The Criterion Collection has re-released Soderbergh’s masterpiece, Traffic
Michael Douglas plays Ohio judge Robert Wakefield, who is appointed as the drug czar. He is ready to fight the war hard and win it, but he has no idea the size and scope of the battlefield, which is why he is surprised to discover his home is in occupied territory. In San Diego, Catherine Zeta-Jones lives a wealthy, comfortable lifestyle and is completely unaware that it is financed by her husband’s drug-smuggling until he is taken away from their home in handcuffs by the DEA. Having to deal with maxxed out credit cards, tax liens, and being shunned by her friends would be a tough ordeal for any woman, but when the life of her young child is threatened by men her husband owes $3 million to, she has to make hard choices she never considered before. In Mexico, Benicio Del Toro is a state policeman who along with his partner discovers that the work to take down the Obregon brothers’ drug cartel wasn’t to make the streets of Tijuana safer, but to eliminate competition.
The film is absolutely brilliant on all levels. The screenplay is able to keep all three plotlines captivating by creating believable characters for this talented ensemble to portray. And what an ensemble it is. This is the film that subscribes to the motto that there are no small roles because even characters that make brief appearance come across as fully formed, as if the story might follow them at any time. The cinematography by Soderbergh, credited as Peter Andrews, is masterful. The three storylines each have their own look, using light and film stock to set the mood and help the viewer follow along. Ohio is tinted blue; Mexico is yellow and grainy; San Diego is bright and colorful. Each one adds something different to the story being told.
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Article comments
1 - Thomas M. Sipos
TRAFFIC was okay, but THE PALERMO CONNECTION (ca. 1990, starring Mimi Rogers and Jim Belushi) is more explicitly anti-"drug war" film, and is in some ways better.
2 - El Bicho
Thomas, please provide examples. Always looking for a good film to watch.
One way Palermo is not better is that it hasn't been released on DVD according to a few sites. I'll keep an eye on the VHS bargain bins
3 - Rodney Welch
I probably ought to sit through Traffic again, but I hated it the first time -- mainly because of the cinematography, which I realize was done for artistic reasons but which made it unpleasant to watch. I wanted to spray Windex on the screen in the Mexico scenes and I keep wishing they'd flip the lights on in the Michael Douglas scenes. One of those movies where I just never got what people saw in it.
4 - -E
I loved Traffic. And I loved the cinematography, I thought it was a beautifully shot film that actually had motivation behind how it was shot, instead of a lot of films that do something just because it looks cool.
5 - Thomas M. Sipos
I liked PALERMO for its blatancy. Belushi runs for mayor of New York on a drug-legalization plank. It looks like he'll win. Then the Mafia intervenes.
There's a speech where a Mafia don explains to Belushi that drugs bring tens of billions into Sicily every year, and that drug legalization would upset not only Sicily's, but the world's economy. There are too many people in power worldwide, businessmen and politicians and military and police and criminals, who need things to remain as they are. Belushi threatens to upset the order, and it will not be tolerated.
The don's speech was similar to that of the network chairman at the end of NETWORK.
PALERMO looks to have been written by a conspiracy theorist. It's more cerebral than many films; not your usual drug war shoot 'em up, where good guy cops blast away at baddie drug dealers.
6 - Aaman
Great review, El B - hope to see it 'over there':)
7 - Tan The Man
Yeah, I'm still wondering what the difference is between this year's release and 2002's Criterion Collection DVD release.
8 - El Bicho
I was looking around and the previous release was a Criterion/Universal release and this edition is just listed as Criterion. might have something to do with it