Movie Reviews

Traffic

8 Mar 2001

"Traffic" is an amazing film. Everyone knows that, as witness the numerous awards it has already received. However, for all its excellence, much of the praise lies in the fact that it's an all-star, Hollywood movie, daring to tackle the kind of confronting (and close-to-home) issue usually confined to independent cinema. For that very reason, it's not quite as powerful as it could be.

The excellent Steven Soderbergh ("Erin Brockovich", "Out of Sight") directs three stories here, all connected by the international drug trade. Multi-plot films can be patchy affairs, but there is no weak link among the stories here. In fact, it seems like a bargain: three films for the price of one.

All are filmed in different styles. The story of an honest Mexican policeman (Benicio Del Toro), who finds himself working for a corrupt, drug-smuggling General (Tomas Milian), is filmed in faded sepia, reminiscent of the old-style westerns. In a corresponding story, the newly-appointed head of U.S. drugs program (Michael Douglas) and his liberal wife (Amy Irving) discover that their own daughter (Erika Christensen - excellent), a bright, promising teenager, is herself becoming an addict. Their story is told in jump cuts and long dialogue, occasionally with a bluish tinge to indicate her drug-effected world.

The third story concerns a society woman (Catherine Zeta Jones), whose husband is arrested for his previously unknown drug-smuggling activities. This is the most conventionally told of the three stories, though the plot itself is the most involved and intriguing.

As the film continues, and the stories collide, the stylistic contrasts begin to fade (though Mexico remains forever sepia). Stephen Gaghan's script (based on a 1989 television mini-series) portrays America's complex (and seemingly hopeless) "war on drugs" with intelligence, leaving a movie which (as so many commentators have noted) stays in the mind.

Nonetheless, it is watered down by its attempts to be entertaining as well as challenging. By the final moments, the main villains have all suffered their just desserts (or are about to suffer), father and daughter have a warm-and-fuzzy ending, and the streets have become safe for the kids to play baseball once again (truly). "Romper Stomper" it ain't.