An extremely dark film, but truly excellent viewing

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2009)

Taxi Driver is a film as fascinating as it is disturbing. It's one of those films that is not only filmed and acted very well, but also has a rock-solid script that really digs up questions for the viewer to ask - not all of which are flat-out answered.
The movie is a critique of modern society, as well as a razor-edged study of what happens to a person who spends all of their waking time pondering about and dealing with the dark side of humanity.
The protagonist of the film, Travis Bickle, is a very complex and interesting character.
Travis is an emotionally disturbed war veteran, but ultimately, his hinted-at war experiences are merely a catalyst for the mutation of his personality.
Despite his character flaw, Travis is a man who thinks a lot, probably too much. A man who, in a way, is more moral than any other character in the film. Ironically, this is what comes close to destroying him - the fact that his feelings don't merely dissipate to apathy, but are converted to anger.
He tries to remain polite, tries to interact with people despite his feelings of loneliness. He views everything like an outsider. In return, he is rejected, and spends much of his time in isolation with the sordid scumbags of the city.
The cab he drives around in becomes a perfect metaphor for his state of mind - isolated, alone, and often invaded by things he doesn't even want in it.
Hanging around extremes, many of them appallingly amoral, his own viewpoints and emotions become distored and more extreme in response. He becomes desensitised to the extent where he can only feel violent, burning anger and enveloping sadness. He begins to lose a grip on what makes him human...or even what "human" is.
He's not forced to hang around the scum. Travis is as much grotesquely fascinated by the excess he encounters as he is revolted by it.
He frequently spends his off-duty time in seedy theatres, but we never get the sense he's enjoying the show. He just sits there, almost bored, perhaps feeling that this is what "normal" people do, after his ceaseless viewing of very abnormal people.
One of the sharpest ironies of the film is that Travis' extreme anger actually ends up by bringing him his salvation within society, rather than crippling his life. Whether this is in itself a good reflection on the attitudes of society is again another question.
Overall, if you're looking for a great film that will set you thinking, take a look at Taxi Driver. Everything about the film is executed with excellent performances and a merciless precision.