Godbole (Manoj Bajpayee) is a Mumbai traffic constable on suspension for taking bribe. Writter Bobby and Sanjay have lengthened and dramatised that by adding many dramatis personae and their stories to this fact. It was an 11-minute drive, within Chennai. Mohan who drove at 120 kmph to get his heart to nine-year-old Shanthi. ![]() The film, based on a real-life incident in Chennai in 2008, owes its plot to teenager Hithendran, his doctor parents who decided to donate his organs and head traffic constable B. Traffic, a thriller directed by Rajesh Pillai who passed away in February this year, at the age of 41, is a remake of his 2011 Malayalam film of the same name. Excellent.Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Jimmy Shergill, Divya Dutta, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Parambrata Chatterjee, Sachin Khedekar, Kitu Gidwani Anyone who thinks they are sure of their stance on drugs should watch this no matter what you think this will highlight the fact that it is a complex problem to which there is no simple solution. It is shorter and more polished than the mini-series it came from, but it is very intelligently done and is though-provoking. The film allows long silences for us to think but yet is never boring or dull. This is rare in an `issue' film and it should be commended. It never goes one way or the other on the drugs issue and leaves you to decide for yourself what should happen. ![]() The strength of the film is that it lets you work it out yourself. These are the main players but really the cast is deep in quality from those that have bigger roles (Quaid, Bratt, Miguel Ferrer) to those that essentially have only a few lines (Albert Finney, Peter Riegert). Douglas is really good how often can you say that!? His young wife is also very good I expected her to be the weak link but she gave a good performance. Cheadle and Guzman are as good as they always are and play off each other well they have an element of the `buddy cop' couple without becoming caricatures. Del Toro is perfect he gets the moodiness spot on but also has a fun side to his character. The casting is another example of how right the film is. This is typical of the intelligence put into the film it rewards you the more you watch it. The scenes in Mexico are all yellow and washed out giving a desolate feeling, the scenes in political America are given a blue hue to give a colder, detached feel to the business while the scenes with the DEA are noticeably bright and realistic. The film is intelligent far beyond the subject matter. However those wishing something to get you thinking, during and after the film should be rewarded. The thoughtful nature means the film moves slowly and, if you're not used to following stories then it may frustrate you. The stories are told with out over doing it action happens without pomp or fanfare, explosions happen in silence, killings are brutal, swift and final. ![]() ![]() Looking at the problem across several interlinking stories allows us to hear everyone's side to see the internal problems in Mexico, to see the futility of the DEA's actions even to see the scope of the problem facing the US political machine as it tries to fight a war against the drugs trade on all sides. Based on the channel 4 series Traffik this is an open-minded intelligent look at the war on drugs. Over all this a new drug czar is appointed who begins to find that the war on drugs is not as simple as it seems and that it is a war raged in his own home. In the USA the head of one of the cartels Javier is trying to close is taken to court by the DEA who have an informant (Eduardo Ruiz) in the custody of Agents Montel Gordon and Ray Castro, leaving his wife, Helena, to take care of his business. In Mexico Officer Javier Rodriquez Rodriquez is stuck in the middel of a country where the drug dealers and the police work hand in hand and murder is rife.
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