Traffic (The Criterion Collection)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Andrew Chavez, Benicio Del Toro, Jacob Vargas, Michael Saucedo, Tomas MilianBrand: Image Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; Spanish (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 147 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-03-07
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Criterion
Movie Reviews of Traffic (The Criterion Collection)
Movie Review: Time has been kind to this film...
Summary: 5 Stars
My personal feelings for `Traffic' as a whole have had quite the yo-yo effect. When I first saw the film I really loved it. Over time my adoration has dwindled but upon a recent viewing I have come to respect it more than I think I ever have. While it is still a flawed work and one that I don't consider a major triumph, I feel as though the ambitious nature of the film is worth applauding and consider it a very integral part of this past decade.
The film tells three separate stories that overlap telling a fuller story concerning the war on drugs here in the US. We have the newly appointed government drug czar, Robert Wakefield, who struggles with his new assignment as well as with his wayward daughter Caroline, who has a serious drug habit of her own. We also have Helena Ayala, the beautiful yet naďve wife of a recently incarcerated drug-kingpin. And then we have Javier Rodriguez (Benicio Del Toro in his Oscar winning role), the conflicted police officer who serves as the films moral center; one of shifting focus and impending consequence.
While at times it feels as though it bites off more than it can chew, there is so much going on here that it seems to more than make up for its faults.
The acting here is pretty much sensational. Del Toro is the standout, delivering a natural and completely inhabited performance, but he is not the only actor at the top of their game. Michael Douglas, who is not an actor I am overly fond of, delivers his best performance, in my humble opinion, as a concerned parent folding under the pressure or raising awareness as well as a daughter. Speaking of that daughter, Erika Christensen is simply brilliant here. The way she constructs her characters addiction is heartbreaking and sincere. This film is all about grit and realism and she masters that with her beautifully tragic performance.
Don Cheadle, Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace and Catherine Zeta-Jones only form a small fraction of this talented cast.
The true star of the show here is director Steven Soderbergh. With a film that tries to do so much, Soderbergh keeps throwing it at us, visually as well as thematically. Where the script may drop the ball or find itself (at times) bogged down, Soderbergh makes sure that the visual feast before us is captivating yet raw and unnerving. While I would not have handed him the director award myself, I totally understand why he got it. He takes each story and builds its own separate mood and feel yet ties each story in, creating a cohesive and complex portrayal of human interaction and suffering.
There is a universal `flow' that permeates this film and makes it work even when it technically shouldn't.
So, in the end I highly recommend this. My rating is back to an A because, despite its flaws, `Traffic' is a great film that works to its strengths and delivers in the end. It is a film that definitely understands its subject and it is something we can appreciate and glean from even now, ten years down the road.
Summary of Traffic (The Criterion Collection)
TRAFFIC - DVD MovieFeaturing a huge cast of characters, the ambitious and breathtakingTraffic is a tapestry of three separate stories woven together by a common theme: the war on drugs. In Ohio, there's the newly appointed government drug czar (Michael Douglas) who realizes after he's accepted the job that he may have gotten into a no-win situation. Not only that, his teenage daughter (Erika Christensen) is herself quietly developing a nasty addiction problem. In San Diego, a drug kingpin (Steven Bauer) is arrested on information provided by an informant (Miguel Ferrer) who was nabbed by two undercover detectives (Don Cheadle and Luis Guzmán). The kingpin's wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones), heretofore ignorant of where her husband's wealth comes from, gets a crash course in the drug business and its nasty side effects. And south of the border, a Mexican cop (Benicio Del Toro) finds himself caught between both his home country and the U.S., as corrupt government officials duke it out with the drug cartel for control of trafficking various drugs back and forth across the border.
Bold in scope, Traffic showcases Steven Soderbergh at the top of his game, directing a peerless ensemble cast in a gritty, multifaceted tale that will captivate you from beginning to end. Utilizing the no-frills techniques of the Dogme 95 school, Soderbergh enhances his hand-held filming with imaginative editing and film-stock manipulation that eerily captures the atmosphere of each location: a washed-out, grainy Mexico; a blue and chilly Ohio; and a sleek, sun-dappled San Diego. But Traffic is more than a film-school exercise. Soderbergh and screenwriter Stephen Gaghan (adapting the British TV miniseries Traffik to the U.S.) seamlessly weave the threads of each separate plotline into one solid tale, with the actions of one plot having quiet repercussions on the other two. And if you needed more proof that Soderbergh takes unparalleled care with his actors, practically all the members of this cast turn in their best work ever, the standout being an Oscar-worthy Del Toro as the conflicted moral conscience of the film. While no story is fully resolved in the film, you'll be haunted by these characters days after you've seen the film. By far one of the best movies of 2000. --Mark Englehart
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