Traffic (2000) Germany
Traffic Image Cover
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Director:Steven Soderbergh
Studio:Polygram USA Video
Producer:Listin Stephen
Writer:Simon Moore, Stephen Gaghan
Rating:3.5
Rated:R
Date Added:2007-03-06
Purchased On:2007-06-03
ASIN:B00003CXN4
UPC:0696306018124
Price:$19.95
Awards:Won 4 Oscars. Another 59 wins & 53 nominations
Genre:Political Drama
Release:2002-06-24
IMDb:0181865
Duration:147
Picture Format:Widescreen
Aspect Ratio:1.85:1
Sound:Dolby
Languages:English, Spanish
Steven Soderbergh  ...  (Director)
Simon Moore, Stephen Gaghan  ...  (Writer)
 
Benicio Del Toro  ...  Javier Rodriguez
Don Cheadle  ...  
Jacob Vargas  ...  Manolo Sanchez
Andrew Chavez  ...  Desert Truck Driver
Michael Saucedo  ...  Desert Truck Driver
Tomas Milian  ...  General Arturo Salazar
Jose Yenque  ...  Salazar Soldier /
Emilio Rivera  ...  Salazar Soldier #2
Michael O'Neill  ...  Lawyer Rodman
Michael Douglas  ...  Robert Wakefield
Russell G. Jones  ...  Mark
Lorene Hetherington  ...  State Capitol Reporter #1
Eric Collins  ...  State Capitol Reporter #2
Beau Holden  ...  CalTrans DEA Agent
Peter Stader  ...  CalTrans DEA Agent
James Lew  ...  CalTrans DEA Agent
Comments: No One Gets Away Clean

Summary: Featuring a huge cast of characters, the ambitious and breathtaking Traffic is a tapestry of three separate stories woven together by a common theme: the war on drugs. In Ohio, there's the newly appointed government drug czar (Michael Douglas) who realizes after he's accepted the job that he may have gotten into a no-win situation. Not only that, his teenage daughter (Erika Christensen) is herself quietly developing a nasty addiction problem. In San Diego, a drug kingpin (Steven Bauer) is arrested on information provided by an informant (Miguel Ferrer) who was nabbed by two undercover detectives (Don Cheadle and Luis Guzmán). The kingpin's wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones), heretofore ignorant of where her husband's wealth comes from, gets a crash course in the drug business and its nasty side effects. And south of the border, a Mexican cop (Benicio Del Toro) finds himself caught between both his home country and the U.S., as corrupt government officials duke it out with the drug cartel for control of trafficking various drugs back and forth across the border.
Bold in scope, Traffic showcases Steven Soderbergh at the top of his game, directing a peerless ensemble cast in a gritty, multifaceted tale that will captivate you from beginning to end. Utilizing the no-frills techniques of the Dogme 95 school, Soderbergh enhances his hand-held filming with imaginative editing and film-stock manipulation that eerily captures the atmosphere of each location: a washed-out, grainy Mexico; a blue and chilly Ohio; and a sleek, sun-dappled San Diego. But Traffic is more than a film-school exercise. Soderbergh and screenwriter Stephen Gaghan (adapting the British TV miniseries Traffik to the U.S.) seamlessly weave the threads of each separate plotline into one solid tale, with the actions of one plot having quiet repercussions on the other two. And if you needed more proof that Soderbergh takes unparalleled care with his actors, practically all the members of this cast turn in their best work ever, the standout being an Oscar-worthy Del Toro as the conflicted moral conscience of the film. While no story is fully resolved in the film, you'll be haunted by these characters days after you've seen the film. By far one of the best movies of 2000. --Mark Englehart