The Death of a Taxi Driver

I think that Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” ends with Travis Bickle’s (Robert De Niro) death. The ending of the movie makes too little sense in order for it to be real life. The chances of Betsy to choose a random cab that is empty to wait in that ends up being his are extremely low. Plus why would she just wait in a cab in the first place? This only leaves the options that the movie was a dream or a daydream or it ends in Travis’s death. One can rule out a dream because the rest of the movie makes sense. Dreams usually don’t. And too many bad things happen to Travis for it to be one of his daydreams. Also there is a good amount of evidence that Travis dies. To start with, Travis is ready to die and almost has a death wish. He would rather die trying to make a difference than continue to live. He leaves a note to Iris that ends “When you read this, I will probably be dead.” This explains why he tried to shoot himself after killing Sport and the others. Also once Travis puts his head back on the couch, the whole frame freezes, as if there’s nothing more. Travis’s life freezes there as he dies. Then the viewer has a bird’s eye view that usually signifies an omniscient being. This is Travis’s soul leaving his body and leaving through the house. It shows this as the camera slowly pulls out of the building. “Taxi Driver” definitely ends with Travis’s death.