It's wise enough to let the viewer take what messages they want from the film, without ever preaching. A lesser film would've had some grandiose speech imbedded somewhere in the film denouncing the use of drugs - not `Traffic'. `Traffic', somewhat surprisingly, never preaches, either - while it's safe to say that the message of the film is essentially anti-drug, it never comes out and outright says that message. `Traffic' isn't afraid to look at tough or uncomfortable issues. Each story - whether it's Helena assuming the role of her drug-dealing husband, or Robert canceling DEA meetings so he can deal with his drug-addicted daughter - is powerful and brutally honest. I'm still amazed that the film could cover so many plotlines and dozens of characters so effortlessly. In terms of story, `Traffic' is absolutely brilliant. and what, if anything, they can do to change those roles. Much like in the real world, the events of each story directly or indirectly affect the events of the others, leaving all the characters to consider their roles in the drug culture. There is the story of Javier Rodriguez (Benicio Del Toro), a Mexican policeman struggling to keep his distance from the corruption that seems to follow him everywhere there is the story of Ray Castro (Luis Guzman) and Montel Gordon (Don Cheadle), two DEA agents trying to turn the low-level drug dealer Eduardo Ruiz (Miguel Ferrer) against his drug cartel boss there's the story of Helena Ayala (Catherine Zeta-Jones), the unsuspecting wife of the drug cartel boss who suddenly learns who her husband really is and what he does for a living and then there's the new head of the DEA, Robert Wakefield (Michael Douglas), a man so wrapped up in his mission to stop the war on drug, he fails to notice that his own daughter Caroline (Erika Christensen) is becoming addicted to crack. Some are loosely connected to one another some are not. `Traffic' takes a look at the world of drugs through the stories and lives of different characters. In terms of story, direction, and characters, `Traffic' is easily Soderbergh's best film to date, and one of the best films made in recent years, period. Director Steven Soderbergh takes the various viewpoints of the drug culture - the users, the dealers, the police, and the politicians - and weaves their differing stories together into a single story that is both deep in its ideas but very simple to understand. A dazzlingly complex film, `Traffic' takes a hard, unflinching look at the so-called `war on drugs' that is perfectly clear and uncompromising.
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