The Illusion of TRAFFIC
by Ed Owens

By now, most people have heard about how good Traffic is. Traffic is easily one of the best reviewed movies of the year, and has earned five Golden Globe nominations, including ones for Best Motion Picture-Drama and Best Director. By now, most people have heard about the film's premise--three (or four, depending on how you count them) interlocking stories dealing (tee hee) with the drug war/trade. By now, most people have had the words "ensemble cast" forever associated with Traffic, even if they don't know what those words mean. All of this adds up to one thing: Traffic is a masterful illusion perpetrated by a master illusionist.

Peeling away the stylish surface of Traffic reveals nothing but smoke and mirrors, a lot of clever sleight of hand that makes the film's rambling, worn-out narrative feel like something fresh and new. In fact, it is a testament to Soderbergh's skill as a director that the film's horrifying stereotypes are almost tolerable. Unfortunately, even Soderbergh can't hold it together for the film's padded 147 minute running time, and by the end, the threads have started to unravel.

The worst of the three (or four, depending on how you count them) stories is by far that of newly appointed drug czar Robert Wakefield (Michael Douglas). The startling revelation that -gasp -.his own daughter is literally a crack whore, provides lots of opportunities for long diatribes about the nature of the drug trade and the stereotypes which surround it. Wakefield's visit to the "front lines" involves Douglas meeting with a lot of real life players in the drug war, and plays like a government training film, full of long expository speeches about how the war is waged, etc, etc. Of the three (or four, depending on how you count them) subplots, this one brings the least to the table, especially given that it's little more than a morality play with cardboard cutouts for characters.

The other two are almost equal - infinitely more intriguing than the Douglas After School Special, but still flawed in their own way. The two are certainly more intertwined, following the drug war on both sides of the US/Mexico border. The approach is different on each side, though the end goal is more or less the same. The best performances are also in these two, with the most watchable being those of Benicio del Toro and Don Cheadle. Though nearly everyone stands out, including Catherine Zeta-Jones as a society woman who one day realizes her worst nightmare, it's del Toro and Cheadle who keep the story moving, and in whom we become most interested.

Most of the blame for Traffic's weaknesses has to go to writer Stephen Gaghan. Soderbergh does the best he can, for the most part, but even he can't overcome the limitations of the script...nor does he shy away from the heavy-handedness of it all (Gaghan's earlier Rules of Engagement suffered from many of the same problems, only without the benefit of a competent director...yes, I know it was William Friedkin, but my point still stands). While Soderbergh's direction is mostly deft and self-assured, he occasionally overplays a bit, like in the multiple attempts to visually re-enforce the connectedness of each of the stories (for example, a shot of DEA agents sneaking del Toro back across the Mexican border pans over to show gasp -.Zeta Jones crossing back over into the US - there are no less than five such shots!).

Traffic certainly has its high points (nay, even brillant points - like an assassination attempt on a government witness), but they're not enough to save an otherwise ponderous exercise in "What's that from?" My esteem for Soderbergh goes up, even as my rating for Traffic goes down.

CineScene, 2001