Traffic (2000)

The movie is about the war on drugs between the United States and Mexico. Mexico is the major supplier and the drug cartel is controlled by 2 major gangs in the city of Tijuana – the Obregon brothers and the Juarez cartel.

Javier and Manolo are 2 cops in Mexico who are involved in nabbing the drug traffickers. General Salazar secretly works for the Juarez cartel and he uses these 2 cops for his purposes. The DEA is later informed by Javier about Salazar’s involvement in the drug cartel and the general is packed off to prison. Manolo is unfortunately killed by the General’s men after Manolo thinks of informing the DEA. 

Meanwhile, Judge Robert Wakefield is appointed the Drug Czar in the US and he takes a lot of proactive steps to control the situation. But, his daughter Caroline herself is a drug addict. The judge has to keep track of her as well as handle the situation on a country level.  

Ray and Montel are 2 cops who work in the US and they keep a watch on drug dealer Eduardo Ruiz to get hold of the big shots who are involved. One such Carlos Ayala is arrested and Ruiz agrees to testify against him. Helena is the pregnant wife of Carl and she takes all possible steps to free her husband and she succeeds in the end. Ruiz is killed just before he goes to testify.

The judge understands that this war is too tough to tackle on a macro level when his own near and dear ones are involved.

Hits

• Multilayered, many characters and seamlessly integrated. Very complex yet gripping stuff
• The issue that is being addressed is very critical and the movie is highly detailed.
• The camera is very jerky and symbolizes the chaos on the streets of Mexico.
• The ensemble cast is terrific be it Michael Douglas as the high profile judge who has many problems to tackle, Don Cheadle as the strong bald cop who handles Ruiz, Benicio Del Toro as the honest Mexican cop, the hugely voluptuous Catherine Zeta Jones as the pregnant wife who goes to any lengths to save her husband etc. All the other characters like cop Manolo, drug addicts Seth and Caroline, cop Ray and Eduardo Ruiz are very realistically performed.

Comments

• Salma Hayek has the most minuscule role possible.

VERDICT

A critical issue beautifully addressed by Steven Soderbergh. One of the landmark movies on the war against drugs.