Susan Granger’s review of “TRAFFIC” (USA Films)
After “Erin Brockovich,” Steven Soderberg tackles a challenging, hard-hitting drama about drug traffickers. Adapted by Stephen Gaghan from a British TV miniseries, it takes you to the front lines of the drug conflict in America, interweaving three tales of people caught in the supply-and-demand web of narcotics. Michael Douglas stars as a conservative Ohio judge who’s just been appointed as the President’s drug czar; Amy Irving’s his wife and Erika Christensen plays their superachieving but secretly tripping teenage daughter. Then there’s Catherine Zeta-Jones as a very pregnant San Diego wife who learns that her husband, Steven Bauer, is a drug kingpin only after he’s been arrested, while street-savvy Don Cheadle, Luis Guzman and Benicio Del Toro cope with the realities of law-enforcement and the drug lords across the border in Mexico. The ensemble cast is terrific – particularly Michael Douglas, Benicio Del Toro and Catherine Zeta-Jones. U.S. Senators Orrin Hatch, Don Nickles, Barbara Boxer and Harry Reid play themselves at a cocktail party. Soderberg’s use of hand-held cameras heightens the edgy, desperate energy as does his unique choice of various film tints to differentiate the visual style of each of the stories. (Soderberg uses the pseudonym of Peter Andrews as cinematographer.) On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Traffic” is a trenchant 10, distinguished by Soderberg’s gift for cynical social observation. Not only will it make you think twice about what you smoke, snort or ingest but also about the intractable dilemma of prohibition. And any movie that can do that is definitely worth seeing.
