European style of film-making adopted by Martin Scorcese and Paul Schrader.

Rating: 6/10 (30 September 2009)

Taxi Driver is a good film.There is no doubt about it. However,at this point of time it would be too early or rather naive to call it a classic.This is because there are certain weak spots which deny "Taxi Driver" its fair share of a classic film tag.It is a different matter that this film has been hailed as a classic film by various intellectuals,academicians and critics because it is one of the few American films which has managed to have a tremendous socio-political impact on the minds of many young people worldwide no matter where they come from whether Thailand or India.This is the reason why any aspiring actor worth talent can have his/her chest swell with pride while uttering "You talking' to me?".In "Taxi Driver",director Martin Scorcese and screen writer Paul Schrader have not so successfully amalgamated European style of cinema in an American film.However,this new innovation appears a little tedious as a lot of questions remain unanswered in the film.A good example can be the appearance of Martin Scorcese in a minor role as a cuckolded husband.One could surmise that it is quite possible to leave many questions unanswered as mostly Europeans films adopt such a dissipated story telling technique to perplex audiences.However,this is something new for American cinema as it is traditionally known to favor simple narrative structures.In "Taxi Driver", it is scandalous how many characters have been belittled in order to make a valiant hero out of the title character.This will surely irk audiences who are keen on seeing an equitable distribution of roles.There are many academic critics who have spoken about Christian motives of this film.But this is not entirely correct as the truth of the matter is that any film can contain scenes where candles are lighted in front of god's image.The saving grace of this film is Bernard Herrmann's musical score which has given this film its raw and destructive energy.