Traffic review
 Mar 8th, 2001
Advantages:
Variety of characters . Strong theme . Performances by Del Toro, Cheadle, Christensen & Douglas . Good support .
Disadvantages:
Heavy going in places . Quite long .
Recommendable:
Yes
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  MrRPriest
About me:
I watch as many movies as I can. I'm keen to establish a career in movie journalism. If there's a mo...
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Review rated by 14 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
Traffic encompasses a month in the life of newly elected Drugs Commissioner Robert Wakefield. He is appointed by the President to crack down on the drugs problem in the United States. His first month in charge is an induction period for him to get a feel of what he is up against. At the end of this month, he is to give his first public speech on what he intends to do to help resolve the situation. The plot incorporates three or four separate stories with a variety of characters. Firstly, we have Javier & Manolo - Mexican police officers investigating the drugs exportation from Mexico to the US, who are drawn into the trafficking culture and pushed to their limit. Secondly, we have Montel & Ray - DEA officers who capture local businessman Eduardo importing the drugs from Mexico. They pressure him into informing them who runs the show in the US.
Eduardo indicates that wealthy businessman Carlos runs the show in the US and he is arrested. As a result of
his actions, we meet Carlos' wife Helena, who was unaware of his drug-running activities and is forced to face the consequences. Finally, we have Counsellor Wakefield and his family - his daughter Caroline is slowly becoming addicted to harder drugs without him realising. Traffic addresses a difficult, but very important, subject. Director Steven Soderbergh chops and changes between the stories to keep the viewer on their toes. The movie is long, but I found myself drawn in by the different plots and characters, so you don't have time to lose attention. At various points in the movie, the characters cross each other's paths, highlighting the fact that everybody is affected by the drugs problem.
The movie shifts from one location to another - from different states in the US to Tijuana, the Mexican city where the drugs are produced. Soderbergh presents Mexico in a very grainy, yellow film that looks rough compared to the blue tinted sleekness of the US. The comparison between the two countries is further added to by the difference in styles of policing the drugs problem. The US spends budgets on a drug czar like Wakefield and gets him to address the issue, whereas Mexico has a couple of cops who are right in the middle of it all. There are a few performances that immediately warrant a mention. Bendicio Del Toro is good as the smart half of the two Mexican police officers, who is drawn undercover in a brutal drugs army. As always, Don Cheadle is brilliant - this time as Montel Gordon, the smart half of the US DEA officers.
Finally, as Wakefield's studious daughter, Erika Christensen gives a debut performance to die for. Increasingly drugged up to the eyeballs and lost, she goes on the run, resorting to deperate measures to ensure she gets her hit. For me, this is the most intriguing story in the movie - the drugs czar whose own daughter is hooked. At first, his family life takes a back seat so that he can further his career. But, for all the research and meetings that he attends, the experience of losing his daughter to drugs teaches him the most valuable lesson. Michael Douglas gets better and better throughout the movie. Having started out as a robotic, career-orientated politician, Wakefield becomes the family man as he fights to find his runaway daughter and patch up his marriage. Perhaps the best scene of the movie is when he finally makes his first public address as drugs czar and suddenly realises the enormity of the situation at hand...and walks out.
There are some talented people in the supporting cast - Catherine Zeta Jones as Helena, the jailed drug boss' wife. Luis Guzman as Ray Castro, the DEA partner for Don Cheadle. Miguel Ferrer as Eduardo. Much has been said about the brilliance of Dennis Quaid's performance, but I thought it was not really a noteworthy role. The movie provides us with optimistic endings for Del Toro, Cheadle and Christensen, whilst highlighting overall just how serious the drug problem is. A pretty powerful piece of movie-making, definitely worth seeing.
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08.03.2001 02:36
good op, thanks!
08.03.2001 02:18
Excellent review of a film I've yet to see. But you have obviously laboured over this piece and given the reader plenty of detail and all in all deserving of a VH