Review of Taxi Driver (1976) by Frank F — 11 Mar 2013

First of all, Robert De Niro's performance as Travis Bickle blew me away. His portrayal of how loneliness and alienation can affect one's outlook on life is believable. An average happy person may think a person like Bickle is crazy, but this character is so relateable in so many aspects. From his tired voice to his emotionless eyes, it really gives a good view of how isolation in his life has worn him down. When you are isolated and alone, one has more time to develop a philosophy on different things, but at the same time boredom and redundancy can really take a toll on a person's mind. Everything about his portrayal of this character is iconic and memorable.

As a taxi driver, we see the world from Travis's eyes. As the film progresses, Travis becomes more and more engrossed in changing things around in the city, as we see him being immersed in the ugliness of the criminal underworld and how much of the city is infested with it. This psychologically affects Travis more into becoming radical and it seems to be offset after Travis fails to develop a sense of normalcy with social relationships and trying to connect to someone. And as a human being, what is astounding to me, is that I could relate to all of this.

This is an intense film and what further builds upon this is the soundtrack. The use of jazz music really helps to enhance the looming atmosphere of the film. The down beat jazz music really contrasts well with the more ominous music, and what makes it really work is that it perfectly compliments Travis Bickle as a character of contradictions. While some could argue that Travis Bickle is enigmatic, I think the same could be said about everyone else. Aren't we all an enigma to some degree? I think so.

Overall, this is a great film with a great story that in my opinion makes a big statement. The meaning of what I inherited from all of this is that sometimes we as human beings want to make some sort of statement, but the limited ability of words can sometimes not be enough to express what's eating us away deep down inside.

What Taxi Driver does is not doing what other movies do and that's creating a "realistic" view of the world with a dash of fantasy. Happy endings and getting the girl are a big hit and miss in the real world, as cynical as that may sound, and what Taxi Driver does is not only tell a really great story that is bound to make you think, but a really great story that is completely human. 5/5.