Traffik - Miniseries Reviews

• Far outshines the film

  
  By A29IYGR7SNPRIV on 2001-06-09
  Traffik is one of the most memorable viewing experiences I've ever had. Not only does it give a very clear view of the economic necessity that is the driving force in the lives of the people who cultivate the poppy fields, but it also gives sharply focused insights into how ill-informed politicians make hay on a hot-potato issue. It's only when the effects of drug abuse come home--to Bill Paterson, the splendid Scottish actor who plays a member of parliament whose daughter falls victim to addiction, and to Lindsay Duncan, the wife of the importer--that we see the lengths people will go to, for all sorts of reasons, to engage in the traffic, going one way or the other. Duncan is extraordinary in this series; her transformation from innocent wife to determined conspirator is stunning. This, the original Traffik, makes the film version look small and choppy and incoherent. Benicio Del Toro's performance in the film is, without doubt, a fine one. But when it takes a viewer at least half the movie to figure out who the good and bad guys are, you've wasted a lot of time. Traffik doesn't waste a single frame. It's a breathtaking ride from start to finish and leaves the film version in the dust.

  If you saw the movie and thought it was okay, see the TV series and you'll see something great. Years after the fact, there are scenes in the mini-series that will come back to haunt you. This is a profoundly affecting, deeply compelling drama.
  
  

• A fabulous mini-series

  
  By AE8RQHFMSLN0D on 2001-08-16
  I watched the BBC original miniseries of Traffik (on 2 DVD discs) more out of curiosity than out of interest, as I didn't like the American film "Traffic." But as I got into the 6-part miniseries, I found myself really liking it a lot.

  The American Traffic (with a "c" not a "k") is like the filmization of a high school debate on the topic "Resolved: All drugs should be legalized." There's a lot of debate-talk in the film itself, at a very sub-sophomoric level. At the end, you're left with a choice: either legalize drugs or don't. But the movie doesn't address the choice; it simply presents both sides. And like in a high school debate, you wind up criticizing the debators rather than debating the issues.

  Traffik is very different. There's very little unnecessary talk or theorizing in it. The foreign country is Pakistan, not Mexico, and you don't have to see it as if you're wearing very heavy yellow sunglasses. The result is more nitty-gritty than Mexico, and also something that, for all its strangeness, is more empathetic than Mexico. It is a slice-of-life film, like the American offshoot, but the parts are presented more in story form than in debate form. We have the same father, who is a high-level drug enforcement bureaucrat, with the same daughter who is on drugs (except the British version of her shooting up is more detailed and graphic). And at the end, there is the same speech by the drug official, or almost the same. But the payoff is entirely different. In Traffic, the speech was like a summation of the debate, leaving you with a stark choice. But in Traffik, the speech is a new synthesis -- or at least, it seems new in its context. What we hear is not both sides of the story, nor a summation, but rather we hear the core thinking of the drug-enforcement program, and we realize that that core thinking itself is fundamentally incoherent.

  If you liked Traffic, you'll love Traffik. If you didn't like Traffic, you might like (but perhaps not love) Traffik a lot.

  -- Tony D'Amato
  
  

• Region 1 release = 3 stars. Region 2 release = 5 stars.

  
  By A1DI5UDJ11N3TB on 2004-04-15
  Nothing much to add, apart from saying that the region 2 release has been superbly produced, so if you want to avoid the poor US market adaptation and have a multi region player, purchase the region 2 version from Amazon UK.

  It was really dumb to change the original subtitling to dubbing.

  If you can take it raw, watch Traffik. If you can't, watch the movie.
  
  

• DVD is unwatchable

  
  By on 2004-01-11
  I'm strongly in the minority here, and I desperately wanted to share in the celebration of this series, but, as one or two other reviewers have noted here, the horrendous quality of the transfer and the almost comically bad dubbing stopped me from getting through the first hour.

  The opening sequences in Germany had me checking to see if I had the right DVD in the player. I felt like I was watching a C-grade German action flick from the '70s (if there ever was such thing!). Follow that up with Pakistani farmers speaking in borderline Apu Nahasapemapetalan (the Kwikee Mart owner from The Simpsons) -esque accents and I just couldn't take it.

  I'm holding out hope that one day they issue a DVD of the "original" version that another reviewer mentioned, where the dialogue is subtitled as it should be.

