His predecessor and several influential politicians warn Robert that the War on Drugs is unwinnable. Robert Wakefield, a conservative Ohio judge, is appointed to head the President's Office of National Drug Control Policy, taking on the title of drug czar. Later, Javier watches as children play baseball at night in their new stadium. Javier explains to the media the widespread corruption in the police force and army.
Salazar's secrets are revealed, and he is arrested. In exchange for his testimony, Javier requests electricity in his neighborhood so the youngsters can play baseball at night rather than be tempted by street gangs and crime. Sanchez attempts to sell the information of Salazar's true affiliation to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), but Salazar discovers his plot and has him murdered in the desert with Javier being forced to watch no longer able to handle working for Salazar, Javier arranges a deal with the DEA. That entire portion of the Mexican anti-drug campaign is a fraud, as Salazar is wiping out one cartel because he has aligned with another for profit. Javier's and Salazar's efforts begin to cripple the Obregón brothers' cocaine outfit, but Javier soon discovers Salazar is a pawn for the Juárez Cartel, the rival of the Obregón brothers. Salazar instructs him to apprehend Francisco Flores, a hitman for the Tijuana Cartel, headed by the Obregón brothers.īack in Tijuana, under torture, Flores gives Salazar the names of important members of the Obregón cartel, who are arrested. General Salazar, a high-ranking Mexican official, interrupts their arrest and decides to hire Javier. In Mexico, police officer Javier Rodriguez and his partner Manolo Sanchez stop a drug transport and arrest the couriers. In 2004, USA Network ran a miniseries-also called Traffic-based on the film and the 1989 British television series. It was also a commercial success with a worldwide box-office revenue total of $207.5 million, well above its estimated $46 million budget. Traffic earned numerous awards, including four Oscars: Best Director for Steven Soderbergh, Best Supporting Actor for Benicio del Toro, Best Adapted Screenplay for Stephen Gaghan and Best Film Editing for Stephen Mirrione. Traffic was released in the United States on December 27, 2000, and received critical acclaim for Soderbergh's direction, the film's style, complexity, messages, and the cast's performances (particularly del Toro's). Soderbergh operated the camera himself and adopted a distinctive color grade for each storyline so that audiences could tell them apart. USA Films, however, liked the project from the start and offered the filmmakers more money than Fox.
Soderbergh refused and proposed the script to other major Hollywood studios it was rejected because of the three-hour running time and the subject matter- Traffic is more of a political film than most Hollywood productions. It features both English and Spanish-language dialogue.Ģ0th Century Fox, the original financiers of the film, demanded that Harrison Ford play a leading role and that significant changes to the screenplay be made.
The film stars an international ensemble cast, including Don Cheadle, Benicio del Toro, Michael Douglas, Erika Christensen, Luis Guzmán, Dennis Quaid, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jacob Vargas, Tomas Milian, Topher Grace, James Brolin, Steven Bauer, and Benjamin Bratt.
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The film is an adaptation of the 1989 British Channel 4 television series Traffik. Their stories are edited together throughout the film, although some characters do not meet each other. It explores the illegal drug trade from several perspectives: users, enforcers, politicians, and traffickers. Traffic is a 2000 American crime drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan.
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