"Taxi Driver" is the famous work of Martin Scorsese, the masterpiece of New Hollywood, and the winning work of the Cannes Palme d'Or. I saw it once in my second year of high school, but I couldn't find it good at that time, but now I only understand it in my second year. Sometimes experience is really important.
Travis is the most empty and lonely person in all the literary works I have ever seen. There are many lonely people in literary works, but most of them also have their own obsessions: love, or art, or ideas, or whatever; but Travis only has void in his heart. Why? First of all, he is not well-educated, so he can't have a deep understanding of the various changes and performances in his heart. Therefore, he appears so incoherent when confronted with colleagues and presidential candidates. The same is true for the feeling; secondly, the Vietnam War is actually ubiquitous as the background in the film. Why is Travis so sad when he comes out? Because he got nothing in a meaningless and absurd war, the Vietnam War completely collapsed his inner values; however, the most important and decisive thing was what he had heard and witnessed in and out of the sinful and rotten streets of New York. All sorts of ugly social realities like sewage in the waterways, remember the middle-aged greasy man who cheated? This is the first passenger of Travis to appear in the film, but at this time he has long been used to it, used to it, huh, isn't it also numb to some extent? Yes, Travis was numb to these dirty garbage at this time, but Bessie's appearance temporarily changed him.
Bessie was endowed with the symbolic meaning of "purity" by Travis. He loves the house and the Ugly. Travis naturally classifies the presidential candidate as a good person, which constitutes the subplot of the film: the presidential line. However, the United States, where the class was solidified in the 1970s, has begun to emerge. The lives of the upper class and the lower people are so different. The huge difference between the two represented by this class is doomed to the failure of love between the two. The presidential candidate is actually a more senior clientele and hypocrite. After Bessie tore a gap in the communication between Travis and the outside world, the moment of quantitative change leading to qualitative change finally arrived: Travis decided to assassinate the presidential candidate. However, why does he want to assassinate? Is it revenge? Perhaps, of course, the most direct reason must be the heart of revenge and "salvation" for this rotten society, but Travis is not a hero in the traditional sense, he is an anti-hero, he has no real lofty and firm goals and ideas. Perhaps it was just because, with such preparations, he was able to pass the empty time more effectively and escape the torture in his heart; and because of this, even if he kept the mad and cool moxican head at the last moment, he would still run away. : He has no firm determination and courage at all. He is just an ordinary person, and it is normal to be afraid of those in the Secret Service.
Iris is the most concentrated manifestation of this corrupt and sinful society: a 12-year-old prostitute! With the development of contraceptive technology, she no longer suffers the humiliation and pain like Sonia described by Dostoevsky. Instead, enjoy this sweet trap. But no matter how many packaging and deformation of sin goes through, it still cannot change its essence: should a 12-year-old girl give up her normal interpersonal communication and school work and indulge in carnal desire? (Even in the 21st century, many 12-year-old girls may not fully understand "carnal desire") Is this how her life should be? Can it always be like this in the future? The answer is obvious. Travis tried to save her, why? Maybe it's also to pass the time, but from De Niro's performance we can find Travis's anxiety and indignation, so I think the rescue plan for Iris is still Travis's struggle against this decaying society, although it is the last step.
The big climax (bloodbath brothel) is a famous segment in the history of film, and the second brushing this time really shocked me. Killing these scumbags was Travis’s last protest against this rotten society. He was really fed up, so he planned to end his life in the end. However, the sky is not beautiful. Life is so bitter and ironic. In the end, There are no bullets. What’s especially absurd is the media’s exaggeration of this. The ridiculous ridicule of media reports here is a bit of Rashomon: there are no facts, only explanations; but "Taxi Driver" does not have Rashomon’s. So radical, his facts are obvious. A taxi driver blood-washed the brothel, but is the motive that others can detect? In the end, Travis returned to indifference and estrangement. No, it should be said that he really became indifferent and estranged. He no longer discusses the inner confusion with his colleagues, but melted into the night and feasting like other taxi drivers. , The back seat and everything outside the car have nothing to do with him...
When I watched this film, I did not pay too much attention to the technique and form. Generally speaking, it is not a dazzling movie (the dazzling movie is formalism, such as Wong Kar-wai's "In the Mood for Love"). In terms of narrative type, the film is still a big plot: a single protagonist, a linear narrative, and a three-act play structure. But to a considerable extent, the film shows the characteristics of a small plot: emphasizing inner conflict, the progress of the plot is alternately advanced by external conflicts and internal conflicts. From the shooting point of view, Martin Scorsese basically maintained the conventional shooting method of commercial films: the sound and picture are synchronized, and the long shots are used less. But this is also a work with distinct personal characteristics of Scorsese: a little expressionist lighting, live shooting. Of course, I don't know much about Scorsese's style and it needs to be explored in the future.
The film truly shows the sordid reality of American society in the 1970s and the confusion and emptiness of the people, but do the ugliness hidden in the city happen from time to time in the corners of us that we do not pay attention to or simply in full view Is the next happening and everyone is accustomed to it? The city is a great invention, but the evil hidden in the city and the indifference and alienation that the city brings to people are also real. Most importantly, Travis is a character I will never forget: behind his reluctant smile is desperate emptiness and exhaustion...
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