Cut Man

Raging Bull is one of those movies that I know I’m supposed to have seen but never quite got around to it. I suppose it intimidated me. I’m something of a lightweight. Comedies, musicals, and other forms of fantasy are more of my thing. The life of Jake LaMotta is not anyone’s idea of a fantasy. Nonetheless, I took me down to the movie palace to go a few rounds with the champ.

It is a stark, dark, and occasionally brutal movie. It is, among other things, a meditation on what it is to be a man, on masculinity itself. It is also a work of art, a product of the collaboration of two creative forces, Robert DiNiro and Martin Scorsese. Combine that with some terrific acting, great editing, brilliant cinematography, and wonderful sound work, and you have one of the most critically acclaimed films of all time.

This is not so much a movie about boxing as it is about a man who was a boxer and what it was that drove him. The fight scenes are justifiably famous. The action is intense and savage. Unlike most movies about the “sweet science” we get no views from any point of view outside the ring. The viewer is in the ring with the fighters, caught in the violence. There is nothing stylized or heroic here. It can be hard to watch and it is impossible to turn away.

Outside the ring Jake’s life is no less brutal. Jake can be charming, but there is always an edge, always a feeling that any moment could turn ugly. LaMotta is an abusive, domineering husband. He loses his first wife due to his unconcealed serial philandering. He becomes obsessed that his second wife is cuckolding him – an inner demon that leads him to some of his most brutal and eventually self-destructive actions.

Manhood, and Jake’s feelings of inadequacy, is the prevailing theme of the movie, as suggested by an early scene where Jake is speaking to his brother (and manager) Joey:

Jake: What's wrong with me? My hands.
Joey: Your hands? What about 'em?
Jake: I got these small hands. I got a little girl's hands.

This is a psychologically and philosophically complex film, dealing with issues of love, jealousy (Roger Ebert once called it "an Othello for our times"), aging, loyalty, and redemption. It’s one of the best American movies ever made. I put off seeing it for a quarter of a century. Don’t make that mistake.