Traffic is a very ambitious film that goes to great lengths to give us "the big picture" of the drug smuggling business. This requires three different storylines that take us all the way from Washington DC to the barren desert, South of Tijuana. We meet users, addicts, parents, dealers, smugglers and cops at all levels, on both sides of the border.
Benicio Del Toro plays Javier, a Mexican State Police officer who makes about $360 a month. He faces the inevitable dilemma between staying honest or joining the ranks of the corrupt and working for a cartel. (In real-life, the locals grimly describe this as a choice between gold and lead.)
Michael Douglas is a conservative Ohio Supreme Court judge, appointed by the president to be the new national "drug czar". His merciless attitude is put to the ultimate test when his own daughter becomes an addict.
Catherine Zeta-Jones is an upper-class San Diego housewife who is devastated when her rich husband is arrested and put on trial for trafficking. All the while, the DEA struggles to keep their star witness from being assassinated.
Apparently, this industry makes life pretty treacherous for anyone and everyone who gets involved. Although the various stories are not completely devoid of hope or redemption, this movie is by no means uplifting. There's definitely no shortage of heartbreaking scenes.
The drug trade as portrayed in this movie is an extremely massive and complex beast, with no single easily identifiable villain. The one thing that is made abundantly clear is that our current physical approach towards eradicating drugs is failing in the biggest possible way.
Traffic is filled with good performances by a great cast. The plot may have a few tiny holes that leak a small amount of credibility, but not enough so to keep the movie from being what it is: a unique, intelligent and very compelling look at a very big, very complex and very pressing problem.