Masterpiece Revisited: Raging Bull

Whenever the current box office selection is sub par, I like to delve into the archives and rewatch a modern classic to refamiliraise myself with what made these films so great and ultimately timeless and Raging Bull is undoubedtly one such film.
Famously brought to director Martin Scorcese's attention by Robert De Niro after reading Jake La Motta's autobiography on ther set of the Godfather II, it took years of presuasion and a near death experience Scorcese agreed to direct the picture about the former middleweight champions life to save not only his life but indeed his career.
With Taxi Driver screenwriter Paul Schrader on board and a cast that featured Robert De Niro and at the time a largely inexperienced cast including Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty, production began on this black and white shot, biopic.
What resulted is, in my opinion, a career high for both the director and his leading actor.
It is a film that has become famous in some quarters for De Niro's dedication to the role in which he gained 60 lbs to play Jake la Motta in his retirement years but also went through a rigorous training programme which saw him traing and prepare with professional boxers. De Niro's preformance is much more than that, however, as he perfectly captures the rage, paranoia and vulnerability of La Motta, in a performance that even in such a glittering career, he has never topped.
His La Motta is one that becomes absorbed by sexual jealousy, threatening like a simmering pot ready to boil over at any point and the tension is pallable throughout! He cuts an unsympathetic protagonist whose fall from grace is inevitable such is his emotional disconnection from reality but all the more raw and plainful for that fact.
Honourable mentions must also go to first time out Joe Pesci, as La Motta's brother Joey and Cathy Moriarty as his long suffering wife Vickie, with both actors earning well deserved Oscar Nominations for their respective parts.
But this is Scorcese and De Niro's film as that legendary chemistry combines to deliver one of the most powerful movies ever dedicated to screen. A knockout!
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