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I think this is the first film I have ever seen that shows the complete drug war. But after actually watching the film, I felt more like, duh, does anyone pay attention to the news anymore. Corrupt cops in Mexico, check, heard of that before. Corrupt military in Mexico, check, heard of that before. Informants getting killed in the US, check, heard of that before. Drug use by rich white kids, check, heard of that before too. So most of this news, wasn't really news to me, nor should it have been news to anyone who pays attention to the world around him or her. The one interesting part of the film I found, was the transformation of the housewife Helena Ayala (Catherine Zeta-Jones from High Fidelity) into a shrewd quasi-drug lord. This said, I will give a brief synopsis of Traffic. The film starts off with a couple of local Tijuana cops Javier (Benicio Del Toro, Snatch) and Manolo (Jacob Vargas) busting some drug smugglers. Next thing that happens is the military comes along and takes the detainees and the evidence as part of its supposed crackdown on drugs. That military group is led by General Salazar (Tomas Milian) who is on his way to wiping out one drug cartel. Later we find out that he is doing this because his is working for a rival drug cartel. Meanwhile in San Diego, Carlos Ayala (Steven Bauer) is being busted by the DEA for drug trafficking and his wife Helena doesn't know what the hell is happening. Soon she discovers everything about how her husband supported the family and jumps in head first to save the family drug business in order to sustain her affluent lifestyle. This includes bringing out a new product line and having an informant against her husband killed. Finally we also have the story of Robert Wakefield (Michael Douglas, Wonder Boys) and his wealthy family. Robert is the US's newest Drug Czar, but he has his own drug problem with his addict daughter Caroline (Erika Christensen). She is introduced to some hardcore drugs by her friend Seth (Topher Grace), and eventually runs away to become a junky. Despite my earlier rantings about how this material is pretty much old news, Steven Soderbergh, the director, does an excellent job taking the material supplied by the writer Stephen Gaghan and turning it into a good movie. Because there is a focus on the people in this picture, it gave me something to watch and enjoy. Others in the cast include Don Cheadle (The Family Man), Luis Castro, Dennis Quaid (Frequency), Clifton Collins, Jr., and Amy Irving. I found Traffic to be an interesting film about people, but not that informative about the drug trade. To conclude, I give Traffic seven couches on the About-Movies.com scale. Goodbye. Last updated: Thursday, March 20, 2008 02:50:05 AM |