Man or monster

Rating: 10/10 (19 August 2005)

*** Spoilers ***
Travis has left the army, honorable discharge. The army has made a man out of him and now he's free to live his life in the pursuit of his own happiness. It turns into a nightmare.
His isolation is complete. His pride makes it impossible to return to his parents and his less than basic understanding of human interaction makes him an absolute outsider.
At work, colleagues are cordial but distant and there is no family, friends or love for him. Unfortunately, Travis, though uneducated and lacking in understanding the problem, is not stupid. He understands what's happening and starts to see society as the enemy. Society is a hostile environment that wants him out and threats him like a monster.
Travis personalization of one man against the world starts to turn ugly when he sees the 'filth' on the street. His job takes him to the less than savory nightlife on the streets. He really resents this. Why can hookers, drug-addicts, sellers and the 'scum' have a life, be part of it, while he can't ?
When hope turns up into the form of Betsy and is subsequently drown by his misunderstanding/self-destructive nature, the descend into madness quickens. Yet, he needs to fabricate a reason and killing Palantine (for the treason of Betsy) or the rescue of a clearly underage hooker Iris) will do.
After the inevitable violence, the ending is one of the best I've ever encountered. It can be taken two ways. It could be Travis' last moments of hope in which he believes he's made a hero for cleaning up the filth, forgives Betsy and receives thanks for giving Iris a better future. But likewise, it could be that Travis actually survived and this would make the ending a warning and a ironic look at society, itself a disturbed creature.
Schrader, Scorsese and Deniro at the top of their power, supported by a brilliant score from Bernard Hermann. The whole movie is shot from Travis point of view and Deniro carries the picture effortlessly. Betsy and Iris both do what they're expected to do but cameo's of Harris as Palantine and Brooks as Betsy's coworker also deserve a mention. The only ones that seem a bit intrusive are Boyle and Keitel. But there's really nothing to complain about.
Important, better than perfect (which only means there's nothing wrong with it). If you care about people, there's nothing trite or repulsive in here. Nevertheless, shocking and disturbing, certainly if you look at the time it was made, it hasn't lost it's value.
One of the three movies I gave a 10.