Top Box Office Movies

Traffic (2000) USA Films
2 hrs. 17 mins.
Starring: Michael Douglas, Benecio Del Toro, Don Cheadle, Dennis Quaid, and Catherine Zeta-Jones
Music by: Cliff Martinez
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh

Traffic

Rating:

E-MAIL GIANCARLO DE LISI

Photo: USA Films

It is a pity that only around the Oscar nomination season do we get to see the real great films produced by the “Hollywood Machine”. This year was no exception; one of the year’s greatest films is in actuality not a film. But more like an experience, unseen ever before.

‘Traffic’ tells the story of the American war on drugs from three distinct and complex angles. First we have Michael Douglas who has just been appointed as the head of the anti-drug Presidential squad. Little does he know that his own daughter is an addict in the tamest sense. There is a great line in the film where he says the drug traders are our friends and family, this approach brings a whole new approach to the way he handles his profession. In a second story, we have Catherine Zeta-Jones and her drug-lord husband (Steven Bauer) who find out what all Scorcese characters do when they the cops come around –no money, no friends. Then, we have Benecio Del Toro who masters his on-screen time as a Mexican cop looking to make a name for himself by cracking down on Mexico’s biggest drug czar.

In the middle of all these stories, we are introduced to the greatest ensemble cast assembled in a long time. Not only is it a wonder to see these actors, but also it is a treat to see them in such sleazy roles. Benjamin Bratt steals a scene where he plays a sympathetic, yet immoral drug lord. Dennis Quaid plays an accountant with other things than money on his mind. And the ever-delightful Juan Guzman as Cheadle’s drug busting partner who provides a little comic relief but holds up as the serious officer.

This film shines the greatest as Soderbergh intertwines these three separate yet related stories through extraordinary colour palettes that identify in which context ewe have been transported to. For example, for the Mexican plot, we view all the events through a mixture of a dark orange yellow. In addition to that, those scenes were all shot through a hand-held camera giving those scenes a docu-drama feel to it. Also, the majority of the Mexican plot is in Spanish, with English sub-titles. But it does not matter; Del Toro holds the fort as a dominant actor who controls his screen time and demands presence.

What is so great about this film is that the way the scenes are strung together dictates the power of it all. Although we have three separate stories, they of course all meet up at the end, but it is the flawless editing that binds the film together. Although we are juggling from story to another, Soderbergh constructs a mammoth of a film into an excellent piece that for all it’s duration captivates and excites. We are literally feeling what these characters feel, we learn what it is to be a drug lord who once was at top of the world, and who must now provide for his family, to his stunned wife who from sweet turns to ruthless. To the cops who have vengeance on their minds, and the children of our streets who only want drugs in their minds.

There had not been a film in a long time that captures the essence of all possible sides in a drug movie. Usually, in a drug movie we see doors being broken down and the protagonist’s point of view. Here we are treated to all dimensions of this complex affair and Soderbergh handles it masterfully. Resulting partially in the feeling a moral person does not usually feel when watching a movie, sympathy for the bad guy.

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Giancarlo De Lisi
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