Raging Bull (1980)

This is a biographical film about the middleweight champ, the physically tough, but emotionally self-destructive Jake LaMotta (Robert De Niro). Told using documentary style camera techniques which puts the sport of boxing in the viscous light it deserves.

Loosely based on the life and career of boxer Jake LaMotta, this film focuses on the brutal life of the boxer, his rage and violence that makes him virtually unstoppable in, and out, of the ring.

This same anger also drives Jake to beat his wife and his brother Joey, and sends Jake down a self-destructive spiral of paranoia and rage.

His relationships with his wife Vickie (Cathy Moriarty) and his brother Joey (Joe Pesci) were less than perfect and he regularly beat both. There is also speculation that many of his fights were fixed by mob backers.

De Niro does the unbelievable task of making such a nasty individual like LaMotta such an interesting person. Scorsese on the other hand choreographs the fight scenes as if they were scenes from a war movie.

A truely incredible film.