Traffic [Criterion Collection] [2 Discs]

Overview

"Described by director Steven Soderbergh as ""Nashville meets The French Connection,"" this multi-character drama explores the effects of international drug trafficking on all fronts: from their source, to the U.S. border, to the federal government, to the private lives of users. Based upon a miniseries originally aired on Britain's Channel 4, Traffic divides its time among three main storylines and almost a dozen locales. The first and primary plot thread, set in Ohio and Washington, D.C., concerns freshly-appointed drug czar Robert Wakefield (Michael Douglas), whose enthusiasm for his new prestige position is quickly offset when he realizes his 16-year-old daughter Caroline (Erika Christensen) is graduating from recreational drug use to habitual abuse -- a secret that his wife, Barbara (Amy Irving), has kept from him. South of the border, Mexican cop Javier Rodriguez (Benicio Del Toro) attempts to wage his own war on drugs, heading off a cocaine shipment in the middle of the desert with his less-than-virtuous partner Manolo Sanchez (Jacob Vargas). Surrounded by corruption, Javier approaches the drug war with an attitude of patience and compromise, which opens him up to investigation from General Arturo Salazar (Tomas Milian), the country's dubious drug-enforcement liaison to the U.S. Meanwhile, San Diego drug kingpin Carlos Alaya (Steven Bauer) is caught in a sting operation spearheaded by DEA agents Montel Gordon (Don Cheadle) and Ray Castro (Luis Guzman), leaving behind his very pregnant and very oblivious wife, Helena (Catharine Zeta-Jones). At the behest of Carlos' lawyer and shady confidante, Arnie Metzger (Dennis Quaid), Helena decides to carry on the family business -- with tragic consequences. Adapted by Rules of Engagement scribe Stephen Gaghan, Traffic marked Soderbergh's second major release in 2000 after the critical and box-office success of Erin Brockovich, as well as his second feature as cinematographer (credited under the pseudonym Peter Andrews). A favorite with various guild and critics' awards, Traffic won four Academy Awards in 2001, including statues for Best Supporting Actor (Del Toro) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Gaghan), and surprise wins for Steven Mirrone's editing and Soderbergh's direction."

Product Details

Release Date:	03/21/2010
UPC:	0715515017220
Original Release:	2000
Rating:	R
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:27:00
Sales rank:	28,445

Special Features

Disc One - The Movie:; Digital transfer, enhanced for 16x9 televisions; Three commentary tracks: director Steven Soderbergh and writer Stephen Gaghan; producers Edward Zwick, Marshall Herskovitz, and Laura Bickford, and consultants Tim Golden and Craig Chretien; and composer Cliff Martinez (featuring two music cues not included in the final film; Dolby Digital 5.1 theatrical mix and 2.0 reduced dynamic range home video mix; English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing; ; Disc Two - The Supplements:; Twenty-five deleted scenes, featuring commentary by Soderbergh and Gaghan; Film processing demonstration: Achieving the look of the Mexico sequences; Editing demonstration, with commentary by editor Stephen Mirrione; Dialogue editing demonstration with sound editor Larry Blake; Thirty minutes of additional footage, featuring multiple angles from the scenes of the El Paso Intelligence Center and the cocktail party where U.S. senators, major politicians, lobbyists, and others express their views on the drug war; Theatrical and television trailers; U.S. Customs trading cards of the K-9 squad used in the detection of narcotics and illegal substances

