TRAFFIC (2000) / *** 1/2
Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Screenplay by Stephen Gaghan, based on the miniseries "Traffik" by Simon Moore. Starring Michael Douglas, Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro. Running time: 147 minutes. Rated AA for controversial subject matter and offensive language by the MFCB. Reviewed on January 10th, 2001.
By SHANNON PATRICK SULLIVAN
"Traffic" accomplishes a rare feat indeed. A movie about one of the most prevalent issues confronting modern society -- the drug trade -- it nonetheless manages to rise above simple proselytising and offers a brutally uncompromising, essentially unbiased perspective on its subject material. In a world where even the best dramas tend to take sides, this is remarkable; even more noteworthy is the fact that it happens within the confines of one of the most gripping films of the year.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh, and vastly superior to his crowd-pleasing but underachieving "Erin Brockovich", "Traffic" tells three stories about lives affected by drugs. These are tangentially connected, but mostly stand up on their own -- it would not be difficult to remove any of the plotlines from the movie and view those segments in isolation.
In one story arc, Michael Douglas plays Robert Wakefield, an Ohio judge who has been named by the President to be the nation's new drug czar -- the nominal head of America's war on illegal substances. But unbeknownst to Wakefield or his wife Barbara (Amy Irving), their own daughter Caroline (Erika Christensen) has been lured into the drug culture.
Meanwhile, Douglas' real-life bride Catherine Zeta-Jones stars as Helena Ayala, whose husband Carlos (Steven Bauer) is secretly one of the country's top importers of narcotics. This is revealed to Helena only when Carlos is arrested by Agents Gordon (Don Cheadle) and Castro (Luis Guzman) following the apprehension of a lower-level dealer (Miguel Ferrer). Helena is soon embroiled in Carlos' world when the cartel he worked with threatens their son's life to keep Carlos from betraying them to the authorities. The only help Helena can turn to seems scarcely preferable -- including Carlos' perfidious business partner (Dennis Quaid) and a cunning cartel head (Benjamin Bratt).
Finally, there is the tale of Mexican policeman Javier Rodriguez Rodriguez (Benicio Del Toro), who fights against drug trafficking from his side of the border. Javier becomes caught in a war between two cartels (one of them Bratt's) and discovers that neither his partner (Jacob Vargas) nor the army general who professes to Mexico's biggest anti-drug crusader (Tomas Milian) are as dedicated to the task as they would have him believe.
Soderbergh's direction stands out in "Traffic". He employs a rigid, realistic style which thrusts the audience directly into the drama. Events unfold at a sometimes feverish pace, but Soderbergh keeps things lucid, often helped by focussing on a handful of very strong characters. He also distinguishes each of the three plotlines by filming each of them (or rather, each of their principle locations) in a different style. The Washington and Ohio locales of the Wakefield storyline look cold and blue, reflecting both the bureaucratic nature of the judge's new environment and the downward spiral which has gripped his family. The Mexico scenes, on the other hand, look hazy and washed out, as though the sunlight is raining down on the desert and barrios. And the California locations for the Ayala segments are more lushly, naturally lit.
Each of the storylines boasts a number of fine performances. Douglas is on the mark as a man who is expected to serve a nation, but who finds he cannot even help his own flesh and blood. His desperation, as the pressures of his job conflict with his desire to heal his family, is effectively conveyed. Del Toro, meanwhile, is excellent as a little fish in the big and tumultuous pond that is Mexico, unable to completely trust anyone and often finding himself on the side of those whose actions seem no better than the criminals'.
Zeta Jones is less successful as Helena, her character lacking consistency from scene to scene. To an extent, this is because the entire California subplot feels a little rushed. Unlike the other two storylines, which chiefly concentrate on just one character (Judge Wakefield and Javier Rodriguez, respectively), Helena competes for attention with other individuals, most notably the entertaining double act of Gordon and Castro. Indeed, Cheadle brings such intensity to his role that it seems a shame he does not feature more prominently in the film. There is a lot happening in the Ayala segments -- legal maneuvering, financial maneuvering, Helena's efforts to deal with Carlos' cohorts, the agents' investigation -- and at times it feels rushed and jumbled.
The same cannot be said of the superb Mexico scenes, which offer a blistering look at the blurred line between those who run the country and those who run the drugs. Here we see how easy it can be for a lawman to abandon his duty and turn the other cheek -- not only because it can be tantalisingly lucrative to do so, but because the deck already seems so overwhelmingly stacked against him.
The story of the Wakefield family is probably the most familiar and accessible to mainstream audiences, and the tale of a girl hooked on drugs and unwilling to commit herself to rehab is nothing new. But "Traffic" depicts this subplot with such stark honesty that it is far more effective than most treatments of the material. What happens to Caroline is horrible and sobering. The explanation offered by her boyfriend (Topher Grace, from "That '70s Show") for the stranglehold drugs have on the population is equally so.
"Traffic" reaches no conclusions, favours no sides. Some aspects of the film support the controversial notion of legalising narcotics, and suggest that the drug war is futile and doomed to failure. Others offer a spark of hope that, slowly but surely, America is winning this most insidious of battles. In the end, it is not clear that current policy is at all effective, but nor is it indisputably misguided -- the possibility for both exists.
What "Traffic" does accomplish is simply to raise the level of awareness of just how complex an issue this really is. Politicians and activists who attempt to dismiss or address the problem with glib words and handy catchphrases are neither helping nor, increasingly, fooling anybody.
Copyright © 2001 Shannon Patrick Sullivan. Archived at The Popcorn Gallery, http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies/Traffic.html
_______________________________________________________________________ / Shannon Patrick Sullivan | "We are all in the gutter, but some of us \ | shannon@mun.ca | are looking at the stars." - Oscar Wilde | \___________________________|__________________________________________/ | Popcorn Gallery Movie Reviews www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies.html | | Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time (Travel) /drwho.html |
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