What's the point?

Rating: Null/10 (20 February 2005)

This is a strange mesmerizing film that cruelly preys upon the audience's willingness to identify with the psychotic main character, allegedly in order to teach a moral lesson. But what lesson?
Many of the audience may not have been aware that the movie had a religious message, thinking instead that it was yet another warning against the violence brought back from Viet Nam by frustrated soldiers such as the one portrayed by Robert DeNiro. But this does not seem to be all that the film makers intended.
Scorsese, the director, today is a major academic critic and professor of the art. His work may be regarded as the embodiment of his political philosophy and critical theories. In an interview, he announced to the world that he was a "Catholic film maker," and referred to the final bloodletting scenes in "Taxi Driver" as a form of ritual sacrifice. Precisely what did he mean?
It is not the kind of Christian message that Hollywood movies have traditionally given, but one which may be informed by the director's peculiar approach to film making. Scorsese is a foremost proponent of the Hollywood noir style. He mocks liberal faith in the blessings of democracy and the forces of law and order (as against the teachings and methods of religion, I presume).
In "Taxi Driver," Scorsese puts the six-gun armed "Travis" through a grotesque, seemingly random series of pointless adventures that end in a very ironic and unromantic way. This is a studied use of noir effect that mocks the Hollywood man of action and action genre films. Its pessimistic, bleak message seems to be that life is filled with ugliness and misery, which cannot be cured by action. But it says this in a bizarre, unrealistic way that has more to do with feelings about art than feelings about life.
"Taxi Driver" was much questioned even when it was under production and there was plenty of critical scorn after it came out. A director acquaintance of mine who attended NYU film school (where Scorsese taught) responded to "Taxi Driver" this way at the time, "man, that stuff is more dangerous than you think. Someone out there (the hinterlands) is gonna see that and do something really deadly." His prediction came true and the country was nearly plunged into chaos at a time when we could ill afford any disturbances in the social order. Shouldn't the movie have taught a lesson against specifically that type of violence?
Apparently, the religious message was a bit obscure, because someone in the audience who desperately needed guidance, certainly didn't get the point.