“Raging Bull” (1980) is not a so much a film about boxing but more of a story about a psychotically jealous, sexually insecure borderline homosexual, caged animal of a man, who encourages pain and suffering in his life as almost a form of reparation. Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece of a film drags you down into the seedy filth stenched world of former middleweight boxing champion Jake “The Bronx Bull” LaMotta. Masterfully he paints the picture of a beast whose sole drive is not boxing but an insatiable obsessive jealously over his wife and his fear of his own underling sexuality. The movie broke new ground with its brutal unadulterated no-holds-bard look at the vicious sport of boxing by bringing the camera into the ring, giving the viewer the most realistic, primal, and brutal boxing scenes ever filmed. With blood and sweat spraying, flashbulbs’ bursting at every blow Scorsese gives the common man an invitation into the square circle where only the hardest trained gladiators dare to venture.
The movie opens just as it ends, the camera pans down to the pavement revealing a sign outside the Barbizon Plaza Theater: “An Evening with Jake LaMotta Tonight 8:30.” The film then cuts to a punched out overweight shot of LaMotta babbl
. . .
By the end of the film you begin to get a sense of what was really driving him in the ring. Jake begins to ask Joey about the beautiful blonde poolside, also harmless. The words seem to express some type of regret towards his prior actions, experiences, and self-destructive habits that plagued his entire life. ” The once proud beast of a man the “Bronx Bull” has been broken down to nothing but a pathetic little girl. Without emotion he carefully recites the words line by line, while staring down his troubles in the mirror. Was it his animal instinct or his immovable pride? No, he was so deeply wounded inside that it hurt far too much to ever let the physical pain stop even for just a second. That was until the first pool scene. Even when being crucified by” Sugar” Ray Robinson you wonder why wont this fool just save himself and go down. “ I’m not gonna be here when you get back, you fuckin bunch of guineas, you’re always hangin’ out together. Jakes obsession with his girl hands gives the notion of sexual inadequacy, and homosexual tendencies seem to become apparent when he begins to taunt his brother by calling him faggot and telling him, he takes it up the ass. Screaming at the top of her lungs Irma begins to lay into them with no mercy. Overwhelmed with furry Jake sits down and whines to Joey about how his girl hands are going to keep him from fighting the heavyweight champion of the world Joe Lewis. Why’d you do it? You’re so stupid… I’m not an animal. Then in a strange sadomasochistic display of machismo, Jake taunts Joey to punch him in the face as hard as he can.
Approximate Word count =
1714
Approximate Pages =
7 (250 words per page double spaced)
Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.
| CREDIT CARD |
ONLINE CHECK |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
JOIN BY PHONE
|
|
|
