Taxi Driver (1976)

The history of cinema is littered with complex, troubling characters that reflect, accentuate or illuminate the darker recesses of society and the individual human psyche. Forty years ago, Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver unleashed one of cinema’s most disturbing but iconic creations in the shape of Travis Bickle, brought to life on screen with committed intensity by Robert De Niro.

Taxi Driver (1976)

This honourably discharged US Marine turned vigilante killer is the diseased heart of a searing and damning portrait of American urban life in the materialistic post-Watergate, post-Vietnam world. An alienated anti-hero for the age, Travis both fed off and fed into the perceived moral degeneration observed from the isolated vantage point of the yellow cab he steers around the then garbage-strewn, mean streets of New York.

A brooding, waking-dream of a film, Taxi Driver eventually explodes into violence as Travis’s pent-up psychotic rage forces its way out of his mind and into reality. Travis’s symbolic, blood-drenched cleansing of the soul was so much of a concern to the MPAA that Scorsese desaturated the colours during the film’s deeply unsettling, censor-baiting climax. Its power to shock was not diminished by this slight artistic compromise. An exemplary melding of imagery, dialogue, music, artistic vision and technical mastery, Taxi Driver deservedly won that year’s Palme d’Or and was also nominated for four Academy Awards.

Scorsese’s production featured a roll call of talent that, on reflection, virtually assured that it would go on to be deemed an American classic. Written by Paul Schrader, scored by the great Bernard Herrmann, who would sadly die before the film’s release, and featuring makeup work by Dick Smith, the peerless off-screen crew were joined on it by Cybill ShepherdHarvey KeitelPeter Boyle and then 13-year-old Jodie Foster in support of De Niro’s central performance.

Taxi Driver (1976)

Schrader wrote the script in a month while going through his own personal problems and took inspiration from Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground and from the diaries of Arthur Bremer, who shot presidential candidate George Wallace in 1972. The threads of real life would be mirrored and chillingly reconnected to Taxi Driver in 1981 when John Hinckley Jr would attempt to assassinate President Reagan in a twisted effort to impress Jodie Foster, with whom Hinckley Jr had developed a dangerous obsession.

Scorsese assimilated the sensibilities and traits of classical and New Hollywood filmmaking, European arthouse cinema, film noir and, climactically, exploitation movies in realising Schrader’s script. As for Herrmann’s swansong score, the melancholy jazz and plaintive saxophone fittingly speak of loneliness and isolation, while the rumblings of the harp, brass and drum movements audibly point to the growing pressure on Travis and the oncoming eruption of his psychosis.

Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese during production of Taxi Driver (1976)

Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese during production of Taxi Driver (1976)

Confrontational, reflective and (as unfortunately transpired) grimly prophetic, Taxi Driver’s vision of social corrosion, moral corruption and personal trauma remains as much of a gut-punch now as it was on release. As for the film’s that influenced Scorsese’s early masterpiece narratively and stylistically, here are five of the most prominent.

The Searchers (1956)

Director John Ford

The Searchers (1956)

Taxi Driver pays clear homage to John Ford’s The Searchers, which was named the greatest American western in the American Film Institute’s 2008 poll. The central figure of Frank S. Nugent’s screenplay is Ethan Edwards, portrayed by Ford regular John Wayne. In something of a departure for an actor who came to embody American ideals of heroism on screen and off, Wayne’s Ethan Edwards is no hero and displays less than admirable qualities. Both war veterans, Ethan and Travis seek redemption through ‘rescuing’ females who may not want/need saving. Loners with a propensity for violence, their self-imposed moral missions drive the respective narratives.

The Wrong Man (1956)

Director Alfred Hitchcock

The Wrong Man (1956)

On a surface level, the story of Manny Balestrero (Henry Fonda), a working musician and happily married father of two wrongly accused of armed robbery, has little in common with that of Travis Bickle’s own personal torments. Elements of Alfred Hitchcock’s docudrama The Wrong Man were, however, brought to bear on the shooting style of Taxi Driver. In a 1998 interview with Roger Ebert, Scorsese stated that the film “has more to do with the camera movements in Taxi Driver than any other picture I can think of. It’s such a heavy influence because of the sense of guilt and paranoia.”

