An insight into isolated deteriorating mind and your mind as well

Rating: 9/10 (7 August 2019)

Here I explain what is behind TD's success as a psychological movie.
Even forty years after the initial release, Taxi Drivers is still a relevant movie from which we can learn important things. TD deals with far too serious subject to be easily forgotten or neglected. Conspicuously detailing effects of loneliness, Scorsese takes us right into a milieu and mind of a person who is suffering from chronic isolation left to his deteriorating mind.
So we're following a story of ex soldier, now a taxi driver working nights in New York. As he drives we see dirty streets revealed by too bright street lights with strange looking people on the sidewalks. Our driver, Travis, doesn't value this people highly; in fact, he is disgusted by everything on this streets. Every now and then we can hear him sharing his thoughts, as a narrator, a background voice, on different matters. This gives us valuable insight into his mode of thinking, current feelings and mental state. So here we have a double insight: one into Travis' mind, world of subjective; second into his everyday life, world of objective. This portrayal is done in a Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground style since this work influenced development of Travis character.
Here I shall emphasize what makes this movie special. This double insight, into subjective and objective, is presented very clearly. But it is the opposite with conclusions we can draw from this insights: we can not draw clear conclusions. Travis is not flagrantly troubled. Some of his comments and actions look pretty normal and sound. For example, he is pretty slick in approaching a girl. But on the other hand, especially towards the end, we are made sure his mental state is not a normal one. And there we have it: here we can experience from the first hand what it looks like to be manipulated by someone. Furthermore, we're even put in a position to feel bad for Travis! It's easy to think of him as a hero, as final scene reveals, and as a victim of society dissolved in debauchery.
Here we can see that Taxi Driver can be seen as a movie with a very specific ability: it can trick you into thinking that you're doing psychoanalysis only on Travis when in fact you're doing psychoanalysis on yourself as well! That's because you change your opinion about Travis constantly as he gets mad and thus natural question comes up: why is that? And here you're confronted with your own motives and standards.
So the careful watching of the movie can really serve as a kind of mirror in which you can see some Travis' traits in yourself. Pair this with prevailing theme of loneliness and isolation and you get a movie which can have a powerful impact on the audience.
Here the details of the movie and plot aren't that important because there's nothing solid to hold onto. You have to see this movie and focus on Travis, seeing how his behavior reflects his inner dynamics and hearing him read his diary. Further topics which are explored include the so called Madonna-w***e complex and superiority complex, as well as misfortunes of living in a big city. So to conclude, let me mention that photography and music strongly contribute to TD's ambient. Taken all together, TD really is a great, one of a kind movie.