We dive deep into Travis view upon society... how's a mad man made? (spoiler alert)

Rating: 7/10 (19 November 2019)

In depth dive into a 'mad' man's mind. Strong camera angles and movements follow our protagonist into the wilderness of the night. We stay with him behind the wind shield as he glides into the jungle of prostitution, drugs and colorful neon-lit darkness. Great imagery illustrates his view onto the world...
his anger is unpredictable, the movie is not an absolute view - we follow an anti-hero closely (there's rarely a frame without our main character). Traumatized by his previous life (Vietnam war), he fights to find a place in the world surrounding him. He fails with Betty, he struggles to save the Prostitute Iris - his anger and sense of misplacement try to find a source he could aim it to... and finally he kills (and get's killed) in a final shoot-out in the bruffle where he found Iris, trying to save her from the pimp who (as Travis thinks)holds her back from happiness... and from him.
We dive in slowly into his word, his world get's disarranged piece by piece - and slowly we begin to see his true needs, desires and objectives. Great narration techniques right from the start!
I loved the visuality of the movie: deep red and green colors of the night jungle, pastel colors of brought daylight... many scenes littered with advertising, brands and the overall wave of post-war consumerism. The camera movements illustrated the story well, very well... it was easy to adjust to Travis state of mind and understand his struggles truly. Interesting how a film from the seventies depicts an era so well after so many years... objectively 'true' or not, it unveils the darker layers of society.
I rewatched it after seeing JOKER (2019) to unveil some hidden parallels - quite a few turned up (storytelling wise, visuality,...), but most of all this movie is a stand alone in-depth journey into madness, anger, violence ... and the desire to find closure, revenge ... and his place in a forsaken, disordered, struggling society.
Tragic life, tragic ending... a deep look into a troubled life - still relevant, still powerful... 40 years later. WOW!