  As I said, most people won't care a lick about this kind of thing, but if dubbing and poor print quality bug you, stay away!
  
  

• Better than the American production with a similar title.

  
  By AJYGQV81FSFE2 on 2003-01-24
  For those skeptical, like me, of America's "war on drugs," I have recommended the US version of this story. It's depressing--portraying the futility of this so-called war--but that only gets those down who insist that a film needs to be "feel good." Depression can sometimes be enlightening.

  Then I had the opportunity to see this British production. Truth be told, I'm now disappointed in the American version. It's theme-by-theme plagiarism of the British version. From the government bigwig's daughter toying with drugs to the arrest of the one capitalizing off drugs, to the drug agent being killed while his partner looks on helplessly. And it's typically Hollywood, i.e., more glamorous, like Michael Douglas and his wife playing lead rolls.

  The English production is a series, therefore longer than the American. It takes around six hours to watch both DVDs. But it's more down to earth. Sure, the character is a British drug czar, so he's got a lot of personal prestige to lose by finding that his daughter is a junkie. But instead of covering the coke trade in Mexico as the American version did, it exposed much about the heroin trade and its relationship to Pakistan. While both versions covered the government indifference and/or corruption that promotes the drug trade--despite violent rhetoric denying that--this version did a far better job of demonstrating the economic conditions over which the Pakistani farmer has essentially no control, that forces him to cultivate the opium. The "deeply religious" and absolutely ruthless Pakistani drug lord employs the farmer who lost his land when the opium was burned out by the government's anti-drug policy. While the poor farmer seemed to be on the up-and-up for a while, the lord's bottom line was absolute loyalty. When the farmer was reluctant to kill one of the lord's enemies, he was framed and ended up behind bars.

  In fact, among the few criticisms I have of the script is that the farmer was able to pump some of the heroin into the lord before the show was over. I doubt that possibility, or at least his escape after he'd done it. But for dramatic effect, I can tolerate it.

  Another criticism I have was somewhat alleviated by the lead character's reading on heroin addiction in the first episode: I object to the portrayal of the nearly absolute control of our lives that drugs have over the characters who use them. That's rhetoric into which scam "treatment" programs buy, but few drug users will attest to such lack of control. It may have been used, again, for dramatic effect. But there are social and economic drives that are far more the cause of drug use than other "disease" models. And the script wisely also covered cultural reasons for the opium trade, the hill people a bit too rugged even for the British to conquer during their Raj over South Asia.

  Perhaps the key line of the film occurs near the end. When the English drug czar is speaking publicly, he points out that all the fierce rhetoric in the world won't do as much to impede drug use as will the work necessary to make a better society. If I didn't think the series was a gem all the way through, that line would have made the series worthwhile.

  At this point, I don't discourage people from seeing the American "Traffic." But I prefer the original, English series. It's more realistic, and is clearer on some key points.
  
  

• A major TV achievement. It bites.
  By A27CFNHYZG6WS8 on 2001-06-21
  In the Britain of Thatcher's 80s, almost all political dissent seemed to be wiped out. It was almost like an Eastern Bloc dictatorship, where any opposition had to be covertly disguised as something else. So while 'Traffik' 'pretends' to be about drugs - and is fantastically detailed and informative about the history, science, practice and effect of the problem - it is really about the decline of Britain, its Imperial hubris come home to haunt the centre (besides a shabbily bleak Britain, the series is set in Germany and Pakistan, two countries who played their part in dismantling British power in the 20th century). It is a film about Thatcher, in the person of a Tory minister who journeys into the heart of darkness and discovers the mendacious, dangerous worthlessness of his ideals, in particular a free market ideology that only encourages, even legitimises drug barons.

  'Traffik' is imbued with a searing anger, political nous and analytic rigor obviously absent from its remake. I raved about that film when it came out, and I still think it is a masterpiece because of Soderbergh, but if I had seen this first I would have tempered my praise. Not only is story and acting more convincing, but 'Traffik' has a visual intelligence rare on television, achieving unobtrusive but complex effects that 'comment' on the verbal, factual overload.
  
