A few weeks ago on NPR’s Fresh Air, they played a 1997 interview between Roger Ebert and Martin Scorsese done at Ohio State University. The two men are discussing Raging Bull– they played two clips from the film on the radio and it is fascinating just listening to the film- and Ebert begins the discussion like this:
…People will discuss the subject matter as if that is what the film is about. The film is about boxing, or it’s about gangsters. A film is not about its subject, its about how it’s about its subject. The subject is neutral, people don’t understand that. Whenever anyone makes a statement I don’t like to go to movies about … fill in the blank. My response is ‘anyone who makes that statement is an idiot.’ I don’t want to go to bad films about cowboys is maybe a more intelligent statement.
Well said, Roger. Raging Bull was about a boxer not about boxing.
If you want to hear 12 minutes of Ebert and Scorsese’s discussion as well as listen to two scenes from Raging Bull, then go to itunes and look up the June 27 Fresh Air podcast or visit npr.org and go to the Fresh Air archives. It’s a great, passionate discussion as well as an interesting insight into how Scorsese shot the boxing scenes for Raging Bull. Later in the broadcast Michael Imperioli talks about working on Goodfellas and what it was like to work with Robert DeNiro.
Check it out.
PeterH