Pickpocket (1959)

Director Robert Bresson

Pickpocket (1959)

Robert Bresson’s self-penned character study of petty thief Michel (Martin LaSalle) is, like the titular figure in the acclaimed director’s Diary of a Country Priest (1951), a clear influence on Scorsese and Schrader’s tortured protagonist. Michel’s confessional voiceover narration, diary writing and voyeuristic tendencies are exhibited in both Taxi Driver’s narrative style and Travis’s character traits. Transcendental, existential and non-judgemental, Pickpocket and Taxi Driver explore the immoral reasoning that drives Michel and Travis to take the course of actions driven by the personal problems and social situations the respective lead characters find themselves in.

2 or 3 Things I Know about Her (1967)

Director Jean-Luc Godard

Two or Three Things I Know about Her (1967)

As passionate and knowledgeable a cinephile as he is talented as a filmmaker, it’s not surprising that Scorsese openly acknowledges the debt he owes to the French new wave and the films of Jean-Luc Godard in particular. In one scene from the French director’s 2 or 3 Things I Know about Her, the camera closes in and lingers on the surface of a cup of coffee, a shot recreated in Taxi Driver as Travis drops an Alka-Seltzer into a glass of water before staring intently at the fizzing mixture. It’s a small but important tip of the hat in a film that wears a myriad of influences proudly on its sleeve.

The Merchant of Four Seasons (1971)

Director Rainer Werner Fassbinder

The Merchant of Four Season (1971)

In recent years, Scorsese has talked of the influence that the late Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s work had on Taxi Driver and the director’s filmmaking in general. Singling out The Merchant of Four Seasons, one of the New German Cinema auteurist’s most celebrated melodramas, Scorsese said “it had a kind of brutal honesty about the way the camera looked at the characters – at the actors”. A bleak tale of depression, self-destruction and familial discord, The Merchant of Four Seasons is not short of stark imagery and unvarnished realism. Amid the visual symbolism and colour coding of Taxi Driver, these stylistic elements also make their presence felt.

On this day, Feb. 1, 1960, four college students went to the local Woolworth store, purchased some items, then sat down at the lunch counter to order coffee. They were denied service because of the color of their skin. The manager asked them to leave. The students decided to stay, seated, politely waiting for their coffee, until closing time.
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The next day, the four students (Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr., and David Richmond) returned, ordered coffee again, and were refused again.

“I certainly wasn’t afraid,” said Franklin McCain. “And I wasn’t afraid because I was too angry to be afraid. If I were lucky I would be carted off to jail for a long, long time. And if I were not so lucky, then I would be going back to my campus, in a pine box.”

McCain also remembered an older white woman approaching them, thinking she would say or do something to them, like the other hecklers.

She walked up behind them, and she whispered in a calm voice, “Boys, I’m so proud of you.”

McCain would say, “What I learned from that little incident was don’t you ever, ever stereotype anybody in this life until you at least experience them and have the opportunity to talk to them.”

The four students, who would eventually be called the Greensboro Four, would be joined by 20 other students that day, just sitting there, reading books and studying while White customers continued to heckle them.

On Day 3, more than 60 students joined in. On Day 4, there were 300 people at the lunch counter. After one week, students were staging their own sit-ins throughout North Carolina. Soon, the movement spread to other Southern cities, then states.

On July 25, 1960, Woolworth finally relented and black employees of Greensboro’s Woolworth’s store were the first to be served at the store’s lunch counter. The next day, the entire Woolworth’s chain was desegregated, serving blacks and whites alike. The sit-ins would eventually spread to other forms of public accommodation, and in 1964, The Civil Rights Act was passed, mandating desegregation in public accommodations.

The Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth’s store is now the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, and a section of the lunch counter in which the four students sat is now preserved in the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History, a reminder of our past when the color of your skin prohibited you from just sitting down at a lunch counter and ordering a cup of coffee.