  

• From a time when C4 produced quality television...
  By A1JRKB4URAJJ2X on 2004-04-22
  "Traffik" written by Simon Moore and directed by Alastair Reid is a milestone in recent British television history. It is a beautifully crafted and terrifying vision of the international drugs trade and the effect this trade has on different individuals. It destroys the myth from a Western European viewpoint that heroin begins and ends its life in areas of urban decay and dislocation and gives us an unemotional snapshot of the whole process of its production.
  Steven Soderbergh's US adaptation was always going to fail to reach the heights of its British counterpart (although it was a highly worthy effort), and an issue and narrative of this scale needed six hours (at least) to give it gravitas. Each character in "Traffik" is well developed and expertly played: Bill Patterson's Jack Lithgow, the stubborn drugs czar who fails to comprehend the problem he is tasked with solving while simultaneously watching his college educated daughter (Julia Ormond) slip further into heroin addiction; Lindsay Duncan as a drug importer's wife who plays the Lady Macbeth role much more effectively than Catherine Zeta Jones in "Traffic"; Jamal Shah as Fazal, opium farmer turned heroin producer and the closest thing the audience has to having it's conscience openly voiced; Fritz Muller Scherz's single minded Hamburg cop, out to bust the suppliers and dealers no matter what the cost.
  One of the main strengths of this mini series is that in never uses too many quick emotional taglines. The viewer is sucked into the storyline of each character and is constantly forced to re-assess their previous assumptions. Fazal is a particularly good example of this. By the final episode we finally see Moore and Reid create some brilliantly gut wrenching moments: Fazal's vengeance for his wife's death against his drug lord patron (Tallat Hussain) via a heroin filled syringe and Jack's final fall and redemption give the series a depth the US version could only aspire to.
  The other strengths of the series are too numerous to mention. Aside from the main characters there is excellent support from Linda Bassett, George Kukura, Tilo Pruckner and for my money, Ronan Vibert as Caroline's (Julia Ormaond) drug supplier, Lee.
  On the technical front, scenes in Hamburg and London are filtered in a cold cyan while those in Pakistan are given a warm ochre only helping to underline the claustrophobia of the slums and mansions of Karachi and the general corruption that permeates them. Add to this a brilliantly evocative soundtrack you have one of the best drama series to be produced in Britain in many years.
  
  
• Definitely better than the Hollywood production
  By A2ZGG9IHML9PKR on 2004-07-04
  I was one of the few people in the world who watched this mini-series before the Hollywood production. I must admit the Hollywood version was excellent as well, considering the fact that it didn't have time to build up on characters. This miniseries is one of the most gripping and well-made productions ever. Although it is six hours long, you don't feel that it is and don't even remember looking at the clock while watching it. The lengths at which the production team has gone through to make sure everything looks authentic is admirable. This mini-series was filmed at a time when Pakistan was struggling with its poppy production. I'm glad to say that Pakistan has successfully rooted out the poppy cultivation within its borders, thanks to efforts made by this movie and the like. However, Afghanistan has more than made up for the loss.
  Overall, an excellent movie, except for a few overdone scenes, especially the last dramatic climactic scene.
  
  
• smarter than the movie...
  By A24DRX7WM1VA2L on 2001-07-04
  Admittedly, this entire review will be a comparison between the miniseries and the movie (which most people looking to buy the miniseries have probably already seen).

  In terms of its cinematography and visual language, the movie is clearly better. Despite Amazon's review, I still thought the acting was better in the Hollywood version, that the miniseries had the production values of your typical middle-brow BBC miniseries.

  That being said, the miniseries is far superior in terms of its overall vision and story. Soderbergh inevitably had to cut some things here and there to edit the story down to three hours, but the result is a somewhat less nuanced take on the drug war. For instance, both highlight the futility of supply-side-only approach to the drug war, that treatment and other demand-side approaches are necessary. But the miniseries has a much more accurate depiction of the tedium and frustration that's involved with the international politics of the war on drugs, rather than those 80's war on Columbian cartels movies, where the solution was to send a crack team of CIA agents into the jungle and kill all the bad guys. (Admittedly, this is probably more understandable to an American audience than the negotiating of a foreign aid deal.)

