RAGGING BULL

Raging Bull will always be the crown jewel of film history to me.

Raging Bull will always be the crown jewel of film history to me. Everything about this movie absolutely sweats. The directing is astounding and although Scorsese would go on to direct many more impressive pieces of film, this has been his greatest achievment. There has never been a boxing movie before or since that made you feel as part of the fight as this, the ways the camera is placed inside the ring with the fighters, the shots of the audience being sprayed with blood, the sound going from loud and abrasive, (hearing bones crunch and leather slap skin) to muffled and distant, as I’m sure it does with boxers in the ring, and the most impressive, Scorsese holding flames under the camera during LaMotta’s most difficult fight, to create the illusion that we are in some kind of hell with this character.
The performances are the best these actor’s will give in their careers, which is saying alot, the editing by Thelma is brilliant and the script is flawless, not a word of ‘filler’.
I could go on and on, but I’ll close with this:
Raging Bull is amoung the few movies that, aside from its technological accomplishments, can evoke a plathora of emotions in me in a single viewing, all along with the characters as they feel them, anger, laughter, fear, suspense, loyalty, betrayal, embarrassment, satisfaction, and regret, are but a few.
If I was to be trapped on a desert island for the rest of my life and was allowed one film, this would be it, that way I won’t ever forget how to feel…anything.
By: Dustin Griffin