'Traffic' dominates second day of Berlinale

BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- An Oscar contender, "Traffic," staring Michael Douglas and his new wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, was set to dominate the second day of the Berlin Film festival on Thursday.

The Golden Bear for which films at the Berlin Festival such as "Traffic" are competing

Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic" depicts Washington's losing battle against the drugs trade and is an early favourite in the competition.

The 12 days of stars and producers pushing new films began with a gala screening of "Enemy at the Gates," which left many viewers and critics disappointed.

The German-made multinational film depicted Britain's Jude Law and American Ed Harris as duelling Russian and German snipers in the World War II battle of Stalingrad.

Viewers and critics said they had expected better and could not understand how a widely reported budget of $80 million was needed to make the film. "This is a film where you have the feeling you have seen it all before," said Berlin's Tageszeitung.

Other films to be premiered on Thursday are the Italian-French co-production "Le Fate Ignoranti," about a widow who discovers that her husband had a long time homosexual affair, and "La Cienaga" ("The Swamp"), a family drama set in a region of swampy forest.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Berlin film festival opens with war
February 7, 2001

Berlinale

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