Best movies & TV Shows like Traffik

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Traffik Starring Bill Paterson, Lindsay Duncan, Jamal Shah, Vincenzo Benestante, and more. If you liked Traffik then you may also like: Requiem for a Dream, Kiss of the Dragon, Blow, The French Connection, Layer Cake and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

TV show

Traffik is a 1989 British television serial about the illegal drugs trade. Its three stories are interwoven, with arcs told from the perspectives of Afghan and Pakistani growers and manufacturers, German dealers, and British users. It was nominated for six BAFTA Awards, winning three. It also won an International Emmy Award for best drama. The 2000 crime drama film Traffic, directed by Steven Soderbergh, was based on this television serial. In turn, the 2004 American television miniseries Traffic was based on both versions.

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Requiem for a Dream

The hopes and dreams of four ambitious people are shattered when their drug addictions begin spiraling out of control. A look into addiction and how it overcomes the mind and body.

Kiss of the Dragon

Liu Jian, an elite Chinese police officer, comes to Paris to arrest a Chinese drug lord. When Jian is betrayed by a French officer and framed for murder, he must go into hiding and find new allies.

Blow

A boy named George Jung grows up in a struggling family in the 1950's. His mother nags at her husband as he is trying to make a living for the family. It is finally revealed that George's father cannot make a living and the family goes bankrupt. George does not want the same thing to happen to him, and his friend Tuna, in the 1960's, suggests that he deal marijuana. He is a big hit in California in the 1960's, yet he goes to jail, where he finds out about the wonders of cocaine. As a result, when released, he gets rich by bringing cocaine to America. However, he soon pays the price.

The French Connection

Tough narcotics detective 'Popeye' Doyle is in hot pursuit of a suave French drug dealer who may be the key to a huge heroin-smuggling operation.

Layer Cake

When a seemingly straight-forward drug deal goes awry, XXXX has to break his die-hard rules and turn up the heat, not only to outwit the old regime and come out on top, but to save his own skin...

Deep Cover

Black police officer Russell Stevens applies for a special anti-drug squad which targets the highest boss of cocaine delivery to LA—the Colombian foreign minister's nephew. Russell works his way up from the bottom undercover, until he reaches the boss.

Absolution

When a contract killer (Steven Seagal) encounters a girl on the run from a dangerous mob boss (Vinnie Jones) with powerful political ties, running a human trafficking operation, he is torn between protecting the girl, and remaining loyal to the government agency that hired him.

Drugstore Cowboy

Portland, Oregon, 1971. Bob Hughes is the charismatic leader of a peculiar quartet, formed by his wife, Dianne, and another couple, Rick and Nadine, who skillfully steal from drugstores and hospital medicine cabinets in order to appease their insatiable need for drugs. But neither fun nor luck last forever.

Traffic

An exploration of the United States of America's war on drugs from multiple perspectives. For the new head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the war becomes personal when he discovers his well-educated daughter is abusing cocaine within their comfortable suburban home. In Mexico, a flawed, but noble policeman agrees to testify against a powerful general in league with a cartel, and in San Diego, a drug kingpin's sheltered trophy wife must learn her husband's ruthless business after he is arrested, endangering her luxurious lifestyle.

French Connection II

"Popeye" Doyle travels to Marseilles to find Alain Charnier, the drug smuggler that eluded him in New York.

Yardie

Jamaica, 1973. When a young boy witnesses his brother’s assassination, a powerful Don gives him a home. But 10 years later, when he’s sent to London, his past catches up to him.

The Last of the Finest

An elite group of vice cops are fired from the L.A.P.D. for being over-zealous in their war against drugs. It is immediately apparent that some of their superiors are involved in the drug ring. Banded together, four of the banned cops (which quickly becomes three when one is killed early) band together to fight the drug ring undercover. They gain capital for weapons by ripping off minor drug dealers. Then well-armed they go after the kingpin (Boyd).

Freeway: Crack in the System

FREEWAY: CRACK IN THE SYSTEM tells the story of broken dreams, drug dealers, dirty cops, and government complicity—more compelling than fiction, it’s the real story behind America’s longest war. This documentary by award-winning filmmaker Marc Levin (SLAM, Mr. Untouchable, Brick City) exposes how the infiltration of crack cocaine destroyed inner-city neighborhoods across the country. At the center of it all is the rise, fall and redemption of Freeway Rick Ross, a street hustler who became the King of Crack, and journalist Gary Webb, who broke the story of the CIA’s complicity in the drug war. Featuring exclusive interviews with Freeway Rick Ross, not to be confused with the rapper who took his name Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Gary Webb, his source Coral Baca, and wife Susan Webb former Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff Roberto Juarez drug trafficker Julio Zavala and many more.

The Infiltrator

A U.S Customs official uncovers a massive money laundering scheme involving Pablo Escobar.

