Taxi Driver (1976) & There Will Be Blood (2007):
A Comparative Study
Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis): I.. drink.. your.. milkshake!
Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro): You talkin to me? You talkin to me?
I got to watch these two fine pieces of cinema last weekend. And I felt both have a few major aspects in common, other than them being products of fine celluloid craftsmanship. Firstly, both of them are deep character studies in general and the narration of the plot takes a back seat. Not that the premise is irrelevant, they surely help in shaping up the character. The dark streets of New York in the 1970s and oil rigs of California in the early 1900s have shades of gloom and filth splattered over. There are moments of cheer, but they are few. The films get darker as the story progresses. Both films are blessed with superlative performances by the lead stars. Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) and Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) are not exactly full of admiration for the people around them. While Bickle wishes somebody could flush the city "down the fuckin toilet", Plainview declares he sees the “worst in people”.
There is however something inherently different about the two guys. Bickle's hatred is built on his experiences, which might even have contributed to his psychological issues. He even wants to correct the world around him. Plainview on the other hand, built up his hatred so as to succeed, for not letting anyone else to win. That makes him downright evil; much, much more evil than Bickle. Add to that his short-temper that and in Plainview we have one of the most dislikeable lead characters ever. Plainview is as unpredictable as Bickle, but is not as stupid or bizarre as him. He won't take a girl to a sex education movie on a date or attempt to assassinate a senator wearing a very distinguishable Mohawk hairdo.
Another interesting aspect would be the people they care for. Bickle develops kind of a paternal affection to a teenage prostitute he sees on street and is hell bent on liberating her. He eventually succeeds in it too. Plainview on the other hand has his adopted son, who thinks Plainview is his real father. He is perhaps the only person Plainview loved. Yeah, past tense. As soon as his son's intentions to start his own company are clear, he starts to hate him too calling him a "bastard for a basket".
The murders they commit are also curiously reflective of their persona. Bickle shoots his way to the prostitute who he wants to save, utilising every move he had been rehearsing in front of mirrors. Cool heroic stuff, even though the whole exercise almost gets him killed. But that he is just back after attempting to assassinate a senator, who seems quite a decent man doesn’t go well with that heroic image. He is “a walking contradiction”. Plainview’s murders on the other hand were not necessary at all. He killed people who were entirely surrendered to him. In situations where most others would have been mellowed, he is enraged like hell and mercy is not something he is familiar of. This man is pure evil.
I think it’s now clear that I am more intrigued by Plainview than Bickle. I also think Daniel Day-Lewis belted out a more superior performance than Robert De Niro. But then this is me. Comprehensive character driven dramas like these can have a thousand interpretations and can garner a million conflicting opinions.
Taxi Driver
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Written by Paul Schrader
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date: February 8, 1976
There Will Be Blood
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
Written by Paul Thomas Anderson
Distributed by Paramount Vantage
Release date: December 26, 2007
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