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 Jon S. Randal on FB

Umesto hrane, korisnicima narodne kuhinje 168 dinara dnevno

Korisnici narodnih kuhinja u Beogradu, više neće dobijati hranu, već novac. To je odluka Sekreterijata za socijalnu zaštitu, objavljena na zvaničnom sajtu, koju u toj službi nisu želeli da obrazlože. Za korisnike to nije prihvatljivo, jer neće moći da prehrane porodicu za mesec dana.

“Kaže šta si jela juče, to ćeš da jedeš i danas. Moja deca gladuju juče ceo dan”, žali se Gordana Životić korisnica Narodne kuhinje.

Deca Gordane Životić nisu jela ništa, zbog toga što je u Narodnoj kuhinji u beogradskom naselju Rakovica nije dočekala hrana, već katanac. Korisnike su takođe sačekali spiskovi i obaveštenje da će umesto obroka, za to dobiti novac.

“Ako podelimo 5.040 na 30 dana, znači da je 168 dinara po obroku, tako da smo u bezizlaznoj situaciji sa tim novcem mi ne možemo da obezbedimo topli obrok sebi i svojoj deci”, govori Snežana Petrović, korisnica Narodne kuhinje.

Tradicionalno čekanje ispred Narodne kuhinje, ovoga puta prebačeno je ispred Centra za socijalni rad. Oni koiji su juče ostali gladni, danas umesto u hranu gledali su u spiskove na kojima je obeleženo kada će ih isplatiti.

“Napravili su od nas stoku, dolazim ovde sa polomljenom kičmom u kojoj imam ploču sa pet šrafova dolazim da bi uzela tih 168 dinara i da bih dočekala svoje ime okačeno na vratima, to je krajnja sramota”, govori Milica Đorđević korisnica Narodne kuhinje.

Besplatne obroke u Beogradu, svakog dana uglavnom su dobijali penzioneri sa minimalnim primanjima kao i porodice koje žive od socijalne pomoći.

Zbog čega je odlučeno da će svi oni umesto obroka dobijati novac i da li takva odluka znači ukidanje Narodnih kuhinja u prestonici od nadležnih iz Sekreterijata za socijalnu zaštitu, nismo dobili odgovore.

Iz Crvenog krsta poručuju da su Narodne kuhinje neophodne.

“Potreba za realizacijom je evidenta, 2/3 naših korisnika izjavilo je da im je to i jedini obrok tokom dana, a definicija programa je jedan topli obrok dnevno, sledovanje pola litre kuvanog obroka i polovina hleba i trećinu naših korisnika čine mladii deca ispod 18 godina”, govori Vesna Milenović, generalni sekretar CK Srbije.

U Srbiji 36.000 ljudi koristi Narodne kuhinje, a trećina njih je iz Beograda. Ovakva situacija nije u ostalim srpskim gradovima i opštinama, jer Narodne kuhinje i dalje rade.

Jelena Mirković, N1

Dok mnogi mediji bruje o krivičnim delima Kačavende, zasad bez sudskog epiloga, jedan predmet je daleko manje poznat, iako se oteže od 2008. godine, otkriva Duško Tomić, advokat i osnivač organizacije Dečja ambasada Međaši. Tada je podneta krvična prijava protiv sveštenika Miroljuba Stojanovića iz Niša da je seksualno zlostavljao devojčicu romske nacionalnosti.

‘Stojanović je godinu dana ranije unajmio roditelje tada trinaestogodišnje devojčice i nju da rade u njegovom vinogradu u selu Merošin kod Prokuplja, gde je imao vikencicu. Ubrzo je zaveo dete, obrlatio poklonima i seksualno iskoristio’, priča Tomić koji je zastupao na sudu. Devojčica se poverila ocu i majci, i oni su sastavili molbu tada vladici Irineju, sada patrijarhu, da spreči dalje zlostavljanje. Irinej je to igonrisao, kao i naknadno podnetu krivičnu prijavu, ogorčeno kaže Tomić. Godinama se pravio slep i gluv, pa se 2010. vladici obratio paroh te porodice, Tomislav Živković. Umesto da zaštiti dete, episkop niški je krenuo u progon Živkovića.

