Traffic (DVD 2001)

Traffic deserved to win five Oscars. Steven Soderbergh has captured the complexity of the drugs problem on screen and he has produced and directed a film that is intelligent, poignant, dynamic, and that is the definitive film about drugs in years to come. Adapting Channel 4's award winning TV drama about drugs Traffik and transferring it to the big screen but Soderbergh has done a good job.
The film is set in 3 places Ohio,where a US Supreme Court Judge (Michael Douglas) has been newly appointed as a US goverment drugs czar, San Diego where two police officers(Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman) have to guard a corrupt businessman turned informant and a businessman's wife (Catherine Zeta Jones) has to deal with her world crumbling when her husband is arrested on drugs charges and Tijuana , Mexico where a police officer(Benicio Del Toro) is frustrated working in a police force where his superiors and colleagues are embroiled in the corruption of the drugs underworld.
The cinematography is impressive especially how the film moves between the three locations and the way the characters from the three stories are interlinked with other is well executed on screen. What I really like about Traffic is that you get an insight of all the different types of people whose lives have been blighted by drugs and that drugs is a worldwide problem that effects everyone irrespective of their ethnic origin, religion or socio-economic group.
The acting is first rate with good performances from everyone especially the double act of Don Cheadle & Luis Guzman, Benicio Del Toro in Oscar winning form as the 'man of honour,' stuck in an impossible situation and Michael Douglas as the drugs czar who discovers that drugs is not only a national and international problem but much closer to home than he realises. Traffic is a terrific film and a masterpiece from one of Hollywood's top directors. The former independent director has come of age in mainstream cinema.