'Traffic'

Traffic.
Openings of films are usually indicative of where the rest of the film will take us. In this case there is no exceptions. It starts out in a minimalist style. There is no opening credits to the actors or filmmakers, simply a seven letter word in the bottom left hand corner that expresses the essence of the film. In this case it is the trafficking of drugs in America that is being explored. Steven Soderbergh endeavours to orchestrate several distinct interweaving story lines that convey the enormity of the drug trade and it's effects on all those from the bottom to the top of the supply chain. He uses a pastiche of styles and techniques to convey the otherwise confusing narrative and as a result reveals it's themes and perspective.

The most obvious example of how Soderbergh achieves this is through different coloured filters and lights he applies to various scenes. He does this to help separate the stories and to immediately locate and familiarize ourselves with whose sto...