Traffic [DVD] [2001]

I have finally seen this film in it's entirety and I like to say that `Traffic' is a richly entertaining epic that recalls the great works of the 1970s, when directors like Robert Altman and Francis Ford Coppola engaged mass audiences with works of genuine substance. Soderbergh works on a larger canvass than he's ever done before, bouncing several characters and plot-lines against and off each other, so that images and themes rhyme and echo. Although the subject matter is drug trafficking, this is not an "issues" movie per se. Instead, it's a profoundly affecting dramatic thriller where the destructive forces of drugs cut across different sections of society.

Some will say that it takes too long, or that some of the scenes are a bit slow. But does everything go fast paced in real life? It just tries to sketch a realistic view of handling with drugs. And maybe there isn't a lot of action going on, but that's not the goal of the movie.

This film has an amazing ensemble cast where everybody is working at the top of their game. However, Benicio Del Toro definitely stands out with the breakthrough performance. I don't think it's accidental that the movie begins and ends with shots of him. He plays Javier Rodriguez, a Mexican police officer caught in a futile and corrupt system, and it's as compelling of a character as Michael Corleone. Del Toro is exceptionally relaxed and subtle, keeping his thoughts and feelings private from the other characters in the films, but sharing it with the camera. Del Toro navigates the audience through a world of impossible choices and moral corruption, quietly simmering with intense conflict just beneath the surface. Benicio's been an indie stalwart for years and this film shot his stock through the roof.

Michael Douglas is also terrific, adding another strong performance to his gallery of flawed men in power. He shows genuine fear and vulnerability in a harrowing scene in which he searches for his daughter in a drug dealer's den. I've never seen Erika Christensen before, but she makes an impressive debut. Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman are as loose, limber and spontaneous as ever, providing plenty of comic relief as well as keeping it real. Catherine Zeta-Jones takes a complete 180 from her past roles and admirably plays against her looks, appearing very pregnant while thrown into gritty surroundings. Dennis Quaid is appropriately slimy as a corrupt lawyer.

Anybody who is starved for a genuine piece of film making should breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy Soderbergh's engaging film.

They say that genius's steal and that is certainly true for Steven Soderbergh and Steven Gaghan. I bought the screenplay of the film, and nowhere in the introduction do either of them mention that the whole film, almost scene by scene is a complete lift from the Channel 4 mini-series of the same name made over ten years before. All the characters, dialogue and plot of the film are an almost complete, albeit Americanised facsimile of the mini-series with the only difference being that the original was about the heroin trade between Germany, the UK and Pakistan. Lindsay Duncan also made for a much more convincing drug dealer wife than Cathereine Zeta Jones. The film is good and has some nice stylistic flourishes; definitely worth watching. However I do recommend the original series: it's darker and more convincing. Of course there is absolutely nothing wrong with Soderbergh/ Gaghan making the series into a film - I just think it is rather discourteous, not to say a tad disingenuous for neither of them to cite the original as a direct "inspiration" and to take all the credit for themselves. Naughty!

A great film that shows how the 'war on drugs', like the 'war on alcohol' during Prohibition in America, is unwinnable and futile and merely makes our family members, friend and acquaintances into 'the Enemy' and leaves the world at the mercy of rival murderous millionare criminal drug lords. The only war really being fought is of one drug gang against another. Watch it!