Traffic (2000)
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The film explores the illegal drug trade from several perspectives: users, enforcers, politicians, and traffickers.
The story
Traffic explores the illegal drug trade from several perspectives: users, enforcers, politicians, and traffickers. Their stories are edited together throughout the film, although most characters do not meet each other. The narrative follows a Mexican police officer's investigation into a drug transport, a conservative Ohio judge's struggle with his daughter's addiction while serving as a drug czar, and an undercover DEA investigation in San Diego. The film uses distinct visual styles for each storyline to differentiate the perspectives of those caught in the complex web of the drug trade.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
The film follows three intertwining narratives. In Mexico, officer Javier Rodriguez is tasked by General Salazar to apprehend hitman Francisco Flores. While the operation successfully dismantles the Obregón cartel, Javier discovers Salazar is actually a pawn for the rival Juárez Cartel. Salazar eventually has Javier's colleague murdered before being arrested. In Ohio, Robert Wakefield, the newly appointed drug czar, struggles with his daughter Caroline's escalating drug addiction. He eventually finds her in a desperate search in Cincinnati. In San Diego, DEA agents Montel Gordon and Ray Castro arrest dealer Eduardo Ruiz. His wife, Helena, hires hitman Flores to stop the trial. A botched assassination leads to the death of a DEA agent. Amidst the chaos, Helena makes a deal with the Obregóns to have Ruiz poisoned. The film concludes with the characters facing the consequences of their actions in the drug war.
- First release year
- 2000
- Runtime (minutes)
- 147
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English; Spanish
- Directors
- Steven Soderbergh
- Writers
- Stephen Gaghan · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Don Cheadle; Benicio del Toro; Michael Douglas; Luis Guzmán; Dennis Quaid; Catherine Zeta-Jones; Erika Christensen; Jacob Vargas
- Genres
- crime; drama
- Themes
- drug trade; corruption; family struggle
- Tone and mood
- tense; gritty
- Premise and plot tags
- multi-perspective; crime; political
- Source material / true-story basis
- 1989 British Channel 4 television series Traffik
- Reception
- The film received critical acclaim for its direction, style, complexity, and the cast's performances, particularly Benicio del Toro's. It was also a commercial success, earning over $200 million against a $48 million budget.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 93% · scale: percentage · review count: 222; Metacritic · score: 86 · scale: 100 · review count: 34
- Awards and nominations
- Oscar · Best Director · win; Oscar · Best Supporting Actor · win; Oscar · Best Adapted Screenplay · win; Oscar · Best Film Editing · win
- Production trivia
- Soderbergh acted as his own cinematographer under the pseudonym Peter Andrews.; The film was originally going to be distributed by 20th Century Fox but was put into turnaround.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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