The movie Traffic has exploded center stage. People are rushing to see its gripping portrayal of the U.S. war on drugs. The fast-paced action and subtle acting draw you in and sweep you along. Everything about Traffic, from its gritty photography to the scope of its plot , seems to announce that behind these characters and their stories is the inside, hidden, true story of the war on drugs.
Traffic is a trick movie.
It draws you in. It opposes current government policy. But the world it shows, the picture of the drug trade and drug war it paints, is far from real . When a Customs Agency official complained about the script, Soderbergh reportedly let him rewrite it. But in Traffic, the sordid underbelly of the drug trade lies across the border in Mexico.