Cartel Land

In the Mexican state of Michoacán, Dr. Jose Mireles, a small-town physician known as "El Doctor," shepherds a citizen uprising against the Knights Templar, the violent drug cartel that has wreaked havoc on the region for years. Meanwhile, in Arizona's Altar Valley—a narrow, 52-mile-long desert corridor known as Cocaine Alley—Tim "Nailer" Foley, an American veteran, heads a small paramilitary group called Arizona Border Recon, whose goal is to halt Mexico’s drug wars from seeping across our border.

White Boy

“White Boy Rick”, as he was called, was a novelty: A white teenager seemingly running a major inner-city drug operation. In May of 1987, 17-year-old Richard Wershe Jr. was charged with a non-violent, juvenile drug offense. By the time of his arrest he was already a Detroit legend, frequently making front-page headlines and leading the local television news. In this film, gangsters, hit men, journalists and federal agents struggle to explain why he remains in prison at nearly 50 years old. The possible explanation is more stunning than the crimes Wershe was alleged to have committed.

Holy Rollers

Inspired by actual events in the late nineties when Hasidic Jews were recruited as mules to smuggle ecstasy from Europe into the United States.

Crack House

Rick and Melissa are a pair of young lovers hoping to get out of the slums for good and escape the poverty and crime their families and friends have gotten involved in. All this comes to an end when Rick feels he must rejoin his old gang to avenge the killing of his brother by a rival gang. In the course of getting even, Rick is arrested, leaving Melissa without anyone to protect her. She falls in with a crack dealer and quickly becomes addicted to the drug. When she gets sold to a drug kingpin by a minor dealer to pay off a debt, only Rick can save her.

Target Number One

Ex heroin junkie, Daniel Léger, gets involved in a drug deal with the wrong people for the wrong reasons. When the deal goes sour, Daniel gets thrown into a Thai prison and slapped with a 100-year sentence. While he tries to survive his Bangkok incarceration, the news of his conviction captures the attention of Globe and Mail journalist Victor Malarek, who decides to go after the shady undercover cops responsible for wrongly accusing Daniel.

Close Call

In Los Angeles, the young Jenny has a nice childhood with her Korean parents Joanne and David Kim. However, after the divorce of her parents, the judge gives her custody to her selfish mother that neglects Jenny while the disappointed David returns to Seoul. Six years later, Jenny is a troubled and reckless teenager expelled from the public school that has easy sex and uses drugs and booze, and her best friend is the orphan drug dealer Becky. The lawyer Elliot Krasner decides to call his former friend David to tell him about the self-destructive behavior of Jenny, and David returns to Los Angeles. He brings Jenny to live with him and support her, but the lack of emotional structure of Jenny imposes tough difficulties for their relationship.

The Line

The story centers around veteran assassin Mark Shields as he tracks down, Pelon, the elusive head of the Salazar Crime Cartel. Through twists of fate, Shields ends up with a local woman, Olivia who is also fighting her own demons for the sake of her daughter. Set in the rich and atmospheric backdrop of Tijuana, Mexico, La Linea (The Line) is full of action and drama.

The Amsterdam Kill

Former DEA Agent Quinlan, removed from the force some years earlier for stealing confiscated drug money, is hired by Chung Wei, a leader in the Amsterdam drug cartel, who wants out of the business. Quinlan's job is to use Chung's information to tip DEA agents to drug busts, thereby destroying the cartel. But when the first two "tips" go awry, resulting in murdered DEA officers, the feds must decide whether to trust Quinlan further...

Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street

The film follows a simple structure, and shows the drug-related degradation of five youths (Jake, Tracey, Jessica, Alice, Oreo) during the course of three years. The film depicts drug-related crimes and diseases: prostitution, male prostitution, AIDS, and lethal overdoses.

The Unraveling

Michael is a basically decent guy with a pregnant girlfriend, great friends - and one massive drug problem. Because he missed his own Las Vegas bachelor party being too stoned, his four besties decide to kidnap him for a weekend of roughing it in the California wilderness. Caught off guard by this surprise camping trip and his nose candy supply dwindling, Michael is shocked when his buddies start being ritually murdered one by one. Suspecting it’s the vicious drug dealer he cheated getting bloody revenge, Michael’s life swirls out of all control as the real truth is revealed.

Free Ride

A single mom in the 1970s raises her two daughters and becomes involved in illegal drug trade to make a better life.

Operation Odessa

The stranger-than-fiction true story of a Russian mobster, a Miami playboy, and a Cuban spy who teamed up in the early '90s to sell a Soviet submarine to the Cali Cartel.

Mr. Untouchable

The true-life story of a Harlem's notorious Nicky Barnes, a junkie turned multimillionaire drug-lord. Follow his life story from his rough childhood to the last days of his life.

