It's a Vietnamese driver who is speaking, telling his passenger that she can pee wherever she pleases, out among the trees of a rubber plantation. The easily understood double meaning is underscored in Traps , which is set in Vietnam around 1950, back when the country headed the list of the world's most wretched colonies. Outside, in the orderly groves of scarred, dripping trees, insurgents are lurking, a few steps ahead of vicious, crypto-fascist Foreign Legionnaires. As a careerist, Michael is so eager to turn a blind eye to the savagery of the occupiers that he winds up in bed, politically as well as literally, with Daniel.
Traps is obviously no mere tale of white devilry.
The sexual troubles of the stressed couple, bravely left unresolved, act as a balance to the badly tuned script, with its occasionally clumsy verbal exposition and symbolism. She's a sturdy storyteller, as level-headed in the tropics as John Huston was, and she helps shepherd Reeves through a difficult role. Although Traps isn't the most compelling of films, it does convey a sense of emotional dread that pays off without pounding you senseless. This page was designed and created by the Boulevards team.