The fact that Soderbergh chose to be director of photography and camera operator on Traffic as well translates into an extraordinarily personal vision and style. The man has the rhythm. Traffic moves like a dancer enjoying his moves on the dance floor, rather oblivious to the fascinated fellow dancers who have stopped to watch the magnificent show of dance floor grace. The Tijuana palette. The trifurcated structure of Traffic works to a tee, but Soderbergh s choice of distinctly different chromatic schemes for each section enhancing the work beyond adequate description.
Traffic traces three points of the drug trade.
The Mexican segment follows a pair of honest cops seeking to stem the tide of the river of drugs traveling over the border into the United States. Javier Rodriguez anchors this beautifully realized segment. Int he meantime, Point two follows Judge Robert Wakefield as the newly appointed U.S. Federal Drug Czar with a mission to stamp out the rampant spread of drugs into the country. The Mexican drug cartels become his target. This segment bifurcates to include Wakefield drug problems discovered at home.