Epilogue

Rating: Null/10 (22 January 2001)

All in all, this is a tremendous film. One of the most uncomprimising and personal films I'd ever seen. So many films insist on create characters that we like or can "relate" to.
Scorsese often opts not to force us to like a character, but to understand him. One things for sure, we grow to understand Travis, love or hate his actions.
I have just one problem with this film. I think the film comes so close to perfection one can overlook a few little faults (The piece of Errol Flynn's bathtub dosen't make much sense, and even though Travis is supposed to be detached, would he really be stupid enough to take Betsy to a porno movie?). Still, I wish they had ended the movie with the blood bath. The films epilogue, I feel, prevents the film to reaching the highest of hights it comes so close to reaching.
For one thing, if a man shot three people, however degenerate they may be, he probably wouldn't be allowed to walk the streets, and he definitely would not be allowed to drive a cab. The scene also ruins much of the intimacy of the film. One of the beautiful things about movies is that we are given insight into a character that the other characters in the film aren't given. We know why Travis did what he did. This whole comment on the media portraying him as a hero just ruins the special quality of the film. There was no need to vindicate Travis, we already assessed our opinions of him. There was no need to moralize. Thankfully, Scorsesee would become less prone to moralize with "Raging Bull", "The King of Comedy" and "Goodfellas".