This month’s Scorsese screening is selected and introduced by Film Programmer and Researcher Lauren Clarke.
A lacerating biopic of Jake LaMotta, the middleweight boxing champion who was known as ‘The Bronx Bull’ and ‘The Raging Bull’ during his brief reign. Robert De Niro stars as LaMotta whose early lessons in life were to steal and to fight. He channelled his tough childhood into the ring, where his aggression became a way of combating deep-seated anxieties and emotional fears. This determination and rage turned him from a young hoodlum into a champion.
But his drive for the title, his brutality outside of the ring and his almost-psychotic sexual jealousy will destroy his marriage, his deepest friendships and the career he fought to build.