Sunday, November 4, 2012

Film Review: Traffic

Year Released: 2000

Directed by: Stephen Soderbergh

Written by: Stephen Gaghan, based on the British television series Traffik by Simon Moore

Rating: (4.5/5 Stars)

Recommended by: Alex


Spoiler Free Review:

In the middle of a desert, a drug enforcement officer tells his partner of a nightmare about seeing his mother brutally murdered. A group of privileged high school students sit around doping. At a storage rental facility, two cops descend on a drug dealer. A conservative judge defends the confiscation of a family farm over a small patch of marijuana. And a pregnant woman mingles with her wealthy friends at a golf course, blissfully unaware of what awaits her when she gets home. These scenes open this film, which tells four interconnected stories about greed and addiction, illuminating the futility of America's "war on drugs."


Javier Rodriguez (Benecio Del Toro), a Mexican police officer, has an opportunity to fight the drug trade. He is a complex character, both fiercely dedicated and somewhat corrupt. Caroline (Erika Christensen), a 16-year-old honors student at an exclusive private school, begins treading the slippery slope to drug addiction.Two dedicated cops, Montel Gordon (Don Cheadle) and Ray Castro (Luis Guzman), close in on a large-scale drug importer. Judge Robert Wakefield (Michael Douglas) smoothly works the political scene as he becomes America's Drug Czar. Politicians, lobbyists, and reporters chat about the drug problem over scotch and soda (you've gotta love the irony of that). And Helena Ayala (Catherine Zeta-Jones) has to protect herself, her son, and her unborn child when her husband is arrested for drug trafficking.

As a rule, I don't enjoy "message" movies, and this film's message is clear: the "war on drugs" will never be won through law enforcement. Granted, I couldn't agree more with the message. I'm a former prevention specialist and adolescent substance abuse counselor -- they're preaching my religion. And my husband has been a police officer for nearly 20 years. He's had a glimpse of what's going on "in the trenches," and I think I can safely say he holds no hope for the efficacy of drug enforcement.

Nevertheless, this is the kind of movie I don't generally fall in love with. And at times, the message is delivered with all the subtlety of a hammer to the face. At various points, throughout the film, a character speaks directly about why the "war on drugs" is tragically futile. It's a bit like an old-school play in which the action freezes, for a moment, while an actor turns to the audience to explain what they're seeing on stage.

That's one of my peeves in films -- why don't writers and directors trust the intelligence of their audience? When a point is being illustrated vividly, through strong writing, acting, and direction, why look over your shoulder, wink, and directly address the audience?

It's a tribute to this movie that, despite the fact that it represents several things I dislike in films, I fell in love with it. Realistic dialogue, phenomenal acting, and a style of cinematography that often reminded me of news footage or a documentary made virtually every part of this film seem natural and real. Yet at the same time, it was slickly plotted like a thriller. This seems like an unlikely marriage, but these filmmakers deftly pulled it off.

This film is, for the most part, relentlessly grim, yet I found it surprisingly enjoyable -- even humorous. You wouldn't expect this to be a "fun" movie, yet, in many ways, it was. This is partly because of the thriller-like plotting and pacing and partly because of the rich character development. In a movie with only a few "good guys," who are wonderfully flawed, all the main characters -- including those who are morally repugnant -- are multidimensional and fully human.

Ultimately, it was the brilliant storytelling and magnificent acting, along with an in-depth treatment of this subject we've rarely seen in American media, that blew me away. Despite its flaws, this may be one of my favorite movies of all time.

As an aside, I hope my husband will watch this movie with me -- I'm very interested to hear what he thinks, especially about the law enforcement aspects of the film.

Some Additional Thoughts (Spoilers):
  1. Evidently I've been watching WAY too much "Big Bang Theory" with my family. During the scene where Monty and Ray close in on the armed drug dealer, who's hidden in the ball pit, I kept expecting the perp to pop up and yell "Bazinga!" :-P

  2. O.K., let's get back on a serious note. I don't remember ever having seen Don Cheadle in a film, but I'll be looking out for him. He was magnificent. Those scenes after he lost his partner, Ray, to a car bomb broke my heart.

  3. I can't tell you how badly I wanted to bitch-slap Barbara (Amy Irving) for the way she enabled her 16-year-old daughter's addiction. She overlooked her daughter's drug use for six months because she felt like Caroline "needed the space to figure out things on her own." She was even willing to give her kid a pass when Caroline and her friends dumped this kid at the door of the emergency room, after he'd overdosed, and tried to make a quick getaway. Forget the bitch slap, I wanted to punch her.

  4. On that note, since this film looked at various aspects of addiction, I'm really glad it addressed the issue of enabling.