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Benicio Del Toro	Javier Rodriguez
Michael Douglas	Robert Wakefield
Catherine Zeta-Jones	Helena Ayala
Don Cheadle	Montel Gordon
Erika Christensen	Caroline Wakefield
Jacob Vargas	Manolo Sanchez
Miguel Ferrer	Eduardo Ruiz
Luis Guzmán	Ray Castro
Topher Grace	Seth Abrahms
Dennis Quaid	Arnie Metzger
Steven Bauer	Carlos Ayala
Albert Finney	Chief of Staff
James Brolin	General Ralph Landry
Clifton Collins Jr.	Francisco Flores
Enrique Murciano	DEA Agent - Trailer
D.W. Moffett	Jeff Sheridan
Tomas Milian	Gen. Arturo Salazar
Amy Irving	Barbara Wakefield
Peter Riegert	Attorney Michael Adler
Benjamin Bratt	Juan Obregón
Yul Vazquez	Tigrillo / Obregón Assassin
Majandra Delfino	Vanessa
Alec Roberts	David Ayala
James Pickens Jr.	Prosecutor Ben Williams
Andrew Chavez	Desert Truck Driver
Michael Saucedo	Desert Truck Driver
Emilio Rivera	Salazar Soldier #2
Viola Davis	Social Worker
Russell G. Jones	Mark
Jose Yenque	Salazar Soldier / The Torturer
Lorene Hetherington	State Capitol Reporter #1
Eric Collins	State Capitol Reporter #2,Actor
Beau Holden	DEA Agent - CalTrans
Michael O'Neill	Lawyer Rodman
Don Snell	DEA Agent - Trailer
Gary Carlos Cervantes	DEA Agent - Trailer
Leticia Bombardier	Ruiz's Secretary
Carl Ciarfalio	Ruiz's Assistant
James Lew	DEA Agent - CalTrans
Gilbert Rosales	Van Passenger
Eileen Weisinger	DEA Agent - Public Storage
Mike Watson	DEA Agent - Public Storage
Steve Tomaski	DEA Agent - Public Storage
Buck McDancer	DEA Agent - Public Storage
Corey Spears	F*****-up Bowman
Rena Sofer	Helena's Friend
Stacey Travis	Helena's Friend
Brian Avery	DEA Agent - Public Storage
Jennifer Barker	Helena's Friend
Dean Faulkner	Parking Valet
Daniella Kuhn	Tourist Woman
Brandon Keener	Tourist Man
Bill Weld	Governor Bill Weld
George Blumenthal	Partygoer #1
Stephen Dunham	Lobbyist
Margaret Travolta	Economist
Jeff Podolsky	Jeff Podolsky
Don Nickles	Senator Don Nickles
Jewelle Bickford	Partygoer #2,Stan (uncredited)
Harry Reid	Senator Harry Reid
Orrin Hatch	Senator Orrin Hatch
Chuck Grassley	Senator Charles Grassley
Dave Hager	Partygoer #3
Barbara Boxer	Senator Barbara Boxer
Tucker Smallwood	Partygoer #4
Marisol Padilla Sánchez	Ana Sanchez
Víctor Quintero	Salazar Soldier
Elaine Kagan	Judge Reed
John Slattery	ADA Dan Collier
Jimmy Ortega	Arrested Man in Apartment
Greg Boniface	Tackled Man #1
Ramiro Gonzalez	Salazar Soldier
Thomas Rosales Jr.	Tackled Man #2
Rudy M. Camacho	Customs Official
Vonte Sweet	Dealer
Jack Conley	Agent Hughes
Craig N. Chretien	Director of EPIC
Ed Breving	Hotel Deskman
Mike Siegel	DEA Representative
Eddie Velez	Agent Johnson
Kimber Fritz	Rehab Counselor
Harsh Nayyar	Witness #1
John Brown	Assistant Director of EPIC
Mary Pat Gleason	Witness #2
Stephen J. Rose	Marty
Jsu Garcia	Pablo Obregón
Gregory Estevane	Polygraph Administrator
Alex Procopio	Polygraph Assistant
Rita Gomez	Mrs. Castro
Vincent M. Ward	Man on Street
Kaizaad Kotwal	Teacher
Kymberly Newberry	Press Secretary
Carroll Schumacher	Ayala Security #1
David Jensen	John
Jay Krymis	Waiter #1
Michael Showers	Meeting Leader
Mike Malone	Waiter #2
Chic Daniel	DEA Agent (uncredited)
Salma Hayek Pinault	Rosario (uncredited)
Fred Anderson	TV Reporter (uncredited)
Sonia Debreczeni	Reporter (uncredited)
Rod Fielder	Newspaper Photographer (uncredited)
Adam Clark	FBI Agent (uncredited)
Tony Guma	Detective (uncredited)
Ambrit Millhouse	Cincinnati Hooker (uncredited)
David Pittinger	Cincinnati Police Officer (uncredited)
Valerie Hanna	Witness #3 (uncredited)
Christopher Rogers	Businessman (uncredited)
Dominic Koulianos	Reporter (uncredited)
Christie McNew	Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
Laurent Schwaar	Art Appraiser (uncredited)
William-Christopher Stephens	Drug Dealer (uncredited)
Clyde Tull	Cafe Patron (uncredited),Cafe Patron (uncredited)
Leo Rogstad	Stand-In (uncredited)
Joey Sotello	DEA Agent / Attorney (uncredited)
Anthony Hawkins Woods	Junkie (uncredited)
Jim Cody Williams	FBI Agent (uncredited)
William Young	Court Room Participant (uncredited)
Cliff Martinez	Composer

Technical Credits

Stephen Gaghan

Simon Moore

Steven Soderbergh	Director
Edward Zwick	Producer
Marshall Herskovitz	Producer
Laura Bickford	Producer
Mike Newell	Executive Producer
Richard Solomon	Executive Producer
Andreas Klein	Executive Producer
Cameron Jones	Executive Producer
Graham King	Executive Producer
Stephen Gaghan	Screenwriter
Simon Moore	Screenwriter
Paul Ledford	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Steven Soderbergh's magnum opus on the drug war, Traffic offers yet another one of the director's efforts to take conventionally engrossing, Hollywood-formula material and imbue it with a sense of authenticity, unpredictability, and vitality, much as he did with his wildly successful Erin Brockovich earlier in the year. Some seams still show -- namely, the all-too-ironic script conceit that the country's new drug czar happens to have an addict for a daughter -- but by and large, Traffic is issue-oriented storytelling of the highest order. To call the film a tour de force would be misleading; it's an intimate epic, and Soderbergh seems determined to make all of the script's grand statements resonate on a personal level. To this end, he's helped by his stable of performers: Michael Douglas is appropriately stiff as the conservative Ohio judge who learns he's in over his head in his new position; Catharine Zeta-Jones makes a believable transformation from naïve, pampered housewife to hard-edged schemer; Erika Christensen takes the aforementioned addict-daughter character and makes it her own, suggesting that habitual abuse can arise from the most banal of circumstances; and Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman provide subtle shadings to what could have been a standard buddy-cop routine. Best of all is Benicio Del Toro, whose cunning, straight-arrow cop, Javier Rodriguez, provides the film's heart and soul. Soderbergh's cinematography (credited under the pseudonym Peter Andrews) complements the performers, eschewing establishing shots, grandiose camerawork, and traditional Hollywood framing in favor of simple shifts in color and film stock to indicate place, mood, and time. Steven Mirrone's editing also flatters the audience's ability to make connections on their own, halting scenes as soon as a point has been made, and allowing others to linger onscreen to create palpable atmosphere. Instead of favoring the loud, overbearing rhythms which accompany most hot-button "issue films," Soderbergh quietly and consistently tightens his vice grip on the audience, allowing a breather only in the film's semi-hopeful dénouement. Though it may provide all of the pleasures of conventionally grand melodrama, Traffic feels unlike any epic that has come before it.