Traffic

When Javier Rodriguez Rodriguez and his partner are stopped by General Salazar's men in the opening sequence, Javier holds his hands against the steering wheel in a "surrender" position.

As the scene plays out, his hands are alternately in the air or on the steering wheel.

When Arnie Metzger shows up at Helena Ayala's house, at one point he quickly turns around and points to her.

Clearly his mouth movements do not match up with the dialog.

Students at Cincinnati Country Day school do not wear uniforms.

Also, the school building is considerably more modern.

The scene that shows the school was actually shot at Walnut Hills.

The camera is visible attached beneath the helicopter landing.

During the woman's speech in the courtroom, you can clearly see the microphone switch to be in the off position.

Inside the surveillance van, the time indicated on the wristwatch hanging up near Ray changes drastically between continuous shots.

The Ohio license plates used in the movie have 4 letters and three numbers.

The state recently changed from a 3-and-3 format to 3 letters and 4 numbers.

In addition, the front license plate on Seth's car does not have the name of the county on the bottom, as Ohio plates have.

When Salazar shows Javier the picture of Frankie Flowers before they find him, he has the scar from the beating they give him when they pick him up.

At the beginning, when they discover the drug on the truck, the guy wearing a hat is handcuffed, but when they're stopped by General Salazar, his handcuffs are gone.

When Javier is talking to the tourists, he caps his pen twice.

The last name of actor 'Peter Riegert' (qv) is spelled two different ways in the credits.

The first time it appears on screen at the end of the movie it's Reigert, which is wrong.

The second time, Riegert, is right.

When Eduardo Ruiz is poisoned, Montgomery kicks the door out into the hallway when the second waiter arrives, hotel room doors always open into the room.

When Javier is asked to get in the trunk, he throws a cigarette on the floor.

In the next shot the cigarette is not there.

- PLOTIn Wakefield's meeting with the Chief of Staff, he's told his first media briefing will be in a month.

One of movie's final scenes is that media briefing.

Meaning the time frame from arrest to trial for Carlos Ayala is less than a month.

That's highly unlikely, in fact almost impossible, for a major criminal trial.

The accents of the supposedly "Mexican" characters are clearly not Mexican.

This is pretty distinctive to any Spanish native.

At one point on the movie Manolo Sanchez says "castiga a mi" instead of "castigame a mi".

No native-Spanish-speaker would make this mistake.

Francisco Flores has distinctive wounds on his left cheek and forehead when first shown in surveillance photos, but those wounds are only visible after he is tortured by General Salazar's men, long after the photos were taken.

When Eduardo is eating the poisoned food he complains about it and then beings to take a sip of water, the camera cuts to a shot from behind his head and back but he is not holding the water glass anymore.

When Michael Douglas and his wife talk to their daughter after she is released from jail, the living room walls are painted mocha brown.

Two to 3 minutes into the scene, the walls are clearly green in color.

Perhaps, its a revolutionary change in Malayalam film industry. In fact, it was a thrilling experience to watch it.

"Traffic" is an impeccable experience which makes you edgy to the seats, haunt you and crawls right in to your skin and says there. Director Rajesh Pillai has framed a great theme inspired from some real life incidents into a piece of art.

Very skillfully told stories about very different people on both sides of the Border involved in the drug game, with a very personal touch. A game no one can really win.

The film is shot in through a polarizing filter giving it a dramatic, intense feel. The eerie musical backdrop is a little over-used throughout but it gives you time to reflect as the plot gathers momentum and develops quickly.

Traffic (2000): Dir: Steven Soderbergh / Cast: Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, Amy Irving: Provocative masterpiece about the impact of drugs in our society. Michael Douglas plays a district attorney leading the war against drugs yet is unaware of his daughter's drug addiction until she is taken into police custody.

I would usually love those genre, but maybe because it's 20 years later? I'm not sure.

Director Late Mr. Rajesh Pillai work is good.

Another good story gone to waste. It appears the director was not sure if the movie should be a Drama or a Thriller.