destroying himself with it. I think that’s what interested Scorsese, the theme of the inner destruction of one’s self instead of creation. The story is very honest and frank, so that La Motta himself, after watching it, looked at himself and his life with different eyes, so sincere was the film.
The actors were just amazing. Of course, after Travis Bickle, the best role of all time, for me, De Niro plays a reference. This is truly a genius actor. For this role, he put on 27 pounds of live weight, although of course now it’s no surprise, if even for the second-rate comedy are the sacrifices, and after receiving the Oscars, but the difference is that De Niro was the first who decided to do this. But it’s not about weight, he can be pumped up and dumped and pumped up again. The point is that he is La Motta, the family tyrant and autocrat (“I know, I’m the BOSS here”), and he’s also a rabid beech in the ring. By the way, in the opening scene of the fight with his first wife, De Niro starts a verbal altercation with his neighbor. Surprisingly, this was not in the script, and the neighbor simply did not know that the shooting was going on and did not recognize De Niro, but De Niro is not confused:
– What kind of animals live there?
– Did that son of a bitch call me an animal? …Hey, you, I’ll take your dog and eat him for lunch, did you hear Larry?
I improvised brilliantly.
I’d also like to say that Joe Pesci was a joy to watch. The role of his brother Joey suits him just fine, every episode with him is incomparable, well, their dialogues with De Niro want to review several times. It’s a shame he didn’t win anything for his role, well at least the academy awarded him for “Goodfellas”, he more than deserves it. And of course we want to mention the excellent acting of Cathy Moriarty as Vicki. Essentially a stereotypical character, but ultimately revealing herself completely.
The standard of historical and biographical cinema
Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (87.0 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles
English SDH, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Japanese, Estonian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Slovenian, Greek, Hebrew.
