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Title: Traffic
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While people are currently complaining that we are fighting a foreign war that we have no way of winning, there is in fact a homeland war that is looking just as grim that gets far less media attention. That war is the war on drugs, a war that is examined in all different angles in Steven Soderbergh’s exceptionally brilliant “Traffic.” “Traffic” covers drugs from beginning to end. While “Crash” and “Babel” may have ultimately brought the craft of hyperlink storytelling to popularity, it was “Traffic” that originally perfected the art of telling a single narrative through different perspectives. We get to see the drugs shipped from Mexico to America, we get to see the drug dealers explain their side of the story, we get to see the congressmen who are attempting to fight drugs, and we finally get to see teenagers who use the drugs themselves.
It’s mind boggling to see how much of an impact drugs really have on our culture and on the lives of our fellow man. Soderbergh filmed “Traffic” on a digital camera of things, which gives the movie the look of a home video. The color tones also differ from character to character, demonstrating the mood they’re currently in. For example, a cop in Mexico is surrounded in a glow of orange, giving the viewer a feeling of what viewing Mexico for the first time is like. Then we look through the eyes of a teenage girl who is taking drugs, and the world looks hazy and blue, except for light which seems to be brighter then it should be. It’s a great stylistic choice, one that benefits the film and makes it look as fresh and inventive today as it did seven years ago. But my goodness, I must be out of my mind.
I haven’t even discussed the storyline with you yet, and here I am jumping into the art of the film making. I think this is the first (as my brother calls them) “talking drama” film I actually did this on. And now that I’ve dipped in with a small analyst of the film making, I want to point out that the acting is excellent. Michael Douglas as Congressman Robert Wakefield particularly stands out as the congressman who goes to congress meetings pitching his plans to enforce the war on drugs, only to run into a conflict when he discovers his daughter Caroline (Erika Christensen) is a drug addict herself. Benicio del Toro may have walked away with the Oscar for his portrayal of the conflicted Mexican cop Javier Rodriguez, but in my eyes Michael Douglas steals this movie right out from all the other actors.
Though I must admit, Don Cheadle comes dangerously close as Montel Gordon, a man who has captured a key witness who’s testimony could send a major drug lord to jail for life. His witness singles out the husband of Helena Ayala (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who is shocked to discover this secret life her husband has been living (which has supplied the income she never really questioned before), but feels compelled to get involved in the business after her son is threatened by another drug lord. All of these stories could be their own movie, yet “Traffic” roles them all into one very effectively. These storylines contribute to each other so beautifully, that it’s like watching a well-made documentary (which, ironically, is also what the film looks like thanks to Soderbergh’s digital camera technique).
“Traffic” caused considerable amount of controversy when it was nominated for five Academy Awards. Of the five “Traffic” took home four, including Oscars for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor (I guess I should also mention it won for Best Editing, seeing as how sub-par editing could have easily killed this film). The only Oscar it did not win was Best Picture, which went to Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator.” Yes, I know people tend to accuse the Academy Awards for taking themselves too seriously, but at least this year the Academy members shut their brains off and gave the Best Picture award to one of those brainless action movies average movie goers constantly (and ignorantly) claim are better then Oscar winning films like “Casablanca” and “Titanic.”
Even if you LIKED “Gladiator” there’s no denying that “Gladiators” film quality is certainly not on the same level as “Traffics” is, and it’s certainly not as memorable. Yeah, I know the two films are different, and thus should be exempt from comparison, but seeing as how both films are actually two and a half hours long, I find it interesting when people compliment “Traffic” for feeling “half as long” as it’s advertised, where with “Gladiator” I’ve never heard people comment on the film feeling short then it really is. People who do watch “Traffic” compliment the unique style of filming in the movie, but with “Gladiator” they only seem interested that the movie looked cool. “Traffic” is a classic film that is just as relevant today as it was seven years ago. It’s still daring today, it’s still important today, and it’s still just as fascinating today. Dare I say it, “Traffic” losing Best Picture was the biggest snub since the snubbing of “Raging Bull.”
- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -
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