Still, when a general recruits him and his partner to help wipe out one gang, the lure is hard to resist. Ouch, we think, but he's right about our insatiable national craving for recreational drugs. Watery eyes, dilated pupils, and flushed young faces testify to the attraction of what's real , what's sincerely felt in their insulated world. Acting as his own cinematographer, Soderbergh treats that cool, comfortable world with blue light and luminescent surfaces. By contrast, he renders Mexico with filters, saturated colors, and various camera tricks.
Traffic is an immersion course in something nasty, something foreign yet familiar.
Zeta-Jones' pregnant housewife embodies this schism, being both protectively maternal and avariciously intent on maintaining her family's wealth. After so many years spent fighting the proverbial war on drugs, Traffic is the first great Vietnam movie of that unwinnable quagmire. Send a Letter to the Editor about this story.