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Based on the autobiography of Jake LaMotta, the former middleweight champion who was named "best jaw of the century" by a major publication, Raging Bull is above all else a story about attempted purification through suffering. LaMotta (played by Robert De Niro) is a horrible man who, among other things, accuses his wife of sleeping with his brother. LaMotta then beats both of them badly when his wife, frustrated after years of torture and paranoia, mockingly confesses to the deed. The fighter attempts to cleanse himself in the ring, culminating in a horrible beating at the hands of Sugar Ray Robinson (beautifully shot so that Robinson appears as the devil). Following his retirement, LaMotta opens a club and is subsequently imprisoned for corrupting a minor. In his cell, with no opponent to aid his masochism, LaMotta turns on himself and subsequently finds a modicum of peace.
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