Release Date: January 5, 2001
Starring: Michael Douglas, Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, Luiz Guzman, Dennis Quaid, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Steven Bauer, Erika Christensen
Directed by: Stephen Soderbergh
Written by: Stephen Gaghan
Distributed by: USA Films
MPAA Rating: R (pervasive drug content, strong language, violence, some sexuality)
Where most white-collar, suburban Americans traveling to their local multiplexes this year are concerned, the complexities of the drug trade and the nefarious characters involved are about as far removed from their lives as anything can be. For a lesser film, and a lesser director, this would present an enormous problem -- how to make a film about something that most viewers know nothing about? But for Traffic and director Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich, The Limey), an audience caught unaware and uninformed is the best kind. One of the year's best films, Traffic prays on audience curiosity and wonderment on its great, strange ride through the business of cocaine.
Based on the 1980's British television miniseries "Traffik," the Soderbergh film dissects the drug trade, examining the key players at all levels -- everyone from the local law enforcement in Mexico to the highest officers of the American federal government. As the film's tagline snipes, no one gets away clean, and indeed everyone has their role to play in the goings-on.
One of the problems that every film featuring a large cast faces is keeping the players separated and distinct enough for the casual viewer. This is perhaps Traffic's biggest hurdle, and perhaps also the only one it does not completely clear. Director Soderbergh helps the audience by presenting each setting (and group of characters) with a different look -- scenes in different locales have different tints and film stocks -- and thus the movie can roughly be divided into "chapters." But an astute viewer will still get the most out of this film; those with short attention spans may lose track of the details of each subplot.
Soderbergh's film has three major plot lines, and for the length of the film they remain largely separate (unlike last year's great ensemble project, Magnolia, which featured a complexly integrated storyline). The first follows Ohio State Supreme Court Justice Robert Wakefield (Michael Douglas), who is promoted early in the film to the post of the U.S. "Drug Czar" -- he is the highest authority in America's war on drugs. The second is that of Helen Ayala (Catherine Zeta-Jones), an upper-class housewife to drug lord Carlos Ayala (Steven Bauer), who is unwittingly but not entirely unwillingly forced into the cocaine business when her husband is apprehended in a DEA sting operation. The final plot line follows Javier Rodriguez (Benicio Del Toro), a Mexican policeman who struggles with issues of morality and justice while trying to keep his head above water in the wickedly turbulent, drug-infested world of rural Mexico.
These main players, along with several outstanding supports (Don Cheadle and Juan Guzman as DEA officers; Erika Christensen as the drug-addicted daughter of Judge Wakefield; Dennis Quaid as Carlos Ayala's crooked associate), all turn in effective performances. There's not likely a chance of a nomination in the main for anyone here, simply because screen time is shared so evenly and effectively, but there certainly is hope for a nod in the supporting categories. Some of Hollywood's biggest names do effective jobs as presenting themselves as regular people caught unawares as the drug business comes front and center in their lives (Douglas' most poignant scene, where he tears apart his daughter's bathroom in search of her drugs while she lolls about half-stoned, is particularly memorable).
Also to be complimented for the story's extraordinary job at identifying with the viewer is screenwriter Stephen Gaghan, who not only effectively pens each of the various subplots but finds them a coherent home within the movie's whole. So often movies of grand scope like this are submarined by a screenwriter who has no sense of the whole picture, and so it is refreshing to see work so well-done (especially since this is a large step up from his most recent rag, the A Few Good Men-ripoff Rules of Engagement).
It's quite likely the drug trade will take on a new meaning in the minds of viewers after they see Traffic; this was a business heretofore primarily characterized by slam-bang action thrillers with little more to offer than a few deafening explosions and witty one-liners shouted by larger-than-life action heroes. Now, at the hands of a man quickly establishing himself as one of Hollywood's new great directors, it has been revolutionized in a single, effective stroke.
Traffic is most definitely the boldest film of 2000. There were better films released during the past twelve months, but all of them lacked the decisive risk-taking that characterizes a Stephen Soderbergh film. As far as that director is concerned, this is probably his boldest film, as well, for it represents a departure from the singular star-power of Erin Brockovich and the relatively familiar storytelling of The Limey. Traffic is one of the grittiest, gutsiest films of the year, exemplary of Soderbergh's style and character as a director. It shouldn't be missed.
all contents © 2001 Craig Roush