This one drops squarely into the food-for-thought and the deep-and-meaningful baskets.

Cinematic style is different in just about every way - from apparently disjointed storyline (although all paths are interlinked in some small way) to bleached and even sepia-toned celluloid.

Neither of these things were, however, distracting or annoying. They brought a freshness to the story telling.

The storyline itself, however, is not your typical Hollywood fare. It is a dark, thought provoking look at a dark, thought provoking subject - drugs - examined from ever angle. From the dark, seedy side of the drug production cartels of Mexico to the affluent living rooms of suburban America where America's rich kids spend daddy's money to buy the myriad chemical products available on the streets.

With so many disparate characters followed on their various journeys through more than two and a half hours, I have not the space here to go into to much detail. It is however a none to optimistic look at the "war on drugs".

There is no fairytale or even Hollywood ending. Traffic is the type of movie that affects your mind for some time. Why do we bash our heads against a brick wall trying to push back the tide of the drugs scourge? Why can't we do more to stop the international flow of drugs? Why do we let our kids become exposed to the terror? Is it really a futile exercise? Are we wasting our time?