Review of Taxi Driver (1954) by Rainer K — 16 Feb 2013

Martin Scorsese shows us a gritty version of New York in his visceral masterpiece.

Taxi Driver has some - well, that's an understatement - a lot of - iconic scenes and memorable lines. It's probably the best De Niro performance I've seen so far although Jodie Foster is even better (considering her age, it's actually remarkable what she's able to do).

The film focusses on De Niro's Travis Bickle though. Not a bad choice either. I have a new interpretation for the character (at least, I've never read my version before).

Travis is a poet. Apparently, when we listen to his monologues and diary entries we realize that there's a lot of potential and desire for beauty in his soul. Vietnam, and the streets of NY can't let him see this beauty he desires so badly though. He only sees the dark sides of life, and within all the darkness, one bright spot that is Iris. So he turns into a vigilante with the same attitude as Watchmen's Rorschach. There is black and there is white, and Travis decides to eliminate the black from the street, or at least, free Iris from the clutch of evil. Tragically, he can't escape the darkness himself (SPOILER ALERT), his suicide attempt fails, and as we see in the epilogue, he'll fight on until his time will come. According to his plans, it should have ended with the liberation of Iris (SPOILER END).

It has great images, artistic violence, and a main character so multi-faceted and complicated that I can't fully understand him. This is also a bit of a problem, as his motives and his breakdown seemed a bit forced to me. I liked the version of Travis at the beginning of the film better anyways.

Travis Bickle is the ultimate anti-hero. The ailing soul on the verge of a breakdown who goes all the way, to fight evil. He's a character similar to Batman, Rorschach or The Punisher. Just that his distinction between good and bad is somewhat questionable, and his means of fighting are on par with the brutality of the latter two superheroes.