Dec 12, 2008
Raging Bull
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“You never got me down, Ray.”
Sometimes the opening frames of Raging Bull remind me of the linear roll of a marble in To Kill A Mockingbird’s opening sequence. Both opening sequences share the perfect music (Raging Bull’s theme is Intermezzo from the opera Cavalleria Rusticana, by Pietro Mascagni), incredibly visualized soundscapes, beautiful black and white cinematography, and a refined sense of gritty production design.
A row of shapes sits in judgment, while old-timey flashbulbs pop and die with the slowness of the tragedy that is about to unfold. What do those photos look like?
Robert DeNiro’s Jake La Motta is a coiled human animal, caged like a note on sheet music; fierce, balletic and balanced to its function. The ropes of the ring are framed like bars of music. Indeed, “give me a stage where this bull here can rage…that’s entertainment.”
Director Martin Scorsese:
“I didn’t understand what the ring was. I couldn’t interpret it in my life…but I think at that time I was taking it too literally. Ultimately I came to understand that the ring is everywhere. It depends on how much of a fighter you are in life. The hardest opponent you have is yourself.”
Listening to Scorsese’s commentary track for “The Set-Up” we learn of that superb film’s influence on what is arguably his magnum opus.
USA | 1980 | Blavk and White/Color | 1.85:1 | English
Direct Link: 480p (QuickTime, 848×448, 37 MB, 02:45) + 720p (QuickTime, 1280×688, 94 MB, 02:45)
Commentary excerpt with cinematographer Michael Chapman
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Sublime.
I love the way the solidarity of the fighters mind moments before a match is captured.. deep, dark silence is what he’s after to prepare himself for this fight, but there are flashes of light busting their way through.. all while he dances gracefully to the music..
an elegant, in the true sense of the word, opening — simple yet brilliant
this is my single favourite title sequence of all time. watching it almost along with the set-up’s makes it even more beautiful.
[side note: my brother found a curious link to this sequence in the godfather part iii, with the camera flashes, the cavalleria rusticana intermezzo, the "dance" and all. look for it just after the death of sofia coppola.]
thnx also for the audio files.
Excellent write-up. The comparison with To Kill A Mockingbird is an interesting one. Very stark. And I had never thought about the flashbulbs. It would be interesting to see those photos. And yet, it’s more interesting not to see them.
hmm lets see, it’s obvious that “Raging Bull” is the story and the life journeys of Jake LaMotta, an entertainer. I think this does not relate to the fight, or the event thats happening, or the calm before the match, or how he feels before the fight, it’s the understanding of the fighter, through what is acceptable to us, I mean he is accepted, to put on a show, to go in rage, to fight and hurt another man. the movie truly shows and analyzes a LaMotta that we can not accept, we can not agree with, he is a “nut-case”, a “woman hitter”, self destructive mess, but when he steps into the ring, he has all the characteristics of a fighter, the insane man looks pleasing to the eye, sort of like the music that matches with his movements, he is the man the hour, his portraits valuable. in this shadow sparing, he fights not the opponent but himself, his demons, and his ready to put on a show for us.
hope that makes some sense