Istovremeno, počeo je sa pritiskom na pravosuđe pismima u kojim tvrdi da je Stojanovć nevin, a da devojčica laže, ističe Tomić. Takođe, Irinej je pokrenuo peticiju da obustavi istragu, angažovao 14 sveštenika da potvrde ‘najbolje karakteristike’ Stojanovića. A njega odlikovao zlatnim ordenom. Osnovni sud u Prokuplju je zlostavljača ipak osudio na godinu dana zatvora. ‘Da bi pokazao da je njegova reč iznad zakona, Irinej je unapredio Stojanovića’, kaže Tomić, ljut na ovakav, protivpravni razvoj događaja. Tako dokazani krivac postaje supervizor za bogosluženja pri niškoj crkvi Svetog Pantelejmona.

Osokoljen pordrškom, Stojanović je uložio žalbu i predmet je dospeo na Viši sud. Odatle je vraćen na prvu adresu iz ‘formalnih razloga’ da bi prvostepena odluka suda bila potvrđena. Usledila je nova žalba, a konačan presuda se i dalje čeka. Premda se, po zakonskoj proceduri, predmeti koji uključuju maloletnike rešavaju po hitnom postupku, da bi se deca što pre oslobodila tereta. ‘Ali ova, sad već devojka, punih osam godina trpi strah, osudu i sumnjičenje okoline’, navodi Tomić. On smatra da se radi o sličnom scenariju kao u slučaju optužbi za pedofiliju vladike pahomija, pokušaju da se proces oduži do zastarevanja.

S druge strane, sveštenika koji je stao na stranu devojčice – Tomislava Živkovića, Irinej premešta po kazni u Eparhiju banatsku, obšnjava advokat, Tamo Živković doživljava mobing od nadležnog episkopa Nikanora. Nikanor ga prvo vređa, ponekad i udara, potom svojevoljno oduzima dva čina, protojera i protonamesnika, a time i parohiju, za NIN svedoči Živković. ‘I naređuje mi da napustim crkveni stan’, dodaje sveštenik, koji je prvo pokušao da stvar reši ‘unutar kuće’. Neuspešno, pa se obratio civilnom sudstvu. Nikanor nije odgovorio na tužbu u zakonskom roku, što je dovelo do toga da Živković dobije proces. Prvo put u isoriji SPC, jedan vladika je osuđen za mobing. Kako će se pobeda na sudu odraziti na sudbinu Živkovića, da li će mu biti vraćena parohija i pravo korišćenja stana, od svog nadređenog šikanirani sveštenik još ne zna. ‘Ali, sudstvo je dokazalo nezavisnost, umesto uobičajenog povlačenja pred pritiscima Crkve’, zaključuje Tomić. Jer, obično se događa da je ‘Crkva i tužilac i sudija’, poentira.

Zataškavanja u sećanju i pravdi, NIN

Prvog februara, na strančkim izborima u američkoj državi Ajovi, najviše glasova među republikancima osvojio je Ted Kruz. Jedan naš ugledni list opisao ga je ovako: senator iz Teksasa, pravnik, sin kubanskog migranta.

Latinsko migrare znači seliti se. S dodatkom prefiksa daje emigrare, iseliti se, odnostno immigrare, useliti se. Mi smo još pre više od jednog veka pozajmili internacionalizme emigrant i emigracija, imigrant i imigracija. Možda baš i nisu bili nepohodni pored našeg iseljenik i useljenik odnosno doseljenik, ali su stekli određena politička značenja. Znamo kako je u vreme socijalizma zloslutno zvučalo četnička emigracija i ustaška emigracija, dok se imigrant gotovo uvek odnosilo na one koji su došli u SAD i prošli kroz čuveni Immigration Office. I za Kruzovog ca, dakle, trebalo je reći da je kubanski imigrant, odnosno emigrant sa Kube.

