Raging Bull
This film is my favorite Scorsese movie. I can’t tell if it’s personal relatability or it’s just such an emotionally empathic story.
In all his films we judge if the character is redeemable in the end after all of their actions one way or another. Jake LaMotta after abuse, possessiveness, and overall being an angry and hopelessly sad person tries to find a way to change or that’s what he thinks. Does any of this work towards proving himself worthy beyond his past redeem him for he is a sinner like all others or is he too far gone.
John 9:25 "Whether or not he is a sinner, I do not know. All I know is this: Once I was blind and now I can see".
This ending the film was such a beautiful personal meditation on healing from past decisions made in a immature, hate, and passion blinded mind. Whether or not the crimes and actions make a judgement on him is irrelevant all that matters is that now he is enlightened on how he sees the world.
The camerawork is so inventive as well like the famous dolly zoom I felt true impending lose and doom when the shot stilled. The choice of black and white print was an excellent decision you can really see the sweat glisten and the blood in a darker color it’s easy to skip over when it’s cherry red because we see violence in film all the time but when it’s darker than everything else in the frame you understand the true brutality. And the camera moving over space where we can’t see as a passage between subjects very reminiscent of the french new wave.
And that performance Robert DeNiro truly understood and embodied this character every step of the way this is one of my favorite performances of his because it’s the most realistic and natural.
That fast pace editing as well you can see in the boxing section creating that chaotic sports event of the 40s through many things going at once with a bunch of people. You can see where he allocated a lot of the budget and drew from his roots.
Overall my first reactions to rewatching carefully my favorite Scorsese films. We are all human we commit acts that disappoint us while not nearly as bad as Jake LaMotta. We must ask at the end of the day does humanity still shine through if we understand and accept this factor to find way to enlighten your life.