en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Sun, 26 May 2013 05:53:29 GMT 15 By James Frauenberger
“I'm a sick man” says the narrator of Dostoyevsky's "Notes from Underground." The difference between the Underground Man and the character he partially inspired in the classic movie "Taxi Driver" is that the latter thinks of himself as normal and projects sickness onto the rest of the world. The fascinating thing about this movie is how much it makes us want to believe him. "Taxi Driver," written by Paul Schrader and directed by Martin Scorsese, was originally released in 1976 and is just as great (and relevant) now as it was then. Robert De Niro plays Travis Bickle, an alienated man living in New York City who gets a job as a taxi driver. He is disgusted by the urban wasteland that surrounds him, and by the people who ride in his cab. At the same time he awkwardly tries to begin a romance with a political activist played by an angelic looking Cybill Shepherd. After that falls through, the increasingly unstable Bickle's attention becomes distracted by a child prostitute played by Jodie Foster and her pimp (Harvey Keitel). Bickle's resultant turn to vigilantism leads up to a shockingly violent climax and a surreal coda. I think this is easily one of the greatest American movies ever made, and it stands head and shoulders above most other movies about urban alienation and mental instability. The brilliance of the movie is how it turns a character like Bickle into a sympathetic one. De Niro is on screen for almost every minute of the movie, and he gives a powerhouse performance (in fact, all the performances are excellent). Where many other actors would have gone overboard, De Niro gives a portrait of a man whose calm exterior hardly conceals the disdain for the world and people around him. The New York City Bickle inhabits is indeed a wasteland, filled with sewer smoke, lowlifes, garbage, and politicians who lie through their teeth. Schrader's screenplay is one of the best I've ever heard, and, besides uniformly excellent dialogue, his ideas are fascinating. For instance, as a cab driver, Bickle is always surrounded by people, but he couldn't be more alone. Schrader makes Bickle's descent into violence a slow, but sure one. The first murder De Niro commits is to stop a burglary. From a killing that could be “justified,” De Niro turns to cold blooded killing. All this is set to the final score by the legendary film score composer, Bernard Herrmann. The music is pounding and scary when the city's “filth” is being featured, and is a sad and beautiful saxophone piece when concentrating on Travis. I expected a driving score, but I had no idea how shaded and even romantic it would be. The film's expertly crafted unsettling atmosphere is enhanced by Scorsese's restless camera movement, ranging from Godard style jump cuts to the camera moving away while characters are speaking, and by the film's washed out color scheme. Finally, the film's twist ending is even more brutally honest in today's media saturated world. This film is one of the most profound studies of loneliness ever filmed. Any person who has ever felt rejected or ostracized from society can relate to it, and I think that is its great appeal to a high school student. It is a movie about someone who has felt what we all feel, only more acutely, even more personally. This feeling leads him to do unspeakable things. In this movie we see Scorsese’s obsessions with guilt, violence, and sin/redemption and we understand how such a radical filmmaker was able to achieve both artistic and commercial success with other masterpieces like "Goodfellas" and the influence of this and other movies can be seen in the works of almost every major director since then; Quentin Tarantino clearly learned his craft from movies like this. The movie is violent and the language can be profane, but I can hardly think of a film which speaks with more brutal honesty to the modern person. This film is one of the most profound studies of loneliness ever filmed. Any person who has ever felt rejected or ostracized from society can relate to it, and I think that is its great appeal to a high school student. It is a movie about someone who has felt what we all feel, only more acutely, even more personally. This feeling leads him to do unspeakable things. In this movie we see Scorsese’s obsessions with guilt, violence, and sin/redemption and we understand how such a radical filmmaker was able to achieve both artistic and commercial success with other masterpieces like Goodfellas and the influence of this and other movies can be seen in the works of almost every major director since then; Quentin Tarantino clearly learned his craft from movies like this. The movie is violent and the language can be profane, but I can hardly think of a film which speaks with more brutal honesty to the modern person. ]]> Fri, 01 Oct 2010 12:37:00 GMT