Review of Traffic

Introduction

Uh-oh, an award winning movie. There’s something about movies with huge list of award nominations that sends a shiver down my spine. I don’t usually agree with the majority of critics it must be said and too many Oscar nominated movies have left me in a near catatonic state through boredom so this was somewhat of a leap of faith on my part, faith in the quality of the cast and the strength of the subject matter rather than faith in other people’s opinions.

Traffic is three stories in one all sharing a common theme of drug trafficking. You’ve got a story about supply, a second about prevention and a third about abuse. These stories all intertwine in a novel way creating a movie with a very distinctive style. It’s a film that’s been hyped to death due to the afore mentioned award nominations which is always a bad starting point when sitting down to watch a movie for the first time. It’s easier to overcome low expectations than it is to reach high ones after all but can so many people be wrong?

Video

The anamorphic transfer presents a top quality image which, let’s face it, is exactly what you would expect from a movie released on the big screen in 2000. There are certain effects used throughout the movie to help distinguish certain sections which could irritate but these come under artistic choices rather than any flaw with the picture quality.

Audio

The Dolby digital 5.1 soundtrack is clear and uses all channels well. Being predominantly dialogue based the sound is never really given a serious test. When surround is used it’s well handled as are any moments of bass or movement across the front of the soundstage.

Features

Quite a few extras accompany this release, in fact more than are present on the region 1 release, but they are rather a mixed bag.

Starting with the “not really of any use” section there’s a trailer which makes Traffic look far, far more exciting than it actually is. There’s also a section entitled B-roll which shows bare behind the scenes footage which failed to excite me. To top these off there’s my personal favourite, the ever so dull production notes.

On the plus side there are a wealth of interviews with pretty much anyone who’s anything to do with Traffic, stopping just short of the boy who made the tea. There are also a large number of deleted scenes which all would have added something to the movie, I’m pretty sure that some of them were tough cuts to make.

As you can tell I’m a little disappointed with the extras. Yes there are a fair amount and much more than many region 2 releases however this disc is missing one thing. With so much having been made about the great direction from Steven Soderberg where’s the Director’s commentary? The synical would say that’s it’s being saved for a special edition cash cow. Well whether it is or not it’s a noticeable omission.

Conclusion

Is it any good? Well I’d have to say yes . . . but it’s not an unqualified success. There are several things about this movie that didn’t sit well with me at all, and that’s totally discounting the trailer which makes the movie look like some fast paced thriller.

This is not a fast paced movie, it moves quite slowly and had me looking to see how long was left several times. The presentation also got on my nerves. The three different stories are typically punctuated by a washing through with a certain colour, for example the story involving Michael Douglas is washed through blue in parts. I didn’t need this visual aid to help me distinguish which story I was watching and found this largely distracting. Also there was a tendency to use hand held cameras which would bob up and down and move about in an attempt to make you feel more part of the proceedings. Again I found this distracting and unnecessary.

In it’s favour is a novel approach to story telling, one that builds in layers. First up you get a small section of the start of the first story, based around drug supply from Mexico. Then the movie jumps to a section about the consequences of drugs then on to a small section about the policing of drug trafficking. It then jumps about between the three stories weaving a tapestry that sees you get a little more curious with each piece of each story. I found the story interesting and involving and was genuinely interested in the outcome of each story line. The clever method of telling a story is helped along by some great performances from the likes of Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta Jones and Don Cheadle although the star of the movie has to be Benicio Del Toro as Officer Javier Rodriguez Rodriguez, a Mexican police officer caught in between corruption and his conscience.

So I did enjoy the movie but I think it fails to do what it sets out to achieve. Many of the people who feature in the interviews on this disc mention that the idea is to make people think about the drug problem. Well possibly I’ve lead a sheltered life or maybe it’s more of a cultural difference but I didn’t find myself thinking about the movie’s subject matter once after I’d finished watching it.

An entertaining film with solid performances but the slow pace and irritating presentation make it one to try before you buy.