Into the mind of Travis Binkle

Rating: 9/10 (11 December 2013)

This movie is brilliant and is based around a man named Travis Binkle. As I said previously, he is a very dangerous man. I say that because he knows how to kill, and he will do it without hesitation. He kills only four people in the entire movie, but we can see that he desires to see many more people dead. His history is that he used to be a US marine, and that makes him even more dangerous.
At first we are allowed into Binkle's mind through his writings, but the further into the movie we go, the less we are allowed to see. At first he is very descriptive of everything that happens, right down to what he and Betsie order on their first date. As the movie goes on, his writings become less detailed, and he explains his actions even less, and as such we are left to work out why he is doing what he does.
Binkle is the type of character that we can relate to, but don't want to. We see ourselves inside of him but it is a side of us that we chose to ignore and to suppress. He is a violent man that is repulsed by the lack of morality in society and the deceitfulness of the policy makers. He takes little interest in the dressings of society, such as music, movies, and politics, but he immerses himself, though not participating in, the decrepit vices of society. He sees himself as a cleaner whose job it is to clean society, but realises that the job is far to big for him, so he settles on releasing those who are entrapped within this evil.
As such we are introduced to two women: Betsie, a campaign worker for presidential candidate Palantine; and Iris, a twelve year old prostitute caught up in the world of vice and not understanding the truth of its destructive nature. These two women are opposite in everyway, yet Travis sees them both as being trapped. He sees Palantine in the same light as Iris' pimp Sport: both are peddlers of lies and deceits, and both have had experiences in Travis' cab. Sport drags Iris out of the cab when Iris attempts to leave, while Palantine uses it once with a prostitute and a second time for a ride to the airport. Iris has run away from home and has been caught up in prostitution and drugs, while Betsy is a campaign worker for Palantine who seems to be hassled by some guy that works in the same office.
As such, Travis sees Palantine and Sport as men who are holding these women prisoner. Palantine is a gaolor in a metaphorical way while Sport is a gaolor in a physical way - yet Travis views both of them with contempt and chooses to kill both of them. He doesn't manage to kill Palantine, but he does manage to kill Sport.
This is the climax of the movie, when Travis goes through Sport's apartment killing all of his men simply to rescue Iris, who says she does not want to be rescued. In fact neither woman wants to be rescued, though Iris occasionally sees the trap that she is in, but generally chooses to ignore it. Now, if Travis killed Palantine, he would be called a murderer and probably have been executed, but instead he kills Sport and his gang, and though we expect him to be considered a murderer, and even he realises that he has done a huge wrong when he puts the gun to his head and pulls the trigger, even though it is empty. Instead of being a murder, he is praised as a hero - the ultimate irony.
The final thing that I wish to discuss here is the nature of Travis Binkle's loneliness. The only character we really get to know is Travis Binkle and even though he desires to build a relationship with another person, namely a woman, he simply does not know how. He attempts to court Betsie, but destroys that when he takes her to a pornographic movie, and when he attempts to reconcile with her, she simply does not want to know him. Martin Scorsese says that the scene when he is on the phone with her and she rejects him is one of the most important scenes in the movie for the depth of Binkle's pain reaches its lowest, yet the camera shies away from Binkle at that time for we are not meant to know how harsh his pain is.
Binkle simply does not seem to understand the nature of relationships. He is not a selfish man, and he does not live to excesses, but he simply does not know how to relate with another human being. Most of the time he spends in the movie is alone, or driving somebody around. He tries to reach out but nobody is willing to grasp hold of him and pull him out of his spiral of destruction. The only respect he does receive is from the parents of Iris who are over joyed that their daughter has been returned to them, but they are unable to visit Travis, and thus he is once again left on his own.
The movie closes with Betsie returning to Binkle, but by now it is too late. He has left her far behind and now that his violent rage has been let out upon Sport and his gang, he is back to his quiet unassuming self. But a lot of time has passed since Betsie left him, and now when she returns, he no longer sees her the same, and as such lets her out of the cab never to see her again.