Od glagola bez prefiksa, migrare, doskora smo imali samo migrirati i migracija. Reči migrant nije bilo kod Vujaklije, nema je ni u Rečniku sprskog jezika. Nije nam ni trebala, dok šesto hiljada njih nisu odjednom navalili kroz Srbiju ka severu Evrope. Kad stignu na svoj cilj i tamo steknu državljanstvo ili pravo azila, postaće imigranti, odnosno emigranti iz svoje domovine. Zasad su samo migranti, ljudi koji se sele, a za to nemamo ni domaćeg izgraza. Teško da bismo upotrebili imenicu selac ili selilac, mada su zabeležene u Matičinom šestotomniku. Neke od njih možemo nazvati izbeglicama, ali znamo da Evropa pravi strogu razliku između onih koji beže od rata u Siriji i onih koji su samo krenuli trbuhom za kruhom.

Ivan Klajn, NIN

“I knew a girl in high school that always complained about having anxiety. I used to make fun of her a little bit. It looked like nothing to me. So I assumed it was nothing. And I dealt with it by trying to convince her that it was nothing. I called her recently to apologize. I’ve had really bad anxiety ever since my father died. And it’s definitely not nothing. It’s the indescribable fear of nothing.”

Humans of New York

Self-portrait is a peculiar theme in painting. It is not only an artwork but also reflect inner-side of the painter. The twofold meaning contains in a self-portrait which reveal true character of the painter and a construction of how to reveal true me — personal comprehension and living expectation. The article chooses Egon Schiele to figure out how he deconstructs his courage and hospitality to reflect his existentialism on painting.

ALEŠ DEBELJAK, NAJZNAČAJNIJI SLOVENAČKI SAVREMENI PESNIK, POGINUO JE U SAOBRAĆAJNOJ NESREĆI 28. JANUARA OVE GODINE. BIO JE I SOCIOLOG KULTURE, UNIVERZITETSKI PROFESOR, KOLUMNISTA I ESEJISTA, JEDAN OD VODEĆIH SLOVENAČKIH JAVNIH INTELEKTUALACA, JEDAN OD RETKIH KOJI SU JOŠ U PRVIM DANIMA NAKON RASPADA JUGOSLAVIJE BEZ ZAZORA GOVORILI O JUGOSLOVENSKOJ KOMPONENTI SOPSTVENOG IDENTITETA

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>foto: erica

Esej Aleša Debeljaka Sumrak idolajedan je od najljepših, najdirljivijih, najprevođenijih i najuticajnijih tekstova o raspadu Jugoslavije. Taj esej završava prisjećanjem na pjesmuNe daj seInes Arsena Dedića. Nakon što je prije nepunih pola godine, sredinom avgusta 2015, umro Arsen Dedić, napisao sam, ovdje u “Vremenu”, kratak nekrolog. Žalio sam za Arsenom, kao i valjda skoro cijela Jugoslavija, ali je taj žal bio žal za umjetnikom, ne nipošto lišen ličnog, ali uglavnom lišen one tuge što stvara gvalju u grlu, tuge koja obuzima čovjeka kad umre neko s kim se družio, smijao, pio, putovao, raspravljao o životu, književnosti i politici, povjerljivo razgovarao. O smrti Aleša Debeljaka ne mogu ni misliti ni pisati bez takve tuge. Takođe, Arsenu je sudbina nakon transplantacije jetre dala više od deset dodatnih godina pa je doživio svoj sedamdeset sedmi rođendan; Aleš Debeljak je poginuo jedva mjesec dana poslije svog pedeset četvrtog. Paralelu između njih dvojice prizvao mi je taj emfatični završetak eseja Sumrak idola i te dvije u vremenu bliske smrti, a sada, dok ovo pišem, primjećujem da imaju iste inicijale: A.D. To su oni inicijali koji u našoj civilizaciji označavaju prolazak vremena. Takođe, u slučaju Aleša Debeljaka, godine rođenja i smrti ogledaju se jedna u drugoj kao u ogledalu: s jedne strane 61, s druge strane 16. To je valjda u ljudskoj prirodi, to da tugu pokušava prevariti traženjem paterna i obrazaca; to je možda isti poriv koji čovjeka tjera u poeziju.

