After watching Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic I have to declare that it will go nowhere near the top of my list of favorites. The movie explores the intricacies of the illegal drug trade from the perspectives of a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker. For me, it was doomed from the beiggining. I was immediately turned off by the fact that its entire subject matter was the drug traffic, but then again I am biased. I do not particularly like movies that revolve around drugs, conflict, and other illegal activities. So, I most likely began the movie with a dislike for it. This feeling only strengthened as the film went on. The film was constantly depressing with no uplifting moment where the viewer could relax. Even Catherine Zeta Jones’s character, a pregnant mother, participated in the illegal activity, if she was not already the worst of them all. She plotted murder, cocaine distribution, conspiracy, etc. This is likely the result of being a usual drug movie, and it probably added to the impact the producers hoped to make on the film industry.
Another attempt at making the movie dramatic was the constant swearing every chance a character got. I understand such harsh language allows the movie to appear more intense and it is probably convinces most viewers that of the reality of the drug trade, but sometimes dropping the f-bomb that many consecutive times is just not necessary. I assume the director believed if the characters swore enough times the movie would appear more dramatic than it actually was; and perhaps critics would believe it to be more of a profound work of art that deserves various award nominations. I have a particular cynicism for films that believe if it is overly intense, dramatic, or complex then an Academy Award is sure to follow. Obviously something worked, because the movie won over five Academy Awards.
Despite the subject matter, I have to give Soderbergh credit for his outstanding cast of stars. I admit this was the main aspect of the movie that kept my attention. It seemed that in every other scene a new actor/actress would emerge whom I recognized. The movie from then on changed into more of a game, where the viewer needed to guess which famous or recognizable actor/actress would be showed in the scenes coming up. Penelope Cruz even made a surprise debut, with her three-minute (rather random) appearance on screen. I applaud the director for his talent in at least this.
Being a devoted Spanish student, I have to take this time to criticize the translations in this movie. The fact that Spanish was spoken was enjoyable, as it did add authenticity to the film. However, I cannot completely agree that the written translations across the screen were always accurate with what was actually being said. I recognized a couple of times when some of the translations were incorrect. Of course the general ideas of the Spanish were expressed correctly; and I admit even the meaning of the movie was not changed by the faults in the translations either. Nonetheless, it was sad to watch that a Hollywood film, with a budget of a couple million dollars, had trouble with simple Spanish-to- English translations that a 4th year Spanish student could catch.
Traffic was a movie that has multiple storylines intertwine with one subject matter: drugs. I believe Crash did a better job of it, but any director who puts enough thought into a movie’s screenplay to make it intertwine like this deserves props for that. It could not be an easy task, and it did make the movie a little more interesting to watch. I cannot be completely negative toward this movie because it does bring up many truthful facts about the drug industry, and its plotline is suitable for its genre. Although I did not like the drama and intensity of the film, these components did assist in Soderbergh’s purpose of revealing the scandal and violence involved in the drug trade. So, to a person interested in this genre of movies I would recommend this film; however, to any other person I would suggest to leave it gathering dust on the video shelf and go to a different Soderbergh classic.
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