Traffic

Here's how it usually happens: I get movies on Netflix, and Mike "suffers" through them. Because he's a saint. For the most part, I don't choose sickeningly sweet flicks. Instead, we've watched Waitress, Juno, Casino Royale, and Thank You For Smoking.

But it's a compromise. He enjoys decidedly different movies, and some aren't always easy on my brain. Or stomach. So we take turns. On the next movie night, we dive headfirst into his movie collection (or whatever film he's chosen on Netflix) and I am completely blown away.

One night we watched The Departed, one of the best movies I've seen in all of my twenty-seven years, and another night I learned that Rene Russo is fabulous (not to mention smokin' hot) after watching The Thomas Crown Affair. Pierce Brosnan is fabulous too, but we already knew that.

Last weekend we snuggled in to watch Traffic. I don't know why I shied away from this 2000 film, but it had fallen off the edge of my "must see" radar and I never got to the theater.

I think that I subconsciously ignore the gritty films, no matter how well-received, and I realize that I am missing out on some fantastic film-making. Sometimes it's difficult to pay the $11 at the theater when I know that I'm going to leave with a topsy-turvy stomach.

Maybe that needs to change, or maybe I just need to add films to my Netflix queue and let it alone for awhile.

Traffic circles around three different, yet interconnected, story lines. Javier Rodriguez (Benicio Del Toro) is a Mexican cop with questionable morals. He's no saint, but he's willing to do what needs to be done in order to make Mexico safe for children. Robert Wakefield (Michael Douglas) is a conservative Ohio judge recently elevated to U.S. drug czar, who soon realizes that he can only police the American public to the same extent that he can police his own family. Helena Ayala, desperate to keep her way of life, delves into the secret business of her jailed husband and keeps two undercover agents (Don Cheadle & Luis Guzman) guessing.

The underlying theme is that drug control can only be achieved from the ground up, starting at the tiniest level - the family. There are always going to be addicts and there are always, therefore, going to be those who traffic drugs.

Only you can prevent forest fires. You know?

Traffic was extremely intense and constantly moving. I cared and despised the characters, as none were painted in a perfect light. I wanted to know more, and then I wished I had just kept my head in the sand.

The performances were incredible, especially Del Toro's, for which he won an Academy Award. I would have voted for him, too.