Traffic – 2000
This was actually a better movie than I remember it being. I saw it when it originally came out and was honestly not impressed. I remember it being mostly boring because I had little interest in the subject matter. But I am seventeen years older now, and have a greater appreciation for the dangers that the drug trafficking trade can entail. This film is quite informative about the industry, looking at it from several different angles, all the while, creating an entertaining story.
Actually the movie tells three stories. The first takes place in Tijuana, Mexico, where police officer Javier Rodriguez, expertly played by Benicio del Toro, and his partner Manolo, played by Jacob Vargas, make a drug bust which brings them to the attention of General Salazar, played by Thomas Milian. The two officers get caught up in the rivalries between the Tijuana Cartel and the Obregon Cartel.
The second story takes place in America and follows Judge Wakefield, played by Michael Douglas. He is the President’s top pick to be the next Drug Czar and lead the country’s war on drugs. Unfortunately, his over-privileged teenage daughter, Caroline, played by Erika Christensen, gets involved with Seth, played by Topher Grace, another rich kid who introduces her to crack. She becomes a major addict and loses control, becoming a crack whore and living on the streets.
The third story takes place in San Diego. DEA agents Montel Gordon and Ray Castro, played by Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman, make a drug bust. They arrest Eduardo Ruiz, played by Miguel Ferrer, who agrees to become a witness against his boss, Carlos Ayala, played by Stephen Bauer. Carlos’ wife, Helena, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, is horrified to learn of her husband’s true business as a major drug dealer, but she has no idea how to survive without him and the money he brings in. On top of that, she is threatened by her husband’s unpaid business associates, and has no choice but to try to run his business during his absence. In order to have his case dismissed, Helena finds people to assassinate Ruiz.
All three of these stories are told at the same time, the narratives cutting back and forth from one plot lint to another in quick succession. There are a lot of characters to remember and keep track of. There were a few times when the stories overlapped and characters from three narratives would show up in other plot lines, but for the most part, they were all kept separate. This had the effect of creating a large tapestry that was held together by invisible threads.
To keep the stories separate and make them easier to follow, director Steven Soderbergh came up with an ingenious solution. He used different film processes which gave each of the stories their own distinct looks. For the Mexican plot line, he used tobacco filters and a 45-degree shutter angle, producing a somewhat washed-out yellow image. For the Judge’s story, Soderberg used tungsten film with no filter, giving the picture a blue monochrome look. And for the San Diego story, he used diffusion filters and overexposed the film for a warmer image.
The acting was good, but I have to give special notice to Benicio del Toro’s performance. There was a quiet gravitas to his character that was very appealing. To add to the film’s gritty realism, all the scenes in which Spanish would have been spoken were actually spoken in Spanish with English subtitles. This meant the nearly all of del Toro’s dialogue was in a foreign language. He did a great job, even going so far as to learn the correct accent and dialect for the Tijuana region, though I suppose only a native of the area would be able to pick it up.
I enjoyed the movie well enough, but I was a little disappointed with one small thing. I’m talking about Caroline Wakefield’s subplot, which I’m guessing was a bit too soft. I mean she became a prostitute who spent most of her time high on crack. Her story had a happy ending as the Judge tracks her down and finds her naked in a crack den, high as a kite. She still looked pretty and didn’t have a scratch on her. How realistic was that? Maybe I can forgive it because she had really only been missing for a few days, maybe a week. But how much more serious would the drama have been if he had found her dead of a drug overdose, or worse if he had never found her at all.
But I think that all the plot lines were supposed to end on a hopeful note. Javier made a deal with the DEA. He would give them Salazar, who was setting himself up as a drug lord, in exchange for electricity for his community so that children would have a safe alternative to gangs and drugs in the form of a well-lit baseball field. Wakefield turned down his position as the Drug Czar in order to pay more attention to his daughter, attending rehab meetings with her, and thus healing his family. And even though Carlos Ayala was not put in prison for being a drug dealer, Officer Gordon was able to plant a bug in his house, implying that he and his wife would soon be caught. Even though a few characters got killed off, like Manolo, and Officer Castro, there seems to be hope for the future. I guess the point is that the drug war, while dangerous, is ultimately not a futile effort.