Raging Bull

Essential Vision:

The essential vision of this movie is not about boxing. Jake La Motta is a boxer who is full of self hatred and abusive to himself and others. As his anger and hatred increase, he leads himself down a path of self destruction and paranoia. Those closest to him realize that they can not save Jake from himself. The title of the movie itself “Raging Bull” depicts the persona of Jake and how his rage is uncontrollable like a bull.

Supporting Film References:

In the beginning of the movie when Jake’s first wife is cooking him a steak, he keeps telling her not to over cook the steak. She finally yells back at him and he tells her to bring the steak to him because she is over cooking it. He says that it looks like a piece of charcoal. After she gives it to him, he flips the table over and throws something against the wall. He grabs her by the back of the head and tells her to go in the bedroom. The neighbor yells at him and he tells the neighbor that he is going to kill the neighbor’s dog. This scene explains the vision because you can see just how abusive he is towards the people that are around him.

In the very next scene he talks with his brother Joey about how he has small hands and no matter how big he gets or how good he is, he is never going to fight Joe Lewis. Jake tells Joey that he wants him to punch him in the face and Joey refuses. Jake begs and begs for him to hit him he finally does. Joey repeatedly punches him in the face; Jack keeps telling him to hit him harder. Finally Joey stops punching Jake even though Jake doesn’t want him to stop. This scene shows the self hatred that Jake has for himself and how he allows himself and wants to be treated by others.

In another scene, Jake and Joey are at the pool where he met Vicki. Jake is thinking about the day that he first laid eyes on her. He has a feeling that she is messing around on him. He says “I know that she is doing something and I just want to catch her once, just once.” Vicki has not given him any reason to feel this way.