Media Literacy
Analyzing a Movie Review. Colombia, Hernando Téllez’s country of origin, is currently fighting a war on drugs with the help of the United States, which wants to end the production of cocaine in that country. Read the Chicago Sun-Times movie review of Traffic, a movie that came out in 2001. Then answer the following questions. What conclusions does Roger Ebert draw about the U.S. drug problem as it is represented in the film? Why did the British production Traffik, on which Traffic, is based, focus on the production of heroin in Turkey rather than cocaine in South America? Based on the background information given in the review, what prediction can you make about why Wakefield (played by Michael Douglas), who plays the new U.S. drug czar, changes his attitude about the U.S. war on drugs?
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