De Niro, Hard

Raging Bull, a Martin Scorcese film of 1980 that won Robert De Niro a Best Actor Academy Award, is the struggle of a boxer against himself and his temperamental nature. Each bout is a struggle against his own elements, his superlative talents shining through even as his personal life falls apart in equally swift sharp bouts of banal rage and wanton indiscretions. At the end of it all, the director clearly wants the viewer to side with Jake De La Motta and his seesawing between unchecked aggression and spells of remonstrance. La Motta's struggle on hindsight seems to be to find peace with himself, to sequester violence to the confines of the ring alone. Great movie.