Sol Madrid

Government agent Sol Madrid travels to Mexico with hooker Stacey to bring mobster Villanova and drug kingpin Dietrich to justice.

Baller Blockin'

A flashback to the early life of the narrator/ protagonist 'Tanuk' (Juvenile) shows life in the Magnolia projects in New Orleans. He bears witness to his father's demise at the hands of local gangster Garr over a debt of $2000. Fast forward to the year 2000. Beatrice (Birdman aka Baby or #1 stunna) along with Tanuk, Chopper (B.G) and Teke (Turk) meet with representatives of a drug cartel and purchase a large batch of cocaine. We then see scenes of everyday business in Magnolia with Iceberg Shorty (Lil Wayne) selling some drugs.

South West 9

Five very different characters are thrown together in one weird, mashed up day. It started out like any other, but 24 hours later everything had changed. South West 9 takes you through the windscreen of the new millenium. The death of idealism, capitalism, religion and hippies. Even the drugs don't work anymore. The 'summer of love' generation have come down and they're ready to riot. Seattle. Stockholm. Paris. Genoa. May Day riots.

Whoever Dies, Dies in Pain

A botched police raid on a crack house turns into a 36 hour long siege in which the junkies share their perspective to the cameraman of a reality program.

Kin

The lives of a Dublin family embroiled in a gangland war and the consequences of their choices.

The Sopranos

The story of New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads. Those difficulties are often highlighted through his ongoing professional relationship with psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi. The show features Tony's family members and Mafia associates in prominent roles and story arcs, most notably his wife Carmela and his cousin and protégé Christopher Moltisanti.

Kingpin

Kingpin is an American crime drama television series which debuted on the NBC network in the U.S. and CTV in Canada on February 2, 2003 and lasted 6 episodes. NBC's answer to The Sopranos and also influenced by The Godfather, Macbeth and Traffik, the story was about a Mexican drug trafficker named Miguel Cadena and his family life. It was to be followed by a television series, but low ratings canceled those plans. Commercials for the mini-series on NBC featured the song "Más" by the Mexican band Kinky.

Snowfall

Los Angeles. 1983. A storm is coming and its name is crack. Set against the infancy of the crack cocaine epidemic and its ultimate radical impact on the culture as we know it, the story follows numerous characters on a violent collision course.

The Shadow Line

A murder is investigated by both sides of the line, cops and criminals, using opposing methods. But the real line is the morality within each person and how far they will go before they cross it.

Power

A successful New York entrepreneur lives a double life as the head of a drug empire that serves only the rich and influential, all while wanting to escape the underworld and keep his family safe.

Griselda Blanco: The Black Widow

La Viuda Negra is a 2014 Spanish-language telenovela produced by RTI Producciones and Televisa for United States-based television network Univisión and for Colombia-based television network Caracol Television. It is an adaptation of the book La patrona de Pablo Escobar de José Guarnizo based on history from Griselda Blanco.

Narcos

A gritty chronicle of the war against Colombia's infamously violent and powerful drug cartels.

Caught

David Slaney escapes from jail and attempts to hook up with his partner for one last deal, while evading the detective on his trail. Based on the novel by Lisa Moore.

The Trade

A visceral, rarely-seen look into the personal stories of those most affected by ongoing national emergencies.

Drug Lords

Witness the stories of history's most notorious kingpins, their terrifying enforcers, and the men and women who've sworn to bring them down.

Narcos: Mexico

See the rise of the Guadalajara Cartel as an American DEA agent learns the danger of targeting narcos in 1980s Mexico.

ZeroZeroZero

Based on the book of the same name by bestselling author Roberto Saviano, ZeroZeroZero is an unforgettable exploration of the inner workings of the global cocaine trade.

La Bruja

La Bruja is a 2011 Colombian telenovela starring Flora Martínez, based on the novel of the same name by Colombian writer Germán Castro Caycedo.

Cocaine Trade Exposed: The Invisibles

The true story of the rise of a shadowy new generation of cocaine kingpins and of law enforcement's desperate efforts to bring them down.

Narco Wars

Narco Wars explores how opportunistic smuggling networks in Latin America turned into powerful and ruthless drug cartels with the power to destabilize and tear apart whole countries. The series combines gripping access to cartel members and the law enforcement agencies opposing them with a deep dive documentary exploration of the geo-political, social and cultural factors that led the cartels' rise.

En la Boca del Lobo

Based on a true story and the book, At the Devil's Table: The Untold Story of the Insider Who Brought Down the Cali Cartel by award-winning investigative reporter William C. Rempel, En la Boca del Lobo follows the series of events that ultimately lead to the dramatic downfall of Colombia’s infamous Cali drug cartel. The story centers on Ricardo Salgado, an engineer and soldier who rises ranks and became in charge of the security of the godfather of the Cali Cartel, one of the largest criminal organizations in the world and rival of the Medellin Cartel.

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