Around five years ago, a friend of mine and I had the opportunity to meet director Steven Soderbergh at VSDA (that's an annual convention held by the video industry). He was there supporting a video release called Schizopolis. To my surprise, there weren't a tremendous amount of people in line to talk to him. I mean this is the guy that made Sex, Lies, and Videotape. Anyway, we got to talk to him for quite a while. We told him how much we enjoyed Kafka and King of the Hill and how we couldn't believe they weren't bigger hits. A few years later, Soderbergh would go on to make the masterful Out of Sight and the entertaining The Limey. Although both were well received, neither were able to find a big audience. Earlier this year, he hit the big time with Erin Brockovich, and although it saddens me that it took a big star like Julia Roberts to make people realize Soderbergh's true genius, at least he now gets the recognition he deserves. As good as Brochovich was, however, it pales compared to his brilliant new picture, the blazing and ambitious drug-war epic, Traffic.

Traffic is actually four intriguing stories woven together in a fashion that would make Robert Altman proud. Michael Douglas soars as a federally appointed director of a narcotic task force. He has much more insight into the world of drugs than most of his peers know as his sixteen year old daughter has become an addict. Catherine Zeta-Jones plays a pregnant woman who finds her life turned upside down when authorities take her husband from their home and book him on drug charges. The wonderfully funny team of Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman are cops who are ordered to keep an eye on a dope dealing middle man who has ties to a major drug cartel. The fourth and most interesting of the stories deals with Benecio Del Toro as a Tijuana cop who finds himself knee deep in a drug war that's battle lines are blurry, and that he finds he can't escape.

Traffic is full of rich performances. Michael Douglas (in a role that almost went to Harrison Ford) is fantastic as a man that must balance the hardships of his profession and his family life. Cheadle and Guzman play off each other beautifully as they engage in terrific wordplay. And while not the personification of spectacular acting, Catherine Zeta-Jones does keep herself afloat in what is easily her strongest work. Erika Christensen is beautifully understated as Douglas' daughter, a smart teenager desperately searching for self worth. But the film really belongs to Del Toro who plays his role with sympathy and smarts that add up to one of the strongest performances of the year.

Obiviously, Traffic is an incredibly ambitious film. It's also restrained and full of unexpected surprises. Traffic is not a film that offers easy to find solutions, but it does present a very serious problem with unflinching honesty. In that respect, it serves as a great companion piece to Requiem For a Dream, another brilliant film about the world of drugs. Requiem is certainly more personalized, with a darker edge--where Traffic is a grand epic in the tradition of The Godfather and Goodfellas. Both films are very high among the best of the year and and depict the subject matter in equally effective ways.

Soderbergh has created what could very well be the film of his career. He directs with a ferocious energy and never once did I want this fabulous film to end. I was riveted every step of the way. Although the screenplay has heavyhanded moments, Soderbergh and his cast of extraordinary actors manage to make Traffic one of the best films of the year. Few films in 2000 have managed to reach the scope or dramatic depth of this breathtaking epic.

Traffic is a milestone of a film. It is both art and commercial entertainment and deftly shows the almost unwinnable war that we have waged against drugs. And although we seem to be quite a distance from a resolution, the fight continues.

Leave it to Steven Soderbergh to dazzle us with true craftsmanship. Finally, this guy will be noticed by mass audiences, and not with one but two incredible films in the same year. Who knows. He may even be nominated for an Oscar twice in the same category. That would certainly cap off a career making year.