  The miniseries also carefully focuses on the economic implications of the drug trade and the role of the crushing poverty in the countryside of Pakistan and a corrupt government. Who is the good guy: the local government that refuses to build roads and schools or the opium trade, which provide the people a means of sustenance on otherwise unarable land? Not like the cartels are angels, either. The heads of the cartels are protected by their bribes while it's the poor workers from the countryside who are pinned as the fall guy when the government makes the sporadic crackdown. Indeed, the greater tragedy of drugs isn't the tony prep-school girl hooked on smack, but rather how economic inequality leads to this kind of systematic exploitation.

  Soderberg seems to underestimate his American audience's capacity for nuance and ambiguity, replacing this entire plotline with some hackneyed plot of warring cartels. Indeed, one of the more frustrating things about the movie was how Soderberg thought it was necessary to spell out his point in flashing neon lights. For instance, when that mid-level drug dealer seems to quote the policy paper from some left-wing think tank about how "you can stop me, but you can't stop all of us" or when Michael Douglas's character is wandering through the slums of Cincinnati with a prep-school addict who so eloquently expounds on inner-city poverty, this is simply unrealistic dialogue.

  (This underestimation of American audiences is probably justified.)

  Despite the fact that the movie lifts so many of its scenes from the mini-series, I still highly recommend people who have seen the movie to see this mini-series. It really is a significantly more intelligent and detailed look at the the so-called war on drugs.
  
  

• Traffik or Traffic
  By A2BWUGKONFU76D on 2002-01-23
  I am a Los Angeles writer and filmmaker that was eager to see the style and magnitude of Traffic when it was released. I found it tragic, powerful and well made with reservations toward the characterization of Michael Douglas and Julia Ormond. I was completely unaware of Traffik. Sometime later Traffik was released (or re-released) on PBS and I sat amazed at the identical plots and characters except I knew I was watching the original and so far superior I was astonished that Traffic dared show its face. On the night of the Academy awards all from Traffic received their awards lauding one another and not a mention of the creative source from which they had drawn...and quartered.
  
  
• Absolutely brilliant!
  By A1RPTVW5VEOSI on 2001-08-20
  If you haven't seen this stunning British miniseries, but you have seen the Soderburgh ripoff- well, you're in for a treat. Ten years ago this show stunned viewers around the globe with its dramatic and in-depth portrayal of the world of heroin. I managed to catch it on my local PBS outlet, and was absolutely knocked out by the quality of the writing, the acting and the production in general. There were none of the cheap platitudes or easy answers of the Soderburgh film, nor where there any easy villains to blame. The producers of "Traffik" manage to convey the complexity and the difficulty of the worldwide trade in heroin without ever resorting to cliches or pat answers.

  "Traffik" is perhaps one of the best ten mniniseries ever made in any country on any topic. Six stars.
  
  

• Superior production
  By A2SD5I2TMFKX6S on 2001-06-08
  This series was shown on PBS roughly ten years ago. It was good then, but seemed even better now when I saw it re-run fairly recently. The process by which heroin is cultivated, brokered, shipped then sold is shown in a well-coordinated, entirely realistic way which compliments the excellent acting and sense of atmosphere created, especially in the Hamburg sequences. Bill Paterson is effective as the politician who has lost emotional contact with his family, his daughter in particular. His eye-opening trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan where poppy-growing is a way of life and difficult, perhaps wrong, and certainly impossible to completely eradicate is one of the best parts. I'm sure the recent re-make is quite good, but not better than the original.
  
  
• BEWARE: Dubbed audio track!
  By A1TS2BV76QPZ8U on 2002-03-09
  This is specifically a review of the DVD of a British TV Miniseries which I otherwise adore.

  I was deeply disappointed to find that the Acorn Media DVD does not contain the original soundtrack and subtitles. The mixture of English, Urdu, and German of the original was particularly realistic and added a lot to the drama. The occasional subtitles, only when it was absolutely necessary to carry on the story line, immersed the viewer in much of the same environment you feel when you travel, and let you concentrate on the emotion of the dialog rather than the words. In short, if you liked that about the original broadcast, you're sure to miss it in this version.

  The sad thing is that DVD technology would have allowed the inclusion of BOTH soundtracks, the original for purists, including those who saw this on television and fell in love with it just the way it was, and the dubbed for the subtitle-phobic.

  Acorn's U.S. DVD is a Travesty of TRAFFIK, which otherwise deserves five stars. I'll be looking out for a European version of this, with the hope that they wouldn't dare dub it.
  
