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Traffic
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
With Traffic, Steven Soderbergh draws up a cruel report of the inefficiency of the war on drugs. The director (The Limey, Erin Brockovich, Out Of Sight, Sex, Lies & Videotape) builds his film around four stories located in three quite distinct but not so distant worlds.
Benicio Del Toro & Jacob Vargas play two police officers launched in a crusade against the traffickers in the outskirts of Tijuana and along the U.S. border. In a region corroded by corruption the two men work on their own until they're invited to lend strong hand to an anti-drug military group. The scenes related to this story are filmed in a grainy diluted yellow, symbolizing heat, the difficulty of their task, and an unhealthy society soiled by dirty money. Michael Douglas is Robert Wakefield, an authoritative judge appointed as the new Drug Czar in the fight against drugs for the current administration. While he's initiated with the workings of which his office is in charge, he must confront a closer danger, that of his daughter's dependency on hard drugs. These scenes are filmed in bluish tones, symbolizing the official dimension (and policy) as well as the cleanliness of this rich world and how it is the antipodes of Del Toro's world, to better accentuate the contrast. Finally between these two worlds, and ironically at the border between the USA and Mexico (San Diego) are the two other stories. They are the only two really connected to each other by virtue of being at opposite ends of the law, thus confirming the theme of ambivalence as discussion thread of the film. Don Cheadle and Luis Guzmán interpret the two police officers who bring down Carlos Ayala (Steven Bauer), a businessman running drugs to the States, and husband of the innocent and pregnant Helena (Catherine Zeta-Jones). These two stories are treated in a more conventional visual manner in order to accentuate their transitory aspect between the two other worlds.
Traffic stresses the realism. The film resembles a documentary, in particular the stories of Javier Gonzales (Del Toro) and Judge Wakefield (Douglas). Soderbergh, who took a lesson from Dogma's realism, uses a handheld camera and quick editing, thus emphasizing the documentary aspect of the ensemble. He even tightened the vice by employing true "actors" and elements of the anti-drug war for judge's story. Veritable senators and experts play themselves during a cocktail party where Wakefield meets his peers; in fact it's an improvised scene in which they deliver their true opinions about the problem. The anti-drug center in Texas (where many government agencies work concurrently on the drug problem) opened its doors to the public for the first time for this filming, and the car filled with cocaine and seized at the border and had in fact been apprehended the same morning. The filmmaker uses a skillful method, since by using characters and real places, it puts Michael Douglas (the only fictitious character in that scene) in the audience's shoes in order to precisely focus on the current situation.
The originality and talent of the director are also shown in the multiplication of the storylines. Soderbergh passes with ease from one story (or world) to the other without ever losing his thread (or the audience) while his fast transitions avoid any dead time. Contrary to P.T. Anderson (Magnolia), he succeeds in firmly holding onto his four stories until the end to offer a coherent conclusion and not a slapdash explosion. Moreover, each account is independent and, save the one in San Diego, the protagonists never meet. The filmmaker has fun by only having them cross. Thanks to the use of different colors, one easily follows the trajectory of each character. Thus he can prove that these various microcosms are connected: for example, when a character leaves his own territory to enter another one's, he is then filmed in the tone of this world. So when Helena goes to Mexico, she leaves the natural colors of San Diego to enter in the hazy yellows of Tijuana. In the same manner, Javier enters into bluish tones at the time of his meeting with the American drug czar.
And the report on this situation is pessimistic. The message of the film is clear: the average employees are insufficient, even ineffective. This war against drug seems lost in advance, the enemy being better organized and the damage already too extensive. This message is brought through the stories based in San Diego and Mexico as well as through the judge's daughter. The efforts of two police officers (Don Cheadle and Luis Guzmán try to make a big bust) in San Diego will be futile, while innocent Helena's sudden loss of responsibility aside any hope of morality by the power of money. Javier's loss of illusions marks the discouragement when faced with an endless cycle. As for the victims, the Drug Czar's daughter is proof of the plague's advance into the core of the American family, bringing to light the deep gangrene of society. It's because of this that Wakefield seems to lower his arms. Being the man most au courant of the situation, he understands that the problem must be dealt with at its root (the consumers) and not as a war (one will note his insistence to no longer use the term "war" against drugs). And that's where the film's message resides.
The actors were handpicked for their parts. Benicio Del Toro has tremendous presence on the screen as a disillusioned and imperturbable Mexican police officer. Michael Douglas, with surprising reserve, accurately portrays a powerful man who goes back to square one for his family. Catherine Zeta-Jones proves she can also act, moving with conviction from an artificial and naive woman to a cold and calculating one. Don Cheadle and Luis Guzmán are a real treat as an eccentric duo while Dennis Quaid is comfortable in the skin of an underhanded lawyer. The presence of Steven Bauer and Luis Guzmán as well as certain set decor is reminiscent of Scarface, with San Diego replacing Miami. Also noted are the presences of Salma Hayek and Benjamin Bratt in amusing caméos.
Traffic is the successful crossing of an independent film (through its pessimistic and non-conformist artistic vision) and a commercial movie (by way of its casting). With this film, Steven Soderbergh is the most interesting director of the moment, the only one successfully able to preserve his independence in Hollywood while using all of its resources, thus ensuring total artistic freedom.
Fred Thom
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Traffic review
