DVD Review: Traffik The Series (B+)

Traffik (1989)
Complete Mini-Series On DVD
Directed by Alastair Reid
Starring Bill Paterson, Lindsay Duncan, Jamal Shah and Julia Ormond
UK: 15
Grade: B+

Review by Scott Standish

Although we normally don't review TV series collector's sets, we decided to make an exception for this rather unusual DVD release. Traffik (the series) was a fantastic six part program originally aired on the BBC in 1989. The show was the basis for the Steven Soderbergh film Traffic yet it is succeeds on it's own merits. One might even recommend seeing this television mini-series first - as it draws out the subtleties of the characters in a slow methodical manner, making the on screen war on drugs all the more compelling.

If you have seen the Oscar winning Soderbergh version, then you will be familiar with the storylines intersecting the original. A government official (Jack Lithgow, played by Bill Paterson) is put in charge of the never ending war on drugs, as his daughter (Caroline Lithgow, played by Julia Ormond) ironically gets hooked on drugs herself. Meanwhile, a drug importer gets arrested and his wife takes over the business in a daring move to keep her family together at any cost.

The major difference between the TV original and the film version is the storyline concerning the drug exporters. In the film, this is covered by the Benecio Del Toro character, a cop in Mexico that sees the entanglements between local drug producers and the government. Benicio Del Toro is fantastic in the Soderbergh version.

However the television version takes a different approach on this issue, instead choosing to tell the story of a poppy grower in Pakistan. Reid's approach offers a much more in depth look into how important drug production is to local farmers, an angle that Soderbergh missed. Poppy growers in Afghanistan and Pakistan rely on the proceeds from their drug crops to feed their own families. However all parties involved in the drug war learn that the guilt and fear that comes with the trade often commands a heavy price.

The war on drugs is an incredibly tangled mess and one that seems impossible to win. Films like Traffic, and this fine television series shed light on this complicated issue. Let's hope that governments (for all countries involved) are watching and learning.

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