  5. I never appreciated Michael Douglas as an actor -- I'd only seen him in crap like Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct. He was phenomenal. In the scene where Robert (Michael Douglas) makes his daughter Caroline's boyfriend Seth (Topher Grace) lead him to the drug dealer's apartment -- where Robert's 16-year-old kid has been prostituting herself to feed her addiction -- Robert gives Seth this look as they're walking back to the car. Oh. My. God. All I can say is I hope nobody EVER fucking looks at me that way. I will never forget that moment.

  6. I'm well past the first blush of youth, so I never expect to want to punch a teenager. But damn. Seth is such a pretentious, arrogant little prick. 

  7. And the scene where Robert finally finds his daughter, passed out in a grimy room, and has to chase out the guy who was paying her for sex ... Holy Mother of God! Michael Douglas deserves such accolades for that moment. I actually burst into tears.

  8. Oh, Helena. You are so screwed. I don't particularly like your character, but you won my respect for being "mama bear," prepared to do anything to protect your little ones. But damn. You've crossed over to the dark side now. And you're gonna go down.

  9. There's a gorgeous scene where Javier has to tell Ana (Marisol Padilla Sanchez) about her husband's death, omitting his own role in it, of course. It seemed to be shot in almost sepia tones. Oh my God. The dead look in Ana's eyes. I'll never forget that.

  10. If this movie offers a shred of hope, it's in the last few scenes. We see recovering addicts actively working 12-step programs and a new lighted baseball field keeping Tijuana's youth off the streets (well done, Javier). Rehabilitation and prevention. There you go.

16 comments:

  1. Wow, I didn't know this movie was so old! I remember watching it. So sad to think of Catherine Zeta-Jones now suffering from mental illness.

    I also confuse this movie title a lot with Crash, which I really enjoyed. Have you seen that one?

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    1. I didn't know Catherine Zeta-Jones suffered from mental illness. That is so sad. Doesn't she also have a young child? She looked like she was actually pregnant in the movie (not just made to look pregnant) -- I can usually tell the difference.

      I've heard of Crash, but I haven't seen it. I'll add it to my list, since you recommend it. :-)

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    2. I see 2 films named Crash -- do you mean this one? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375679/ I see Don Cheadle is in it. :)

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    3. O.K. I see Catherine Zeta-Jones has bipolar disorder (type 2). Kudos to her for speaking publicly about this and taking the edge of the stigma attached to mood disorders, and mental illness in general. She must be a strong lady.

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  2. I haven't seen this one but glad to see you enjoyed it even if it's not the type of film you tend to love. I like Del Toro alot! I think he's so unattractive, he's cute.

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    1. I like Del Toro too. I don't find him unattractive. :)

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  3. Good review Stephanie. It's definitely a flick that doesn't choose sides and definitely makes you wonder about the world of drugs that we live in, but does end a bit too conventionally for my tastes and made me wonder just what exactly what the point of it all was in the end. However, the performances were great and definitely kept me watching the whole time.

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    1. I see what you mean about it ending in a conventional way, but I felt it worked. :)

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  4. I have an issue with shakycam movies. This was the very first one that literally took me out of the movie because of its use. There's a scene where Douglas is addressing a crowd. We see him from the back of the room, bobbing around in the frame because of the shakycam. Then the film flips to being behind Douglas where we see the back of the room...where all the news cameras on tripods are located. I just started laughing out loud and it took me completely out of the movie. After that I never really could get back into it.

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    1. Sometimes the shaky cam technique bugs me too, but I didn't mind it here -- I felt it worked. I completely understand where you're coming from, though.

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  5. Great review. Glad you liked this one. I'd recommend Crash (2005) too, and Cheadle gives a terrific performance in Manic (2003) with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel.

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    1. Oh, I loved the movie Manic! I'd forgotten Cheadle was in that. I guess he wasn't on my radar yet.

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    2. Yay! Couldn't remember if you'd seen that one or not.

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  6. Ah, I am so genuinely pleased that you liked this film. You know it is one of my absolute favorites, and I respect your opinion so much (especially when it comes to addiction-related films), so I'm excited that you liked it.

    Your 10th point represents two of my favorite scenes in cinema history. "And we're here to listen," is the line of the 2000s, while Benicio Del Toro makes the art of sitting and watching an Oscar-winning feat. It's so beautiful to me.

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    1. Thanks! :-) "And we're here to listen" was a great moment. And after watching Traffic and 21 Grams in the past few weeks, I have quickly become a huge fan of Benicio Del Toro, who wasn't even on my radar before.

      I hope someday you'll get around to posting about how this film changed your life. ;-)

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    2. I've thought about doing that post, but it might be a little too personal for my tastes. If I'm in the right mood, I'll share a little something about myself, but if it involves other people, I normally stay away. You know?

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