  

• Dubbed in English??
  By A10T4CU2P73FHU on 2001-07-03
  I loved Traffik when I saw it on Masterpiece Theater and I knew I wanted it for my permanent collection. Predicably, it's the same program (actually with a few minutes extra), with the high-quality picture and sound of a DVD.

  I was a bit disappointed, however, that the entire first episode was dubbed in English, with no optional audio channel with the original dialogue. On TV the two German narcotics cops spoke German with English subtitles. It was more real, and that was the version I was accustomed to. The latter episodes on the DVD were OK (They spoke German with subtitles).
  
  

• A truly great miniseries gets less than great DVD treatment.
  By ADQ5VQW35OXV1 on 2002-03-14
  "Traffik" is one of those pinnacles of television. An amazing production, it spans England, Germany & Pakistan giving each location a visual flair. Those hot for good cinematography will see some of the best ever done for television. The opening drug deal has a terrific dolly-pan that adds great atmosphere to the claustrophobic location. In other areas, the long lens is employed, compressing space for outstanding visual effect. And when we see a figure moving through the opium poppy fields, the action is slowed down slightly, giving it an other-worldly feeling.

  Great writing & acting go hand in hand. Kudos to all the principle actors in this drama. Of course, having 5 hours to flesh out the story helps. For those unfamiliar with "Traffik", do not let the long running time intimidate you. It goes by quickly. And the set up on the DVD makes it very easy to watch a chapter at at time (there are six).

  What keeps this DVD from getting five stars is the poor transfer, which is especially noted in the first chapter. There is quite a bit of film grunge going by in some scenes. The image is very flat, obviously not a transfer from a new print. Also - as noted by a few other reviewers - the dubbing here is very scattershot. While the various languages were subtitled in the original 1989 production, most of the dialogue is dubbed here. It would have been better, given the multiple language options available on most DVDs, that they offered the original subtitling.

  But keep in mind, as you watch the production, it is easy to overlook the DVD faults when you realize the writing, direction, and acting make this a peerless program.
  
  

• Five Star, Fabulous Film. (Should have rated it 5 Stars).
  By AVVEJC75BWYD1 on 2004-03-09
  I viewed this Series on my local Public Television station some years ago, soon after it came out, as Part of the "Masterpiece Theatre" series. And it was AWESOME:
  
  1. The story line and the cinematography is Magnificent.
  
  2. Alastair Cooke, as the (former) host of "Masterpiece
  Theatre" was second-to-none for giving you Riveting
  background/introduction information to the film you
  are about to see.
  
  However -
  
  1. on the DVD (and VCR Tape, I am sure) - you unfortunately do
  not have the wonderful luxury of Alastair Cooke's erudite
  company.
  
  And -
  
  2. A couple scenes early on with the two German detectives are dubbed.
  Exremely annoying - as you miss out on a more accurate translation of
  what is really being said - and you miss out on the clever humour
  going on between the two. (These scenes were in German with
  English subtitles during the PBS broadcast).
  
  
  However...do not hesitate to buy the DVD/Tape anyway. It is Outstanding!
  
  
• The Absolute Best
  By A2S70VL252M8M1 on 2005-05-31
  I originally saw this on Masterpiece Theater in 1990 and was blown away at the quality of this film. I can't say enough positives. I waited so many years until this was finally released on DVD. Anyone who has seen the American film "Traffic" should see this. No comparison.
  
  
• Outstanding and thought-provoking
  By on 2001-06-26
  I saw this when it first aired on PBS and have never forgotten it. It is a devastating look at the realities of the drug war and it's as moving as it is riveting. I enjoyed the new remake but it irritated me that the original was hardly ever mentioned or credited by those who remade it. The original is not only superior to the new one, it is one of the most fascinating programs I've ever seen on television.
  
