Isolation on film

Rating: Null/10 (18 August 1999)

WARNING!!! POINTS OF PLOT ARE GIVEN AWAY!!!!!
If there was a more poignant moment in film history than the panning of the dead bodies and the guns that have just caused their deaths, I don't believe I've seen it yet. The scene speaks enough for a film itself and is the perfect way to end the film. Simply amazing.
Taxi Driver is a great film that shows the kind of reaction one might develop to increased isolation from society. A lot of time in this film is spent on showing Travis (DeNiro) in his apartment quite literally losing his mind. After what must have been many terrifying incidents for the Vietnam vet, the return home has brought no relief, rather more new problems instead. The problem now are all of the drug dealers, pimps, hookers, polititians and just about anyone else that he doesn't know. He looks at the streets of the city and only sees evil and decay. Travis sees degeneration all of the time, and decides that he must take action ( a line in the film goes something to the effect of "I know what I am supposed to do, this is my calling" ). From here on everything changes and the audience is enveloped in the whirlwind of events to come.
The film itself is one of the best shot, not as much for the murky underkeys of the New York streets, but rather for the effective use of new camera techniques. Near the beginning of the film, the camera pans over different parts of the taxi, never showing it as a whole. This could be a metaphor of the trouble going on inside of Travis (rendering him an incomplete person) or simply to show the troubles of society as a whole. The hall shot while Travis is on the phone with Beth (Shepherd) is reminiscent of Kubrick, while the overhead shot after the graphic ending sums up the film quite nicely. Scorsese even puts a decent performance as an irate husband who seeks vengeance for his wife's misdeeds (another good example of the filth of society).
I don't understand why Scorsese added the end scene, giving nothing while not taking away anything either. The meetings with the fellow cabbies could have also been taken out of the film completely. It would have added an even further sense of isolation to Travis. More screen time should have been given to the Jodie Foster and Harvey Keitel characters who were both much more interesting than the cabbies or Cybill Shepherd.
This film runs a good length and has few dry moments. I prefer Raging Bull to Taxi Driver because of Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty who each give the main character more reason to rage out, rather than the indirect effects of society. I would also like to note that many people have felt that the violence in this film is Scorsese's darkest. I would have to disagree saying that both Goodfellas and Casino are far worse.
Full recommendation.
8/10 stars.