Society shapes people

Rating: 5/10 (8 April 2015)

SLIGHT "SPOILERS" THAT WON'T ACTUALLY SPOIL ANYTHING Excellent psychological film that explores the mind of an unstable Vietnam vet who drives a taxi during the night and perceives the streets around him through the prism of his warped reality. Many things about this masterpiece and the exquisite acting of Robert De Niro have already been said, so I will try to focus on some things that were of particular interest to me.
The main protagonist desperately wants to talk with people, especially women, asking each one of them to tell him their names. Thus, he tries to overcome huge alienation that he feels even when he communicates with others; he wants to truly approach to a person and get to know him/her. However, that is not likely to happen in fake and false human relationships. At one point, he thinks that there are some connection between him and the woman he sees as isolated from ubiquitous scum, but soon he changes his attitude towards her. "She is the same like everybody else", he says "cold and distant. Many people are like that, women especially. They are like union." Travis Biskle is obsessed with cleaning the lowlife, scum and dirt that cover the city streets. He says he doesn't like hippie communes as well, since they are not particularly clean. The connection with his Vietnam past is clear â€“ the main goal in war is to "clean the scum".