Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic," a harsh and artistic indictment of America's "drug war," arrives on a wave of extravagant praise, surfing stylishly into view just in time for Oscar season.
Already the film is generating considerable buzz as an Academy Award contender, its chief selling point being its somber documentary-like take on the nation's drug problem. But just how realistic are the movie's three interlocking narratives meant to show the entire pyramid of the drug trade, from street-level cop to White House drug czar?
The short answer is: very, but with a few of the usual missteps that Hollywood imposes to punch up the drama. In fact, one can argue that "Traffic" is the most realistic depiction of the drug issue ever put on film (that is not always a strength, though).
The movie--loosely based on the acclaimed 1989 British TV miniseries "Traffik"--can be seen as an almost by-the-numbers attempt to get in as many drug-policy arguments, drug-trade archetypes and obscure drug-world references as possible. One can envision the script conference: Let's refer to Pablo Escobar, the dead Medellin cartel drug lord, here. How 'bout a trip to EPIC, the El Paso Intelligence Center, here? A reference to asset forfeiture? A citation of Illinois vs. Gates?
Don't forget to mention the formal name of the drug czar's office: It's the Office of National Drug Control Policy, thank you.
To give the film its due, all this scrupulous verisimilitude does add gravitas. "Traffic" is extremely good at capturing the look and feel of the drug war. Everything, from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration raid jackets and badges to the padding inside the surveillance vans, looks right. A Georgetown cocktail party is full of real politicos--Orrin Hatch, Barbara Boxer, William Weld--spouting canned statements, suitable for sound bite, on drug policy.
Some touches in the movie will be recognized only by aficionados of the deepest sort of drug lore: A shot of cocaine being unloaded from a plane is uncannily composed to virtually match the famous CIA-snapped photograph of DEA informant Barry Seal unloading drugs in Nicaragua in 1984 in what was probably the most important sting in DEA history--the first case against Colombia's Medellin cartel.
Overall, how does "Traffic" stand up to the historical record? Here's a quick scorecard. (Caution: For those who haven't seen the movie, a few spoilers await.) First, a few points of agreement:
Hollywood:
One of the story lines turns on the actions of a corrupt Mexican army general who is pursuing the Tijuana cartel at the same time that he is in the pocket of the Juarez cartel.
Reality:
In the early 1990s in Colombia, some officials of that country's government aligned with the Cali cartel in a war against the Medellin cartel.
Hollywood:
The head of the Juarez cartel is reported to have died on the operating table during plastic surgery to change his face. But he survives.
Reality:
A Mexican cartel leader is reported to have died on the operating table during plastic surgery to change his face. He stays dead. The doctors responsible are tortured, killed and stuffed in barrels.
Hollywood:
A federal drug bust is interrupted when police officers from another agency charge in to make arrests, unaware that they are stepping on a DEA operation in progress.
Reality:
It was not uncommon for different police agencies to trip over each other's investigations in Miami in the 1980s, but those instances didn't result in wild shootouts like the one depicted in "Traffic."
Hollywood:
Mexican drug law enforcement is shown to be riddled with corruption.
Reality:
Ahem.
Hollywood:
The traffickers come up with an ingenious method of pressing, molding and painting cocaine to make it resemble a clown toy.
Reality:
At the Port of Miami in the late 1980s, the traffickers came up with an ingenious method of pressing, molding and painting cocaine containers to make them resemble yams. Other ingenious methods included stuffing drugs inside aircraft engines. And dissolving the powder in water inside plastic bags, which are then placed in containers of tropical fish, where the bags float, almost impossible for the naked eye to discern.
Hollywood:
A key government informant is murdered just before he is to testify against a cartel boss.
Reality:
Seal, the DEA informant, was murdered in Baton Rouge, La., in 1986, just before he was to testify against a series of cartel employees.
Hollywood:
Gen. Arturo Salazar, America's ally against drug traffickers, is actually protecting the traffickers.
Reality:
Remember Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega?
Hollywood:
When a cartel boss is arrested, his wife takes over the family business and proves to be as ruthless as her husband.
Reality:
