Taxi Driver Review

You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me?

Number 88 on the top 1000 films of all time is the film that made Martin Scorsesee's and Robert De Niro's careers: the neo-noir, vigilante thriller Taxi Driver.

Robert De Niro plays Travis Bickle, a psychologically damaged Vietnam veteran living in the crime-ridden New York.  To cope with his chronic insomnia, he takes a job as a taxi driver working night, where he bears witness to the petty crime and prostitution that controls the city.  He then decides to moonlight as a vigilante so he can clean up the city.  Part of this cleaning-up process involves rescuing the under-age prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster) from the clutches of her pimp Sport (Harvey Keitel.)

This film works brilliantly as a piece of social commentary.  It's no secret that veterans, not just of VIetnam, but of any war, didn't always receive the special treatment that they deserved upon returning home.  A lot of them returned home with PTSD and some sadly killed themselves.  Although Taxi Driver doesn't explicitly focus on the Vietnam War, its effects are felt throughout.

Travis is only 26, but he feels alone and isolated in his society.  Unable to sleep, he spends a lot of his time in porn theatres and journalling.  These were both great devices to portraying Travis' alienation and his narration added a great energy to the film.

Intersecting with Travis' storyline is Iris' narrative.  I really lived this, as I felt that it was reflection of Travis' own storyarc.  Both characters have been through traumatic events and are completely lost in who they are.  To deal with their alienation, they both turn to external outlets: driving a taxi and prostitution.  But more than that, Iris, is one of the major catalysing factors in Travis' transformation.  Saving her allows him to be a hero again and break out of his alienation.

Although this film is rated as one of the greatest of all time, there were occasions where I felt a little disappointed.  Other than the film's climax, which was so bloody that Scorsesee had to desaturate the reds to get the film an R-rating, there aren't too many pay offs.  There is plenty of tension-building and allusions to violence, but not a lot of this materialised.  Rather the tension was defused with banal talking scenes, which for me made this film lacklustre and anti-climactic.