Traffic (2000)

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details
Rating: R
Release Date: Dec 27, 2000
Running Time: 147 mins.
Additional Notes: dialogue English and Spanish
Country Of Origin: United States
synopsis
A patchwork of stories about various factions of the drug trade, including dealers, abusers and the law enforcement officials who pursue them. Mexican policeman Javier Rodriguez works on and around the border with his close friend and fellow policeman Manolo Sanchez, under Mexico's number one crime fighter, General Salazar. Confronted with temptations of power and money, Javier resists them but finds himself--and Manolo--caught in a web of corruption that leads to an untenable situation. Back in the U.S., Ohio State Supreme Court Justice Robert Wakefield is named by the president as the new antidrug czar. Collecting information, the uncompromising and conservative Wakefield prepares to supervise the country's task forces and partner them with Mexico's. But, at home, he and his wife Barbara must deal with their increasingly drug-addicted teenage daughter Caroline.

In San Diego, undercover DEA agents Montel Gordon and Ray Castro work overtime to help the U.S. government build its case against the infamous Obregon drug cartel. Their bust of midlevel drug trafficker Eduardo Ruiz pays off when their new prisoner cuts a deal to testify against wealthy drug baron Carlos Ayala, who lives in the upscale suburbs. Carlos is arrested, shocking his unknowing and pregnant wife Helena. Helena and her son are quickly threatened by her husband's associates and tailed by the DEA agents. Enlisting the aid of attorney Arnie Metzger. Helena vows to get Carlos out of jail and keep her children safe--even if it means taking over her husband's business.

cast + crew
Robert Wakefield
Montel Gordon
Javier Rodriguez
Helena Ayala
Chief of Staff
Barbara Wakefield
Caroline Wakefield
General Ralph Landry
Arnie Metzger
Juan Obregon
screenplay
Screenplay
Producer
Producer
Executive Producer
Executive Producer
Executive Producer
Executive Producer
Executive Producer
reviews
Source
December 18, 2000
Traffic is a real cannonball, a hardass drama about the drug trade that Steven Soderbergh directs like a thriller -- it comes out blazing. Nothing with the daring of Traffic has emerged from this timid movie year. Credit USA Films for going where the major studios feared to tread. What were the suits afraid of? Plenty. Besides a plot about drug trafficking between the U.S. and Mexico -- sensitive toes are appropriately squished - the film is a free-form omnibus of interlocking story lines.

Not to… Continued

Source

Loosely interrelated stories examine different facets of America's "war on drugs" in director Steven Soderbergh's impressive ensemble drama.

Story

Based partly on the 1989 British TV miniseries "Traffik," this sweeping epic follows various characters involved one way or another in narcotics smuggling, including a newly appointed U.S. drug czar (Michael Douglas) who gradually realizes his own daughter (Erika Christensen) is an addict; an honorable Mexican cop (Benicio Del Toro) caught between… Continued