For much of the movie, Robert Wakefield is the main antagonist. Wakefield represents the American government's complicity in perpetuating an outmoded political policy. Thus, Traffic portrays the American government's War on Drugs as being antithetical to American values. Wakefield is initially blind to his daughter's plight, and is depicted as being too career-driven and closed-minded to notice that the War on Drugs is a war on his family and his country. However, Wakefield does wake up. At the end of the movie he perceives the connection between his actions as Drug Czar and the supply chain his daughter has access to. Wakefield's awakening is Soderbergh's call to America to end the War on Drugs policy. Traffic ends on a note of optimism while also leaving the War on Drugs unresolved. Soderbergh seems aware that United States drug policy will not change any time soon. The film also offers a scathing critique of the way foreign governments become entangled with organized crime: to the point where the two become indistinguishable as with Salazar and the Obregon brothers. Soderbergh does not venture a suggestion on how to tackle Mexico's problems. However, the filmmaker does strongly imply that government officials in the United States become more aware of the ramifications of the War on Drugs. If politicians and policy makers act as Wakefield does at the end of Traffic, then it might be possible to change policy toward a more meaningful eradication of organized crime. The current policies create a lucrative black market economy that is especially seductive in poor countries like Mexico. Income disparity and the lack of upward social mobility entices poor people to become involved in the drug trade, just as street-level traders in American urban gangs are drawn to drug trading too. Decriminalization of drugs...
However, Traffic does show that the War on Drugs is a failed policy. Addiction is treated with care in the movie, shown to be something that does not just affect inner city youth and minorities but also wealthy white people. Moreover, addiction occurs in spite of the prohibition on drugs. The legal status of a substance does not make it any less accessible, and as Cafferty points out, drugs are overwhelmingly accessible despite their illegality. Alcohol abuse is a serious problem in the United States, too, but the prohibition on alcohol was a proven failure.
There is a direct correlation with, say, Henry Hill's cocaine abuse and the increasingly rapid cuts between shots. Faster-paced narrative parallels quicker-moving shots. When viewers finally see the film in the theater, the finished product reads like a cohesive narrative when in fact the filmmakers strung together disparate shots and cuts and combined them later after thousands of hours of painstaking labor. Analyzing a movie must therefore include respect
Wakefield's daughter becomes a powerful character in the film because she proves to her father that the war on drugs fails to address the root cause of addiction. Traffic therefore addresses several separate but interrelated issues: addiction, organized crime, law enforcement and legislation. Addiction is a fact of life; human beings become hooked on any number of legal and illegal substances. Banning drugs is no way to combat addiction. Therefore,
Government The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act Final Project / Dissertation Degree: Juris Doctorate Specialized Major: Specialization: Constitutional Law Full Address: The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act This paper reviews the rights and protection that a state and federal government official provides to citizens that have been the subject of human trafficking crimes. Citizens need the protection of the police and other law enforcement officials to report human trafficking crimes and to protect and assist those that need
From this came our insistence on the drama of the doorstep" (cited by Hardy 14-15). Grierson also notes that the early documentary filmmakers were concerned about the way the world was going and wanted to use all the tools at hand to push the public towards greater civic participation. With the success of Drifters, Grierson was able to further his ideas, but rather than directing other films, he devoted his time
The new law has prosecuted 426 traffickers in 203 cases. These traffickers had 844 victims in that year alone. This law imposes penalties from 10 years imprisonment to life imprisonment (Kyodo). Myanmar: Effective or Not? The capacity of the national government in fighting the problem of human trafficking has been limited (UNODC 2007). It is particularly limited in implementing policy changes in remote areas where traffickers operate. Anti-trafficking groups are looking
Moon stated that since the Crawfords entered her life, "I have realized that I have value and worth. And now that I know God, I can always pray for his help whenever I have a problem." The Crawfords are among a growing number of Christians worldwide working to live out the love of Jesus by reaching out to sexually exploited people. The Crawfords decided to move to Thailand after
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