Have you ever wrestled with loneliness? When loneliness hits, I bet it hits hard enough to turn your world upside down. It can hit you when you are just passing your days doing nothing extraordinary- just regular, mundane stuff- capable of killing one’s spirit. No one has represented “loneliness” as well and as vividly as one of the greatest and most influential directors, Martin Scorsese, in his classic psychological neo-noir drama, Taxi Driver, which continues to marvel and surprise cinemalovers. To top it off, no one could have presented a lonely man, indulging in cerebral soliloquies while wandering around at night in his taxi, as incredibly as Robert De Niro. What sets this film apart from other films is the beautiful experimentation and integration of politics, music, especially jazz, dance, black-and-white cinema, and neon lights, enhancing its cinematography to another level and raising curiosity about the music, politics, and other social issues of the time. If you love and respect cinema, you would know that films are more than mere entertainment or a treat to the eyes. It’s a concoction of research, prophecy, fantasy, magic, and reality; you can pick any of these elements while watching a good film. Therefore, I would personally designate “Taxi Driver” as a rustic drama and a refresher to filmmaking, story writing, and sociopolitical analysis of a society struggling with the forced prostitution of underage girls, drugs, cities struggling with dirt and scum, and moral degeneration in general.
“Loneliness has followed me my whole lofe, everywhere
In bars, in cars…
In sidewalks, stores, everywhere.
There’s no escape.
I am God’s lonely man.”
Travis
Let me introduce you to the film’s protagonist, Travis Bickle, a former U.S. Marine who served in the Vietnam War and received an honorable discharge in May 1973. He claims to have a clear conscience and comes across as uninterested in climbing the ladder of success. He might also come across as rude, upright, and dull, probably because he lacks interest in engaging with others or in sophistication. Travis, like innumerable discharged soldiers, struggles to adapt to society and tries to burn himself out by working long hours or doing mundane activities. The director does a great job showcasing the rough side and daily hustles of city life through Travis’s eyes. The film also takes us through the city’s lanes, where drama unfolds daily, especially at night. When Travis takes the job of a taxi driver, he just wants to work hard so he can sleep. He worked hard, hard enough to exhaust him, driving from six in the afternoon till six in the morning, sometimes stretching till eight in the morning, six days or seven days a week. Deprived of sleep and under pressure to acclimatize to his new surroundings and people, Travis had also become lonely, and drowning himself in his work seemed to be the only remedy.
As a taxi driver, Travis becomes the mirror or lens through which we can see city life, especially what is deliberately kept discreet or remains out of our sight. Driving through the dangerous neighborhoods and till late night, he becomes witness to the dirt and scums of the city, not just in terms of sanitation and cleanliness but also with reference to young prostitues going out with elderly rich man for money, girls being chased by pimps, broken relationships, sad men secretly watching their cheating wives and planning their murder in their state of shock and disbelief, and so on. Alternatively, it also comes across as a film that looks around through the perspective of a character struggling with loneliness and social engagement; a perspective that gets increasingly diluted due to his cramped-up room, indulgence in porn movies, and disapprovals in relationships. His sense of loneliness and purposelessness, along with jazz music and the play of neon lights from street lamps, hotels, and theatres reflecting in the mirror and glass of his car, makes this film an interesting picturization of a city and its people.
“You’re only as healthy.
You’re only as healthy as you feel.”
Travis
After a mental breakdown following a failed relationship and loneliness that was eating him away like worms, he found a purpose in his life in rescuing Iris, a 12-year-old girl, played by Jodie Foster, duped into prostitution. The second half of the film becomes fast-paced and unpredictable as Travis starts working on himself and organizing arms and ammunition to carry out his purpose. Driven by his own fantasies and paranoid mind, we come through a radical imagery or persona of Travis—a fearless man, armed from head to toe exactly like a Marine would be in a war, ready to don the role of a rescuer. In hindsight, it seems he is trying to rescue not just Iris but also himself from the pit where he fell, moving from the world of Marines to this world of scums. It certainly becomes the agency through which he wanted to salvage his own image. One should not forget that it would not have been easy for Travis to simply give up the idea of being a Marine; he would have struggled with the concept of the world being forced upon him. His lack of socialization was also a fallout of his time spent away as a Marine. I, therefore, strongly feel that the arrival of a purpose would have psychologically assisted him in reliving his past. With a strict exercise regimen, including 50 push-ups and 50 pull-ups, and a focus on healthy eating like any soldier, he started getting in shape for the greater action. What follows are action-packed scenes and back-and-forth dialogue, as Travis fantasized, with a lot of bloodshed and screams of shock and relief. With Iris rescued and now leading a normal schoolgirl life, Travis, after recuperating from his injuries and coming out of a coma, had gained confidence but lost reputation and social approval. One can come up with a range of theories about what really drove Travis to take such a drastic action. However, I feel he was driven more by his growing fantasies and diminishing confidence than by a desire to reform society.
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