Film Review: Traffic

Director: Steven Soderbergh

A crime drama that was released in 2000 and directed by one of my favourite directors Steven Soderbergh. It follows three stories that slowly come together across Mexico, Calfornia and Washington D.C. With its ensemble cast and impressive plot it soon became a box office hit before winning four Oscars for Best Director, Supporting Actor, Editing and Adapted Screenplay.

Manolo Sanchez and Javier Rodriguez get on the wrong side of someone

The film has three related stories, the first is of Javier Rodriguez (Benicio Del Toro) and Manolo Sanchez (Jacob Vargas) comes across General Salazar (Tomás Milián) after halting a drug delivery. Javier is hired to find a contract killer related to the Obregon cartel in Mexico. Whilst up in San Diego, Montel Gordon (Don Cheadle) and Luis Guzman (Ray Castro) work for the DEA and interrupt a drug shipment from Mexico. They are then tasked with watching the criminal who has agreed to testify against his bosses which turns out to be Helena Ayala's (Catherine Zeta Jones) husband Carlos (Steven Bauer). Whilst in Ohio, conservative judge Robert Wakefield (Michael Douglas) is appointed to head the President's Office of National Drug Control Policy but then has to deal with a drug problem at home as his teenager daughter becomes addicted.

Soderberg attempts an ambitious project to try and capture the problem of drugs in modern America. Looking at importing it from Mexico, distributing it in California and the political side in the nations capital whilst whittling the film down to just over two hours is a difficult task. But the film is intriguing from start to finish and the plot moves along at a quick pace as we jump across the three storylines. We see the drugs cartels from the grimy bottom rung in Mexico City to the top where the bosses sit and make millions of pounds. The transformation in the character of Helena, played by Catherine Zeta Jones, is startling to say the least.

Robert Wakefield with his daughter Caroline

The star of the movie without a doubt is Benicio Del Toro as the Mexican cop who always wants to do the right thing despite the huge amount of corruption all around. He may take backhanders for minor offences involving American tourists in Tijuana but in the drugs trade he is all business. Del Toro's character is streetwise after years of working as a cop and really becomes a character to root for throughout the movie. The partnership of Don Cheadle and Ray Castro is also very real and impressive as the movie unfolds. The story involving Michael Douglas' character brings the suburban family into the mix and the end destination of the drugs but it is the least entertaining plot line. But Soderbergh brings together three stories that could be worthy of their own movie alone and pulls them into one beautifully constructed film.

3.5/4 Thrilling and depressing insight into stopping the drugs trade