Traffic (2000)

The drug trade from three directions: a Tijuana cop caught in a cartel feud, a conservative Ohio judge appointed the President's drug czar, and a San Diego wife who learns what her husband really does for a living. Steven Soderbergh shot it himself and gave each thread its own look, Mexico bleached through tobacco filters, Ohio and Washington a cold blue, so you always know where you are. Benicio del Toro won the Oscar for a performance given mostly in Spanish, and Soderbergh took Best Director in a year he was also nominated for Erin Brockovich. It is the year's sharpest American ensemble drama.