Traffic Film Analysis Traffic Is a 2000

Traffic Film Analysis Traffic is a 2000 film directed by Steven Soderbergh that focuses on the drug trade between the United States and Mexico, the factors that encourage individuals to promote the drug trade, and what steps are being taken to curb the drug trade.

The film relays a very realistic interpretation of the proverbial war on drugs and demonstrates that drug culture has becomes so ingrained in society that it may be impossible to completely stop the drug trade between the United States and Mexico, or the United States with any other country.

Traffic seeks to investigate the ideologies of those that attempt to stop the trafficking of drugs between the United States and Mexico and those individuals and/or groups who promote drug trafficking either out of necessity or because they want to expand territorial claims. In the film, ideologies can be divided based on nationality and further divided based upon individuals that aim wage war on drug trafficking, i.e. law enforcement officials and federal agencies, and those individuals that promote drug trafficking, i.e. drug dealers and users.

One of the ideologies that are promoted through the film is the belief that drugs and crime can be controlled through the use of federal resources. At the beginning of the film in the first plotline, Mexican police officers Javier Rodriguez (Benicio del Toro) and Manolo Sanchez (Jacob Vargas) apprehend a delivery truck filled with drugs headed towards the United States. Despite their efforts, the shipment is confiscated by Mexican Federales.

Rodriguez and Sanchez are drawn deeper into the drug underworld when they are hired bring a hitman with ties to a competing Mexican drug cartel from San Diego, California back to Tijuana in Mexico. In the second plotline, which focuses on Judge Robert Wakefield (Michael Douglas) and his family, the film focuses on the efforts put forth by the United States at a federal and legislative level to stop the trafficking of drugs from Mexico. Wakefield has been appointed to the position of President's Office of National Drug Control.

However, Wakefield's endeavors become complicated as he finds out that his daughter's drug addiction is counterintuitive to the efforts he is making. In the film's third plotline, DEA agents Montel Gordon (Don Cheadle) and Ray Castro (Luis Guzman) attempt to work within the law to take down a prominent San Diego drug lord. Each of these men -- Rodriguez, Sanchez, Wakefield, Gordon, and Castro -- believe that they are working to end an unnecessary evil yet the environments in which they work in prevent them from succeeding.

The ideology that is shared by those that engage in criminal activities is that they can become economically, politically, and financially successful through their actions. This is seen predominantly through the activities of individuals that reside and operate in Mexico.

For example, General Salazar (Tomas Milian) presents himself as a law-abiding Mexican official to the point that he is appointed to a position equivalent to that of Wakefield's with the hope that he will serve as an ally in the war against drugs yet he corrupt and secretly works for the Juarez drug cartel, which directly rivals the Obregon brothers' drug cartel in Tijuana; Salazar's apparent efforts to fight the distribution of Obregon product is influenced by his desire to benefit the Juarez cartel.

While corruption is not as prevalent among the American characters depicted, ideologies remain the same. For example, Carlos Ayala, the Obregon brothers' largest distributor, unbeknownst to his wife, Helena, has built a lavish lifestyle through the sale and distribution of drugs.

In a paradoxical turn of events, it is Helena who turns to the drug trade to save her husband, acting as though she is above the law; Helena goes as far as to order the assassination of Eduardo Ruiz (Miguel Ferrer) who has turned against Ayala in exchange for immunity. Ideologically, criminal actions and beliefs cross socio-economic lines and affect everyone from those that claim to uphold the law to those that make a living from the drug trade.

One of the most interesting ideologies is presented by Seth (Topher Grace), Caroline Wakefield's (Erika Christensen) friend; Caroline is Robert Wakefield's daughter and is a drug addict who has resorted to prostituting herself for heroin. Seth claims that white men in power are to blame for the negative stigma surrounding drug use. Seth states, Drugs weren't even a problem until a hundred years ago when the white men in power declared them a problem. Opiates. But, who was using 'em? Chinese immigrants. Slave labor.

And the darkies up in the inner cities dancing to them evil rhythms of ju-ju music. People on the fringe. Artists. Decadent rich people. And who got scared? White men in power. Who's scared today? White men in power. (Gaghan) It is through these ideologies that good, evil, crime, and justice are portrayed in the film. Despite the polarization of concepts, good & evil and crime & justice, these concepts are interconnected and cannot be analyzed separately in the film's context.

For example, Wakefield attempts to fight against drugs while he has a drug addicted daughter at home; Rodriguez tries to stop drug traffickers from transporting cocaine to the United States only to be usurped by the higher-ranking, corrupt General Salazar; and the DEA tries to take down a known drug lord, Ayala, by using a business partner, Ruiz, to testify against his former friend and business associate. Likewise, the relationship between crime and justice is equally convoluted. In Mexico and the United States, justice is marred by crime and corruption.

Wakefield cannot wage a no-holds barred war against crime and dole out the justice he wants to because he must deal with the impact of the drug trade within his own home; Rodriguez risks his life by becoming a confidential informant against those who have more power than he does after witnessing his partner, Sanchez, fall into the same situation as he -- except Sanchez pays the ultimate price and is executed by General Salazar's men in the desert; and DEA agent Gordon's quest for justice ends up costing the life of his partner and the life of his confidential informant against Ayala leaving him to approach begin his investigation against Ayala from the beginning.

Interestingly enough, Seth also provides one of the most coherent and logical explanations as to why people are drawn to the drug distribution business. Seth explains, "It's market forces, man. The product's marked up three hundred percent. You can go out on the street and make five hundred bucks in two hours and then.