U književnost je Aleš Debeljak ušao putem poezije, sredinom i krajem osamdesetih godina prošlog stoljeća, knjigama kakve su Imena smrtiRječnik tišine i Minuti straha. Paralelno sa pisanjem poezije, Debeljak se etablira i kao esejista. Mada Jugoslavija već počinje da prolazi kroz terminalnu krizu i mada se slovenačka kulturna elita programski distancira od Jugoslavije, Debeljakovi pjesme i eseji su kroz prevode izrazito prisutni unutar srpskohrvatske jezičke matrice, prvenstveno preko zagrebačkog časopisa Quorum. Među njegovim tekstovima objavljenim pred kraj osamdesetih dobro se pamti majstorski pronicljiv i pjesnički sugestivan esej o Lu Ridu i Džoniju Štuliću Kraj rockerskog zavjeta. Kad četiri-pet godina kasnije, nakon što se Jugoslavija već raspala, Debeljak napiše Sumrak idola, u njemu će Štulićeva figura dobiti centralno simboličko mjesto. Scena je nezaboravna: 1992. godine Debeljak se mota hodnicima pariskog metroa, a tamo, naslonjen na zid, “zagledan preda se tamnokosi momak otužna pogleda, sa zgužvanom kapom na podu ispred sebe” svira gitaru i pjeva ŠtulićeveLjude Samoće. Pa Debeljak kaže: “U hipu me obuzela nježno bolna nostalgija, zasuo me val ganutosti, a glas uličnog pjevača nestvarno se odbijao od zidova.(…) Izrazitom sentimentu Štulićeve pjesme: Ljudi samoće, ne vraćam se samo ja. Njoj se vraćamo svi koji se tražimo po kolodvorima, aerodromima i čekaonicama svijeta u beznadnoj žudnji za sugovornikom, čije sjećanje poznaje isti rites of passage, što su se na različitim prostorima bivše Jugoslavije odvijali u istom ritmu zato što smo zaneseno slušali iste rockere i čitali iste pisce, čija su imena za većinu Zapadne Europe ostala neizgovorljiva, a nama su značila treptavu svjetlost u prodoru političkog opskurnatizma.”

Aleš Debeljak je u Njujorku doktorirao sociologiju kulture te je decenijama radio kao univerzitetski profesor s bazom u Ljubljani i gostovanjima širom svijeta. Ipak, po vokaciji je prvenstveno bio pjesnik. Do kraja života pisao je poeziju, posvećeno i zaneseno. Bio je i novinski kolumnista, javni intelektualac istančanog stila, široke erudicije i istinski humanističkog svjetonazora. Uvijek dobronamjeran, duhovit, talentovan za prijateljstvo, hedonista, sportista (juniorski prvak Slovenije u džudou i reprezentativac Jugoslavije) bilo je u njemu ljudskosti koliko jedva da bi stalo u, što bi Sinan Gudžević rekao, “podobar grad”. U poslijeratnim godinama mnogo je radio na obnavljanju pokidanih veza unutar južnoslovenskih kultura i na stvaranju novih. Iako je za pedeset i četiri godine života stvorio impresivan literarni opus, bio je svjestan istinitosti one fraze Česlava Miloša prema kojoj je književnost “turnir grbavaca”; znao je, hoću reći, da književni uspjeh ne znači ništa u poređenju sa ljudskom ostvarenošću. Zato i jest toliko mnogo onih koji zbog njegove smrti žaluju i koje je ovaj gubitak ujedinio u tuzi.

Sumraku idola, Aleš Debeljak kaže: “Tko ne zna šta je izgubio, nije izgubio ništa.” Njegovi bližnji, prijatelji i čitaoci dobro znaju koga su izgubili.

Muharem Bazdulj, Imena smrti, Vreme