  
• Gripping, Must Watch Viewing
  By AW3VZ5O895LRK on 2002-05-08
  We watched this over 3 nights on dvd and just loved it. I have never found myself liking a film and the tv series it was based upon equally but am in that situation here. I loved the American remake film of this series every bit as much as the series. They are alike yet they are also different. Perhaps the hugest difference is that the USA one involves a south of the border storyline where the Hispanic world is the major influence on our drug trade. However, evidently the British drug problem flows from the Middle East and is played across the European stage. Thus, we spend a great deal of time in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Germany in the UK series. Because the Hispanic culture is radically different from these others, that is a huge difference between the two and makes both well worth watching. Benicio del Toro was thus able to make a contribution to the American Traffic as the Hispanic cop that was so riveting. The rest of the plotline is virtually identical but Bill Patterson is so different from Michael Douglas and Lindsey Duncan so different from Catherine Zeta-Jones that you really understand how a change of actor can totally transform a role. They are all equally as good but all equally different. Julia Ormond is excellent as the druggie daughter in this version but Erika Christensen was positively other worldly in her interpretation of the role and I must give her the edge. I reached the same conclusion after seeing both works: we might as well legalize drugs as the only way of stopping this crime-war. It is as big a losing battle as Prohibition was with alcohol.
  
  
• The ORIGINAL "Traffic"!
  By A1U1Q7ROR7FYZF on 2002-01-28
  I can't believe HOLLYWOOD has made another knock-off and claimed it as their own, AND gotten away with it. If you liked the Hollywood knock-off, you'll LOVE the original "TRAFFIK". I saw it in a three part series on PBS in the '80's, I think it was a BBC production. It is exactly the same as the Hollywood production, except that it takes place in Europe, and it is the young daughter of the chief of the interpol, in England, with the addiction problem, and focuses on the opium farmers in Pakistan and the corrupt government there and the dealers in Amsterdam. It shows many perspectives of the drug problem, and gives an interesting insight to the viewer. Also I thought the drug problems, especially in Europe, were much more of an issue in the '80's so the film was released at a better time. I watched the Hollywood "Traffic" after hearing all the hype, and was EXTREMELY disappointed after seeing the original. I highly recommend the ORIGINAL.
  
  
• POPPIES! Poppies!
  By A3I7EHVQ4AAKFV on 2001-06-12
  Traffik is intense, dramatic and depicts the world (from Asia to the U.K.) of the heroine trade. All the hype behind the movie barely alluded to this brilliant miniseries. With this rerelease, let's hope that the record is set right. Buy it, or rent it. I am sure the movie is great, but the Brits really captured the characters and sense of place to propel the compelling stories of poppy farmers, traders, dealers, users and cops --and everyone else involved in the heroine business.
  
  
• On my list of 200 top favorites of all time
  By A32QD896PA5VX1 on 2003-07-13
  I couldn't take my eyes off of the screen, from the start to finish of this mini-series. What makes it exceptional goes far beyond the compelling drama, tight sequencing and convincing acting, and would take longer to fully explain than you and I have time to explore, but bear with me. The mini-series takes us to several corners of the world to illustrate components of the heroin supply/demand chain, key players involved in each, who wins and loses and just by how grievously much. The mini-series shuns simplistic thinking or pat answers in favor of focusing on the depth of the problem, so that we can infer the depth that any solution must provide. The mini-series does not blame any 1 party involved, but rather, shows how naturally occurring human needs and weaknesses are exploited so that the few may win big while the masses in both developed and developing countries are left in grief and disbelief.

  See this mini-series because you are a citizen of the world in which this scenario, with its high stakes for us all, plays daily. See it, too, because the excellent research and preparation behind it warrant recognition. Don't be satisfied with the "Traffic" movie, which was very good, but too highly condensed.
  
  

• wooh - eyeopening and unforgettable
  By AXO4PQU0XG3TG on 2006-12-10
  Yikes. The situation is incredibly fubar and it doesn't look to improve given the chaos in the Middle East. I liked this more than the American remake where I couldn't forget the actors playing the roles.
  
  
• Poor picture quality
  By A3KB1P3W2M9BLY on 2001-07-29
  This is a great mini series, even if you already have seen the movie, but I was very disappointed about the picture quality. It is very poor. I have not read complaints about this from other reviewers so far, so I wonder if it's my copy or what?
  
  
• looks less polished, feels more true & sympathetic
  By A1YKMJTMMJL5XB on 2001-08-17
  By comparing the series to the movie, it's easy to be a little unfair to both: the series highlights what the movie had to sacrifice, for time and audience assumptions (perhaps); and I guess Soderbergh's extraordinary direction (and Mirrione's editing) could make anyone else's knitting look a little loose, especially a TV mini-series from a very 1980-something Britain. So my advice would be to watch the series as a complementary experience, and try to steer clear of point-scoring.

