'Traffic' features outstanding
cast
 By
Ayall Sagi
Staff Writer
"Traffic" is a film that Hollywood has
been waiting for.
With the help of a great cast, director Steven
Soderbergh has produced a film that is a documentary dramatized into
a story about the war on drugs.
Soderbergh, who also produced "Erin Brockovich,"
used the same technique of filming as the director of "Magnolia" did.
He took a few different characters, with no present relationship to
each other, and created a story line that relates them all with a common
interest.
The movie begins in Spanish as the viewer is introduced
to the first characters, Mexican police officer Javier Rodriguez, played
by Benicio Del Toro, and his partner Manolo Sanchez, played by Jacob
Vargas. This part of the movie informs the viewer of the corruption
of the Mexican police and their involvement in the trafficking of drugs.
Javier is torn between the decision to remain faithful to his job as
a police officer and uphold the law or to help the drug dealers and
gain extra cash.
During the next scene, the viewer is introduced
to the new United States drug czar, Robert Wakefield, who is played
beautifully by Michael Douglas, and to the Wakefield family. Wakefield
is dealing with the drug problem between the US-Mexico border but soon
realizes he has problems at home.
His 16-year-old daughter, Caroline, played perfectly
by Erika Christensen, is the top student at her school but secretly
does drugs with her friends. As the movie progresses, she becomes hooked
on crack and heroin, quits school, runs away, and turns to prostitution
for drug money.
The next main character is Helena Ayala, played
by Catherine Zeta-Jones, who is the pregnant trophy wife of a rich and
powerful drug dealer. When her husband gets caught, Ayala is exposed
to a new world. She had no idea that her husband was a drug dealer,
and realizes that her husband's business was used for nothing more then
laundering money. Confused, Helena gets involved with the drug dealers
to help assassinate the key witness of her husband’s trial.
Protecting the key witness are the last significant
characters: undercover DEA agents Montel Gorden, played by Don Cheadle,
and Ray Castro, played by Luis Guzman. The film shows their involvement
in the war on drugs and the difficulty they must go through to win it.
Another amazing performance in the movie was that
of Topher Grace, star of "That 70's Show," who plays a friend of Caroline
and leads to her involvement in drugs.
Although the war on drugs is the main issue in
the film, there is also a great emphasis on relationships.
For example, Wakefield struggles to keep a relationship
with his daughter when he finds out she is a drug addict and goes to
great lengths to help her.
Throughout the rest of the movie, relationships
are developed not only in families, but also between friends, associates,
and each individual member of the cast.
In most movies it takes the whole two hours to
form one developed relationship, but "Traffic" manages to
form several throughout the sequence of the film.
It would not come as a shock to see this movie
receive many awards.
Title: Traffic
Rating: ****
Starring: Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones
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