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There are certain people whose journey always fascinate us, astonish us, and leave us in awe ( for both good and wrong reasons).
It can be their journey to fame, the fall, and most importantly their lives outside their professional arena.
On The other hand, you have another set of people having a messed up life, up and running in their fight with internal demons.
The tales of dysfunctional celebrities or public figure has never been out of reckoning among audiences.
In such cases, one wishes to get acquainted with the mess which the man accompanies in their professional and personal life.
Such aspects always keep Viewers asking for a biopic despite knowing that many times it just does not represent the real person or the exact person they want to know.
Jake La Motta Story perfectly fits in the second set of categories.
The story of Italian American Boxer and stand-up comedian Jake La Motta surely is a person of interest on whom a film should be made.
Martin Scorsese taps into the life of controversial boxer Jake La Motta and brings a colorful, honest, and fascinating depiction in the film Raging Bull.
The movie based on the Boxer memoir ( Raging Bull: My story )has been helped by awesome performance and a lot of technical sensibilities.
Martin Scorsese decides to move away from his usual gangster or mob genre and brings a story that got hailed as one of the greatest sports biopics of all time.
Jake La Motta is quite a big thing in the boxing ring. One who can take multiple blows to his body and whose lethal punches can break the opponent's face.
The Vicarious rage and the high intensity in his playing style have made the man taste the cusp of success and a fair share of setbacks in the ring.
His same rage coupled with paranoia, jealousy makes him a fearful figure to who no one wants to get near outside the ring.
A messed-up man with a hot temper and foul mouth is a living time bomb for people around him.
His brother and Manager Joey ( Joe Pesci) is the support system who has been navigating his life both on and off the boxing ring.
Staying true to the source material, Scorsese has successfully able to show both facets of Jake's life ( personal and professional life ) with due diligence and honestly.
This is testimony to the filmmaker's treatment where he did not weigh one facet of life over another.
The success and failures in his profession ( Boxing and aftermath)were well synced with bouts of violence, abuse, and hardships that he inflicted on his loved ones ( His wife Vicky and later on his brother Joey ).
The unpredictability and complexity of Jake La Motta on what he will do when faced with any given situation are what make his life story interesting and intriguing.
There are moments where our person of interest is at their weakest, most vulnerable self courtesy of his internal demons. Those moments rightly get our feelings, sympathies for our central character.
( The scenes where Jake La Motta wails his heart out)
The point here is the filmmaker's ability to immerse you during the entire course of the protagonist's journey remains the same across its running minutes.
There is neither a glorification nor sugar-coating of his controversial lifestyle despite the storytelling being so fascinating and interesting.
Even the humanization of Jake La Motta was not done at a very exaggerated scale while fleshing out his life on a silver screen.
This well-written story is supported by aesthetic and technical sensibilities.
The black and white color of the film was a refreshing change and did augur well with the audience.
The black and white frames made the protagonist's emotional and physical journey visually captivating.
In the scene where he hits a rock bottom, the Black and white color aids in elevating those scenes to the desired intended effect.
The cinematography by Michael Chapman is a thing to marvel at. The boxing matches or bouts were shot in such a manner where each fall or punch looked very real and brutal.
The bouts had a series of shots that directly takes us to the middle of the action taking place in the ring.
The fights have been filmed from the lens of our central character which makes the audience an even more active participant in the boxing bouts.
The perfect, clean edit by Thelma Schoonmaker just pierced those montages of footage into captivating, engaging video sequences.
It is testimony to the crisp editing that the movie never felt dragged towards its entire duration.
At last, some top-notch acting from the cast lets the immersive storytelling do the talking.
Robert De Niro stands out as the controversial Boxer Jake La Motta. Both his physical appearance and intense emotional acting made this performance one that could be remembered across ages.
The central character's violent outburst, the unstoppable rage are must-watch thanks to De Niro's intense, moving performance.
The actor essays the titular role with utmost honesty and due diligence.
Joe Pesci shines as his younger brother cum manager Joey. The actor shared a great understanding, camaraderie with De Niro, becoming the ideal supporting cast to the protagonist.
As Jake sees his life spiraling out ot his control, Joey helps in putting things back on track and being a constant companion during his thick and thins.
Joe Pesci's scenes where he counsels or scolds the brother are pure gold!
Cathy Moriarty as Vicky puts up a decent performance as tormented, mistrusted, abused wife of La Motta.
On the whole, Raging Bull while essaying a true story of a troubled man becomes a textbook guide for making biopics.
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