  Watch Traffik as a story that feels all-too-true, and allow yourself to be pulled through an unfolding of all the extraordinary stories that we are so rarely shown about heroin. I love the way it makes you re-evaluate whatever you thought you knew or felt about the drug dilemma. It's a great example of revealing the way issues look from different sides, and through unexpected lenses, without becoming boring or lecturing.

  Bill Paterson is agonizingly believable, and impossible to look away from. And the DVD's extra interviews add real value and interest (with more insights than the standard infomercial).

  As a sucker for film with dts and sparkly looks, I too had to get over the slight lack of polish - but it didn't take long. Harder was the first few minutes of the clunkily-dubbed German cops - I really thought I'd bought a lemon. So grit your teeth, and hang on, and it will get much, much better.

  (By the way, if you like this, look out for 'Edge of Darkness', another character-driven British miniseries, with a stonkingly great performance by Bob Peck - I don't know if it's coming to DVD, or will survive without looking too dated, but I'm keeping my eyes open...)
  
  

• Visually brilliant and emotionally compelling
  By A1HH3IFB9UK8FN on 2003-06-24
  You can't watch just one episode of this ambitious drama; Each one creates a cliffhanger effect that makes you long to know what happens in the next. Julia Ormond is compelling as the daughter of a distant father, a British drug policy minister, who turns to heroin to fill her emotional void. Then there's the German narcots agent who busts a powerful international trafficker-cum-"businessman" and seeks to incriminate the crafty wife, who turns to trafficking and crime to regain her lost power. The crowning glory is the tragic story of Fazal, Jamal Shah, an opium farmer from the Pakistani frontier who migrates to the city and seeks work with a drug trafficker to feed his family. What is truly amazing is how the director & writer (Alasteir Reid & Simon Moore) planned out the visualization of every scene, effortlessly cut from Pakistan to Britain to Germany in advancing the story and tied all of the stories together.
  
  
• Full of ambiguity, darkness, and murkiness....
  By A2UYAFQ40U2PHS on 2007-09-04
  This is a great miniseries, absolutely riveting. It's far superior to the American film in many ways. It's longer, which enables its makers to really dive into the murky, dark, deeply ambiguous world of police and drug dealers. The police are just as ruthless and cruel as the drug dealers are, and aside from one speech near the end of the series, there is very little moralising. This version just shows things as they really are in the drug war/worlds, and it's really terrifying. Soderbergh's film is much too short (even at 148 minutes) and simplifies things much too much, reducing the drug debate to the level of a "Crossfire" debate (which is no real debate at all). I really prefer the dark edges here, and the realistic approach that this series takes with the drug dealing and the relationships. I especially like Lindsay Duncan's character, as she seems at first a meek, subservient housewife of a German drug dealer, but then shows her true self and becomes as ruthless and cruel as the cops who are trying to destroy her husband and her way of life.
  
  
• The drug trade of the Old World
  By on 1998-01-16
  As Americans we tend to know little about the drug problems in other countries, especially in Eurasia. This series offers rare insights into the drug trade starting from Afghanistan and Pakistan and ending in Britain and Germany. The victims span the landmasses and cross all the borders. This series is realistic and is filmed on location and is a revealing window into a growing global problem. END
  
  
• must see tv
  By A2KW2759AC5339 on 2001-08-05
  I first saw this miniseries on Masterpiece theatre and loved it. It is much more realistic than the modern Hollywood version of Traffic! It is also more detailed and riviting. I highly recommend anyone to see this original movie - do not even bother seeing the Hollywood version , as you will be highly disappointed!
  
  
• Excellent
  By A1J0DCO969DZ53 on 2003-01-17
  Truly gripping dramatic study of the heroin trade. The flow between storylines is handled perfectly. Some dialogue is a bit stilted and some aspects of the plot are not completely credible, but understood as an allegory this miniseries makes a strong link between Third World poverty and despair, criminality, unbridled affluence, the failings of Western societies and the misery of the international drug trade. Next time you hear a politician spouting off about the need for a "war on drugs", ask them if they've watched this series.
  
  

• Traffic - The Miniseries (The Director's Cut)
• State of Play (Miniseries)
• Traffic
• The State Within
• House of Cards Trilogy (House of Cards / To Play the King / The Final Cut)