Taxi Driver

The 70's of America belongs to Rock N' Roll. Many great bands such as KISS and sex pistols stemmed from the Post-Beatles era. This era is also the era of the Vietnam war which created unappeasable wound and emptiness looming through the whole decade. But contrary to the decadent 21 century, America in the 70's seemed to be a place full youth energy, freedom and love. The long haired hippie with their flared pants, the mechanical meters in those yellow taxis, the big black vinyl records are all the characteristics of the 70's. The 70's also made Robert De Niro. He has the eyes that will make smiles look sorrowful. You also have Jodie Foster who is just as pretty as an angel can get swinging her long legs at the age of 17. These two artists made a movie called "Taxi Driver" which almost made the innocent President Reagan the scapegoat of the crazy love.

Taxi Driver is one of the milestone works by Martin Scorsese. It not only got many awards and good feedbacks from the audience, but also the realism and the deep meaning presented in this movie. Taxi Driver is set in New York City after the Vietnam War, a time period when most Americans started doubting about the politics and the American spirit. People lost faith in each others, division gradually formed in the society. Yet, in New York City where prosperity can be seen everywhere, loneliness and emptiness envelop each one of the individuals. The main character Travis Bickle, a Vietnam war veteran, a man from a foreign land, became extremely confused and desolated in this big city. Working as a taxi driver enabled him to see the filthy underworld of this city. He saw prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers and mafias as trash but, like most of the people, he could only watch these things happening in front of his eyes numbly and continue on with his tedious life. Despite all the vices that was happening in the city, he still desired to be accepted by it and to find true love and friendship. But repetitive rejections from the reality made him want to revenge against the society he lived in. He tried to save the young prostitute Iris and kill the presidential candidates in order to save his hollow soul from the society. In the end, he broke into a whore house and killed everyone in it as a violent redemption to all the vices in the city.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCDXRTbXd2Q

Sources:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/taxi_driver/

http://movie.mtime.com/10364/