Traffik (1989 Mini-Series)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: B+
It’s amazing how a subject
like drugs can be portrayed in so many ways from TV series to sitcoms, from
movies to plays, from short stories to novels, and interchange through mediums
as well. When Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic (2000) was released it was an
instant critical success and soon became a much-talked-about film in just about
any community, office, or school. It
was one of those moments when people who usually don’t talk about film suddenly
were saying things like ‘hey man, did you see that movie Traffic…it was intense!”
It’s important to mention Soderbergh’s film since it was based off the
British TV mini-series, which spelled Traffik
with a ‘k’ instead and is the subject of this review.
One should also note that
another mini-series in 2004 was made called Traffic, which was based on both sources and Balthazar Getty and a
few other semi-knowns. It’s fair to say
then that the original British Traffik
has made its way as a popular source, and after seeing this program on DVD for
the first time, it is easy to see why.
Typically mini-series are good for one-time viewing. You see it, you get over it and move on, but
when they are effective they become a bit more involved and memorable, such is
the case with this. When the production
value is high, actors are on the mark, and directing is above TV standard you
really have a benchmark for success and Traffik
hits those.
What usually thwarts
viewers from giving in to a particular mini-series is that the content is
either stretched way too thin just so it can be on a few nights, or the
material is cut down so much that it is trying to express so much in so little
time. A good example of this once again
goes back to Soderbergh’s film, which attempted to pack a lot of material
within a film, which ended up being about 2 1/2 hours and only skimmed the
surface of its given potential.
It’s hard to do a
mini-series effectively also because of budget constraints, which are working
well below film costs, yet try to attempt a film-like quality in both technique
and other production aspects. You are
working with stock actors as well, and you are essentially trying to milk every
dollar out of everything and expect the normal TV audience to stay glued for
the run of the series. However, once
you have them locked in to the first episode you can usually keep them there
for its entire length.
Probably the biggest
question that American audiences have about the British mini-series is where it
compares to Soderbergh’s vision and whether it’s worth purchasing. The answer to that is based on your overall
thoughts towards mini-series as well as Soderbergh’s film. If you are a TV-aholic than you don’t care
and will want this just for the heck of it, but if you seldom get into TV than
you may want to start elsewhere.
My impression of
Soderbergh’s film was that I loved it and hated it at the same time. It was one of the best films that I never
want to see again…if that makes sense.
What I mean by that is that I appreciated the film, but it made me sick
at the same time, almost in the same way that Darren Aronofsky’s film Requiem for a Dream did, also
2000. Drugs became a big market once
again to almost a point of overkill and Ted Demme’s Blow (2001) was the…well…final blow!
Watching this series now
it actually started to remind me of how some of TV’s top shows now are starting
to try and obtain a more film-like quality whether it be 24, CSI, N.Y.P.D. Blue, or some of the other
mainstream shows that are going for that edgier, darker, more ‘realistic’
ideology. So I suppose you could even
say that this is a forerunner in that sense as well, and if you enjoy those
shows or their ‘look’ than this might be a nice grab as well.
Basically if you are
familiar with Soderbergh’s film than you understand the formula that this
mini-series follows, which in this case involves the Hamburg police, an
international businessman, Pakistan, a ministers and his daughter, London, a
drug lord, a peasant who grew poppy seeds, and how their lives semi-intertwine
together through the channels of the drug world. The series runs 6 episodes, which on DVD is stretched across 2
discs for a total runtime of 350 minutes.
It’s probably fair to say that the series begins a bit slow, but ends up
taking off into high pace once we have all the stories started and the viewer
is caught up to speed.
Acorn Media has issued Traffik onto DVD for American audiences
and has kept the series with its intended full-frame aspect ratio of 1.33 X
1. The sound is presented in 2.0 Dolby
Digital fashion as well, in Stereo.
Both picture and sound seem very analog in nature and while this is a
so-called digital format the picture suffers from looking murky and dark. While that was probably the intention the
fact that this was shot for TV does not hold up nearly as well, especially
since this was 1989 and was prior to some of the newer digital technologies
that have been introduced since. This
being a dialogue heavy series allows for the 2.0 Dolby to work adequately, but
nothing superb by any means.
Aside from an interview
with the writer Simon Moore and the producer the discs remain barren of
extras. Moore was the source for
Soderbergh’s film, which had the screenplay adapted by Stephen Gaghan. Moore is
known for a few other American projects as well such as Sam Raimi’s 1995 The Quick and the Dead as well as other TV
work such as The 10th Kingdom
and the mini-series Dinotopia.
Given that this was issued
back in 2001 to DVD, we have seen a lot of better material issued since. This is not the worst case ever and if you
are a fan of the material than you won’t hopefully have too many
reservations. Acorn Media has a slew of
material on the market, which we have covered on this website and they always
have an interesting selection of material, which is always worth checking out
and/or grabbing at some point.
- Nate Goss
