RAGING BULL

dMYD DVD
Starring Blobert De Niro

Y


Fuck men. Fuck them. They’ve fucked you, they deserve it. They’ve fucked women, they’ve fucked each other, and they’ve fucked an entire planet. Every conceivable problem in the world at any given time is the result of a McCoy chomping, dick swinging, Jaguar sliding Y chromosome, but for what reason? Why? The answer is balls. Big balls.
Raging Bull is a film about balls, a film about men, and a film about a man. And that man is Robert De Niro. In the most sado-masochistic casting decision until Alec Baldwin signed up for Thomas and the Magic Railroad, De Niro here elected to gain 27 kilograms to play the demented, wife-mashing Jake LaMotta, with phenomenal results. The film belongs to the him, to a performance so nuanced and natural that you feel you’re watching the real LaMotta’s own dreams of his wasted life, Scorcese’s elegant, classical tone and direction making beautiful the story of a man whose choices made him one of the ugliest creatures alive. As a document of the failings of a gender it’s heartbreaking, the raging LaMotta simultaneously a flailing figure of compassion, desire, fear, disgust and ultimately pity, De Niro showing every conceivable facet of a man as complicated as any. On a technical level it’s probably the best of the duo’s get-togethers, mixing a timeless classical quality with the harsh realities of being a fuck-up with no future, whilst De Niro has never really bettered it. But he didn’t have to, it’s one of the greatest performances of the twentieth century, which probably qualifies it for a quick two hour torrent between making soup and playing Modern Warfare 2 again. For the rest of your waking life. You’re a regular Raging Bull.