Yet people often forget that for every frame of swagger in 'Raging Bull,' there's one of nuance. Even after three decades, the fight scenes, distinguished by quick edits, off-kilter angles, slow and fast motion photography, 180-degree sweeps, and indelible images of brutal, blood-spurting blows, retain their dazzling visual and visceral impact.
One may not enjoy viewing the film from a narrative standpoint, but the construction, presentation, and attention to detail, not to mention the performances, make it a mesmerizing movie from start to finish. Are the characters vulgar and crass? Yes. If you read my review of 'Shutter Island,' you know I'm an unabashed, unapologetic Scorsese fan, but even someone who's lukewarm about the director has to appreciate the supreme and undeniable artistry of 'Raging Bull.' Is it a pleasant story? No.
(As you can tell, it's been 30 years and I still haven't completely gotten over it.) Once again, art lost to commerce, an edgy film fell to a safe one, and glossy upper-middle-class ideals beat the raw truth of the street. It certainly wasn't the first time the Academy got it wrong, but rarely did the oversight seem so glaring, the snub so overt. When 'Raging Bull' lost that year's Best Picture Oscar to the fine but painfully pedestrian and oh-so-mainstream family drama, 'Ordinary People,' and the renegade Scorsese lost the Best Director award to industry darling Robert Redford, my sense of outrage and disappointment knew no bounds. Rarely, if ever, had I seen such total command of the medium, such muscular enthusiasm on screen, and I was awed by it. Like La Motta himself, Scorsese pummeled me with an almost non-stop barrage of breathtaking cinematic punches, but unlike the fighter's battered opponents, I exited the ring feeling exhilarated. As a dedicated student of film history at Northwestern University, I was well-versed in the styles of such lauded auteurs as Hitchcock, Ford, and Hawks, but Scorsese told the tale of boxer Jake La Motta with such bold style and invention, seamlessly combining grit and elegance, I knew I had just witnessed the work of a modern master.
That was my initial reaction after watching Martin Scorsese's 'Raging Bull' for the first time during its 1980 theatrical release.
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