GETTING IT STRAIGHT IN 'TRAFFIC'

Steven Soderbergh's ''Traffic,'' a harsh and artistic indictment of
America's ''drug war,'' arrives on a wave of extravagant praise. The
film is generating considerable buzz as an Academy Award contender,
its chief selling point being its somber, documentary-like take on
the nation's drug problem. But just how realistic are the movie's
three interlocking narratives, meant to show the entire pyramid of
the drug trade, from street-level cop to White House drug czar?

The short answer is: very, but with a few of the usual missteps that
Hollywood imposes to punch up the drama. In fact, one can argue that
''Traffic'' is the most realistic depiction of the drug ''issue''
ever put on film.

The movie can be seen as an almost by-the-numbers attempt to get in
as many drug policy arguments, drug trade archetypes, and obscure
drug world references as possible. One can envision the script
conference: Let's refer to Pablo Escobar, the dead Medellin cartel
drug lord, here. How 'bout a trip to EPIC, the El Paso Intelligence
Center, here? A reference to asset forfeiture? A citation of Illinois
vs. Gates?

To give the film its due, all this scrupulous verisimilitude does add
gravitas. ''Traffic'' is extremely good at capturing the look and
feel of the drug war. Everything, from the US Drug Enforcement
Administration raid jackets and badges to the padding inside the
surveillance vans, looks right. A Georgetown cocktail party is full
of real politicos spouting canned statements, suitable for sound
bite, on drug policy.

Some touches will be recognized only by aficionados of the deepest
sort of drug lore: A shot of cocaine being unloaded from a plane is
uncannily composed to virtually match the famous CIA-snapped
photograph of DEA informant Barry Seal unloading drugs in Nicaragua
in 1984 in what was probably the most important sting in DEA history
- - the first case against Colombia's Medellin cartel.

Overall, how does ''Traffic'' stand up to the historical record?
Here's a quick score card. (Caution: For those who haven't seen the
movie, a few spoilers await.) First, a few points of agreement:

Hollywood: One of the story lines turns on the actions of a corrupt
Mexican army general who is pursuing the Tijuana cartel at the same
time that he is in the pocket of the Juarez cartel.

Reality: In the early 1990s in Colombia, some officials of that
country's government aligned with the Cali cartel in a war against
the Medellin cartel.

Hollywood: The head of the Juarez cartel is reported to have died on
the operating table during plastic surgery to change his face. But he
survives.

Reality: A Mexican cartel leader is reported to have died on the
operating table during plastic surgery to change his face. He stays
dead. The doctors responsible are tortured and killed.

Hollywood: Mexican drug law enforcement is shown to be riddled with corruption.

Reality: Ahem.

Hollywood: A key government informant is murdered just before he is
to testify against a cartel boss.

Reality: Seal, the DEA informant, was murdered in Baton Rouge, La.,
in 1986, just before he was to testify against a series of cartel
employees.

Hollywood: General Arturo Salazar, America's ally against drug
traffickers, is actually protecting the traffickers.

Reality: Remember General Manuel Antonio Noriega?

Hollywood: When a cartel boss is arrested, his wife takes over the
family business and proves to be as ruthless as her husband.

Reality: Griselda Blanco, known as the ''Black Widow,'' ran a
smuggling ring, employing her three sons, and was as ruthless as any
man.

Now, some quibbles:

Hollywood: When a cartel drug distributor (played by Steven Bauer) is
arrested in Los Angeles, his wife (played by Catherine Zeta-Jones) is
shocked to learn how he made the money that gave them such a lavish
lifestyle.

Reality: Oh, please.

Hollywood: The White House drug czar (Michael Douglas) is portrayed
as the commander of the nation's drug war, able to veto the budgets
of other federal agencies and make the DEA and the US Customs Service
cower.

Reality: The drug czar is a largely ceremonial figure who does not
directly control agency budgets and has no operational role in the
drug war.

Hollywood: The informant against an LA cartel boss is a sad sack who
is berated, humiliated, and treated shabbily by his DEA handlers in
the days leading up to his testimony. He is housed in a fleabag hotel
under lax security.

Reality: The real drug war is run through informants, and top-level
ones are treated like kings, at least before they testify.

Hollywood: The security is so lax around the courthouse that a cartel
assassin can plant a car bomb without being seen.

Reality: Courthouses in major cities have secure, guarded parking
lots for government vehicles.

Hollywood: The drug czar makes a speech with the following sentence:
''The war on drugs is a war that we have to win and a war we can
win.''

Reality: Outgoing US drug czar Barry McCaffrey, in his final report
to the country: ''The metaphor of a `war on drugs' is misleading.
Although wars are expected to end, drug education - like all
schooling - is a continuous process. The moment we believe ourselves
victorious and drop our guard, drug abuse will resurface in the next
generation.''

Hollywood: The drug war is portrayed as a miserable failure, with
drug traffic an unstoppable flood destroying America's teens.

Reality: Overall drug use has declined 50 percent in the United
States since its peak in 1979.