Cast:
Javier Rodriguez: Benicio Del Toro
Helena Ayala: Catherine Zeta-Jones
Robert Wakefield: Michael Douglas
Caroline Wakefield: Erika Christensen
Director: Steven Soderberg
Ever since I saw Traffic in theatres a few months ago, I have been mesmerized by the power of this movie. I tried to explain why I though it was so good to a friend, and I couldn't do it. They would would have to see it for themselves.
The Plot:
Traffic distinguishes itself as a movie because it has three intertwining plotlines.
The first concerns Javier Rodriguez and his partner, Manolo Sanchez. They are both freelance Mexican police who are hired by General Salazar to get rid of the Obregon brother's Tijuana cartel. The Obregons are just one of the groups there however, for they are the rivals of the Juarez cartel. Anyways, Javier does his job because he has to, but stays out of extreme trouble. Manolo is enterprising... too enterprising and he gets himself into trouble. Javier however stays a strong character throughout the movie, who desires to stay out of trouble, but dreams of watching children play baseball at night, safe and free; a powerful message for the film.
The second plotline concerns Robert Wakefield and his family. Robert Wakefield has just been elected the 'Drug Czar' of the United States and is beginning the Drug Enforcement Agencies' next attack in the war on drugs. What he doesn't know is that his daughter, Caroline Wakefield is heavily into drugs, especially crack and cocaine. After Caroline is at a party where a friend of hers O.D's and they attempt to take him to the emergency room, she is caught and her father and her quickly come into conflict, which leads to her eventually running away, to a life where she must sell herself to obtain the drugs she enjoys. This is a strenuous conflict, and is just one of the essences of this movie. As Robert says "If there is a war on drugs, then many members of our families are the enemy. I don't know how you can fight against your own family..."
The third plotline is even more complicated. Two DEA agents (Ray Castro and Montel Gordon) raid and capture a major cocaine/drug dealer, Eduardo Ruiz. They offer him a plea bargain to testify against his supplier, Carl Ayala.
Carl Ayala is the husband of Helena Ayala, a pregnant mother who knows nothing of his drug smuggling business. After her husband is hauled off to jail, she contemplates a life alone, but not just alone but a life threatened by the very men Carl works for.
The three plotlines all seem seperate from each other, but they all coalesce into Soderberg's message about the war on drugs.
And what is that message? Hard to say exactly, because different people form different opinions. My opinion however is that Soderberg is saying that the war on drugs is unwinnable. As with the case of the two warrind drug cartels and the many statistics quoted to Robert Wakefield (such as the Juarez being able to compete economically with the United States), he would be correct. After all, it is a major money-making industry, with millions of dollars changing hands every year, despite the governments' efforts to stop it from happening. If this were Soderberg's only message, then indeed the movie would have been powerful, for every previous movie suggested that the police and DEA could solve this problem. But he goes further; he indicates that he believes that the war against drugs must be fought, despite it futility. The reason is embodied in the character of Caroline Wakefield. We see her become addicted to crack, until near the end of the movie, we see her becoming the proverbial 'crack-whore' so that she can obtain her next fix. She has become addicted, and that's what the drug pushers want. They want an endless supply of money, and they dont' care how they get it. Caroline's friend overdoses at a party, and is this really an uncommon occurance? No. So, in essence the drug war must be fought so that children can be safe from a world of violence, addiction and bloodshed. Traffic gives one a peek at the bleak world of drugs; you make money, but its dangerous. Afterall, how would one like to be Eduardo Ruiz? The choices for him were life in prison, or testifying against his boss (which meant certain death). Tough choice to make.
In contrast to this world of death and greed comes the very end scene of the movie, which Javier watching kids play baseball at night. This hearkens back to Javier's request from the FBI to testify against Salazar and it seems to frame the movie, and remind the audience as they leave the theatre, exactly what the war is being fought for. It is difficult to take the idea that in ten years, most of those kids on that team will be into drugs of some sort; a scary proposition in my opinion...
Some have suggested to me that Traffic is trying to say that the roots to stopping the drug problem is cutting off demand but fixing social institutions. Granted, I do agree that this would work, however the same was tried with alcohol. For over two millenia people have been trying to get rid of alcohol, without success. Drugs will be the same way. My thoughts are that people themselves must choose not to do them, for them not to become a problem.
Overall, Traffic is the most powerful movie, I feel, since American Beauty , and it carries many strong messages that can be utilized with interpretation. It is not an anti-drug movie, but by the same token it is not a pro-drug, or apathetic movie. It is a movie that shows the reality of the war on drugs, and the many facets it exhibits. It shows the 'front lines' of a war that goes on every day, a war that is futile, and yet at the same time, a war that absolutely must be waged. - K.R