Raging Bull (DVD 2000)

This is one of the greatest movies of all time, Robert De Niro is at his best and fits in perfect with the black and white features of the movie, very violent movie but keeps its artistic appeal. If you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall this movie will suit you down to the ground!

This is yet another incredibly convincing performance from Robert Deniro, all the more impressive considering he is playing such an utterly horrible human being.

This film takes the viewer through some of the most turbulent years of the career of Jake La Motta, the famous boxer.

It's just as well that Deniro's acting and Scorcese's directing are of such a high calibre, because Jake La Motta himself was a thoroughly unpleasant man who cheated on his first wife, seduced a fifteen year old girl, went on to marry that fifteen year old girl and the proceeded to knock her about incessantly. He also neglected his career and ended up, as his wife called him, 'a fat pig'.

Scarily, Deniro acts this part with aplomb, and Scorcese's direction gives the usual gritty Taxi Driver/Mean Streets quality. Everything here is shot in black and white, including the fight scenes, which are so powerful they defy belief. At one point during a fight, blood splatters several spectators across the face. This may or may not be there for dramatic embellishment, but it's a powerful effect just the same.

Difficult though it was for me to like Jake La Motta as a person, this film is absolutely worth seeing for the wonderful acting of Robert Deniro, in one of his classic roles.