Critic's Grade: A+

"Raging Bull" finds the pairing of director Martin Scorsese and actor Robert De Niro back in fine form as they tackle the life of middleweight boxer Jake La Motta (De Niro), whose self-destructive life seems predestined for a Scorsese film. As a fighter, La Motta has the physical strength of ten men and the willpower to withstand the toughest beatings: in his final match against Sugar Ray Robinson, to whom he lost, he informs his opponent, "You never knocked me down."

But La Motta doesn't seem to realize that his biggest challenge in life isn't inside the ring, nor is it an opponent. His worst enemy is himself. La Motta's life is a series of human failures and blunders, in his relationships with his brother, Joey (Jope Pesci), and later his wife, Vickie (Cathy Moriarty), in whom he sees nothing but infidelity and mistruths. His masculinity is a downfall: unable to accept the fact that his wife has a life of her own, he intrudes on her social behavior with numerous inquisitions about her daily activities, hoping to catch her in the act of being unfaithful or disrespectful. If he suspects it, then she must be doing something.

Scorsese's exploration of the ruination of a man through jealousy and distrust becomes blindingly realistic when La Motta's instabilities begin to spill over into other aspects of his life. His suspicions of Vickie's mistruths lead him to despise the people he once considered friends, as well as driving him to unjustly accuse his own brother, Joey (Joe Pesci), the man who stood by him during his entire boxing career, of sleeping with his wife. His rage has cast a veil over his common sense, his stubbornness blinding him to the real antagonist of the situation.

The themes running through "Raging Bull" are not uncommon for a Scorsese picture. We've seen the inability of men to deal with their female counterparts in characters like J.R. from "Who's That Knocking at My Door," or De Niro's own character from "Taxi Driver." La Motta fits right in with the group: initially, a woman is morally virtuous, until she is sullied by sleeping with him, after which she becomes an object of suspicion. De Niro brings an unflinching realism to the role, filling the character with a great intensity that fuels his violent acts, and later, his sudden, striking realizations about himself. I found the character here to be a vast improvement over that of "Taxi Driver:" whereas that piece attempted to garner our sympathies for a man with no redeeming qualities, "Raging Bull" gives us someone whom we can understand, even if we can't relate to him on a personal level.

The usual other Scorsese trademarks are also present here, including the strong supporting cast. Cathy Moriarty, then 19, is extraordinary as a woman trapped by a man she once thought she knew, while Pesci delivers a performance of great depth as Joey, the one who initially sees the destruction in his brother, and tries to do something about it. Style is all the rage here as well: the primary use of black-and-white photography, not to mention super-charged boxing sequences, add a sense of realism to the proceedings, enhancing scenes of great impact and importance to their fullest potential. Scorsese sets out to pound the film into our minds, and in the end, he succeeds on all fronts.

"Once I was blind, but now I can see," says the quote from John IX, verse 25, carefully and appropriately placed at the end of "Raging Bull." On the exterior, this brutal assault on the senses is a deeply challenging character study of one man's pride, jealousy, insecurities, and obsessions, as he goes through life oblivious to their presence. On the interior, the film is a quiet examination of the effects of these characteristics on his life, his personality, and his successes and failures, as he realizes all too late that he "coulda been a contender," both in and out of the ring.

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