At the beginning of last semester, I was doing an assignment for Teacher Zhu Hong, the subject was "American Independent Film", and I met this famous director while looking up the information. And from this opportunity to watch his famous work "Sex, Lies, Video." It is a pity that after half a year, I never saw his other works again. In a later class, Teacher Zhu Hong mentioned his award-winning work again, so he tried every possible means to find it, but waited until now before he had time to watch it. It's close to midnight, with a clear mind, to sort out the complicated story inside.
It's complicated, but it's complicated in structure. When watching a movie, people will think of "Pulp Fiction", and also of "CRASH", which is very popular recently. Although it is not the same, the unconventional narrative technique is indeed commendable.
The film consists of four independent but interrelated stories.
A. In Mexico, two police officers were involved in arresting drug dealers, but under pressure, they had to engage in drug trafficking activities with the people above.
B. An honest judge was promoted to the top official of the Drug Control Agency, but his daughter did not. Addicted to drugs, he was sent to the drug rehabilitation center but escaped, making him extremely anxious.
C. Two anti-narcotics police officers arrested an intermediary drug dealer and wanted to lead the criminals behind the scenes, but the drug dealer who was taken in as a witness was killed by those involved in the interests.
D. A happy family. The husband was arrested for drug trafficking. The wife took over the husband’s business with a lot of debt, and found someone to kill the witness in order to save her husband.
The four stories are interleaved, and the time is simple and detailed. The characters in the four stories have the same identity, but their value functions are completely different. The intricate relationship supports the entire "drug network." Perhaps this is a microcosm of that American society, but even a microcosm is complicated enough to overflow a two-and-a-half-hour movie. The anti-drug work is arduous, and even in China, it is difficult to control its harm even with such a large crackdown. Not to mention that it is the United States.
In the film, the judge's daughter said, "At our age, finding medicine is easier than finding alcohol." It is also mentioned in the film that 25% of students have the habit of taking drugs. In such a drug-ridden country, it is completely impossible to completely eradicate drugs. At most, "reduce the proportion from 25% to 10%." The judge who took office shortly before was very ambitious and drafted a number of plans, not only to control the buyer, but also to unite with Mexican officials to eliminate the seller. It was only when drug abuse became a prairie fire spreading in the society, his daughter gave him a heavy blow, and even at the inauguration ceremony, he was incoherent and eventually escaped. This is ending B. Facts have proved that if women are cruel, they are indeed more troublesome than men, because they are easy to be emotionally dizzy regardless of the merits. The wife in D finally rescued her husband. She dealt with her husband’s partner alone and hired a murderer to kill the witnesses arrested in C. In the end, evil prevailed over justice. One of the two humorous anti-narcotics police officers in C has unfortunately sacrificed while protecting the witnesses. It is embarrassing and it is the ending C. The Mexican police endured the humiliation and sold their companions to gain the trust of drug dealers. They eventually destroyed the drug cartel. The only requirement for the U.S. cooperation was to build a lighted baseball field for the children. The film also ended with a picture of children playing baseball happily. It was very bright. , Ending A.
Although the four stories are directly related to drug control, the endings are quite different. It may mean that this war can only achieve partial victory. It is true that many drug lords have been eliminated, but because of the temptation of huge profits, more drug dealers have emerged. The number of victims has continued to increase, but the demand for drugs has not decreased. Because of TRAFFIC, drug transportation is so easy. The four stories boiled down to one point is TRAFFIC, which is a highly condensed title. If you don't have a Chinese translation, you will not be able to understand it without watching the movie.
There is no problem with the narrative aspect of the story, it is clear and smooth, and some of the writing is even skipped, and it is very concise. Another major feature is its hue. Yellow filters are used in all scenes in Mexico to create an old sense of backwardness. This is the environment in which drug dealers live. On the other hand, drug addicts gave a blue filter in the office, a cold, steel-like texture. Sometimes this blue color is also used to describe the excitement of drug addicts. It may be a coincidence or a hint that cannot be asserted. The general American daily life is a normal color. In addition to the happy family life segment in D, there are also scenes of high school students buying drugs and taking drugs. The implication may be to attribute this to a fixed lifestyle of Americans, and drugs have been fully integrated into their daily lives. It sounds scary.
Are the facts as described in the movie? surely not. This is just a movie. But it is more than just a movie.
The comment is the author’s personal opinion. More miscellaneous feelings can be found in the following blog. If you have different opinions, you can leave a message here:
http://welcomebykim.spaces.msn.com
View more about Traffic reviews
