Product Details

• Actors: Bill Paterson, Lindsay Duncan, Fritz Müller-Scherz, Jamal Shah, Talat Hussain
• Producers: Peter Ansorge
• Format: Box set, Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Language: English, German, Urdu
• Rated: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 3
• Studio: Acorn Media
• VHS Release Date: June 26, 2001
• Run Time: 315 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005J3CB
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #305,937 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Like The Singing Detective, Alastair Reid's award-winning 1989 British miniseries (broadcast in the U.S. on Masterpiece Theatre) has taken on mythic status. The critical and box-office success of Steven Soderbergh's Oscar®-winning feature-film adaptation paved the way for Traffik's home-video release, and it's an even more gripping and devastating experience. This is understandable in that it unfolds over five riveting hours, allowing for richer characterization. Traffik also operates on a broader canvas, as the interlocking stories play out in such far-flung locales as London and Hamburg, Germany, as well as Pakistan, a reminder that the war on drugs--in this case, heroin--is a global one. Comparisons between the miniseries and the movie are inevitable, and in the role played by Michael Douglas, Bill Paterson (perhaps best known as the lovelorn disc jockey in Comfort and Joy) makes a more convincing bureaucratic Everyman trying to hash out a financial-aid agreement with Pakistan that would eradicate the impoverished farmers' precious poppy crop. His world is shattered when his own daughter (Julia Ormond in her heartbreaking screen debut) becomes an addict. Lindsay Duncan is even more chilling than Catherine Zeta-Jones as Helen, a "housewife" who takes over her husband's smuggling operation when he is arrested. Aware of his illicit activities, she vows, "I'm not going to let go of everything we fought for." In the Don Cheadle role is Fritz Müller-Scherz as Ulli, a crafty and relentless German detective on Helen's case. One tragic story line unique to the miniseries concerns Fazal (Jamal Shah), an impoverished Pakistani farmer who finds work with Tariq Butt (Tallat Hussain), a major drug trafficker. This is one of television's finest hours (or five), and it's impossible not to get caught up in it. --Donald Liebenson

From the Back Cover

The acclaimed Masterpiece Theatre miniseries and the basis for the Academy Award winning film Traffic. A riveting thriller filmed on location in Pakistan, Hamburg and London, Traffik is and unflinching look at those who grow, sell and use drugs and the futility of efforts to stop them. Starring Bill Paterson (The Singing Detective), Lindsay Duncan (An Ideal Husband) and Julia Ormand (First Knight) in her extraordinary film debut. Three lives intersect explosively on the front lines of the drug war. Jack, a British government minister, thinks diplomacy will prevail until a fact-finding mission to Pakistan coincides with volcanic upheaval in his personal life. Helen, the British wife of a German businessman cough smuggling heroin, discovers her own steely determination to survive. And Fazal, a Pakistani Farmer forced out of his poppy fields, find a far more dangerous occupation.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Far outshines the film, June 9, 2001

By 

Charlotte Vale-Allen (CT USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Traffik - Miniseries [VHS] (VHS Tape)

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.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Traffik or Traffic, January 22, 2002

By 

Timothy J Perior (Northridge, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Traffik - Miniseries (DVD)

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.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Definitely better than the Hollywood production, July 4, 2004

By 

Hamood Rehman (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Traffik - Miniseries (DVD)

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.