The Trade

These cops bust some poor user over s 20 sack don't ever get big dealers drug war is a was of time. They act like heroes while they destroy lives of for people who need substance abuse classes not jail time. They need medical help not some over bearing. Cop calling them a junkie over a 20 sack f them. Those cops aren't heros they are collection agents for privately funded jails. I quit being a medic because of the crooked crap cops do to people jail on a dime bag out her in rehab. Its a wonder people hate cops lately even a lot of vets and medics like my self they use too much force not enough training and follow the letter of the law not its spirit F Them.

The shor portraits the heroin abuse in an ok way. However, the fight against it seems politically motivated. The unsuccessful war against drugs has been ongoing for 40 years still its presented as heroic when poor abusers and their families are teared apart. Smuggling is high as ever. The series shows the problems but the lack of portraying alternative solutions is frustrating.

This documentary shows all of the angles of the drug trade via a high quality production. Very impressive.

I've seen a lot of documentaries on drugs and addiction, and this series belongs at the top with the best of them.

Mathew Heineman (who also directed Cartel Land and City of Ghosts) delivers more evidence of his incredible talent for capturing difficult stories in dangerous places-while delivering perspectives from people caught right in the middle of it all.

At times this documentary series reminded me of the movie Traffic, with its dramatic ability to bring to life vastly different points of view inside the drug trade. (But this being non-fiction.) Growers, traffickers, law enforcement, drug users and many others are given time in this fascinating look into the many, many sides of the ongoing opioid epidemic.

Unlike a lot of recent documentaries that feel forced into a "series" format, The Trade brilliantly uses the time and space that its five-episode format provides. Also, drama doesn't feel forced or constructed, the characters are unique and memorable, and the editing is top notch.

"The Trade" (Season 2; released in 2020; 4 episodes of about 50 min. each) brings a brand new story arc that has nothing to do as such with Season 1. As Season 2, Episode 1 opens, we are at the "US/Mexico Border, Tijuana", as we see someone climb the wall on his way over into the US. We then go to "McAllen, Texas". "After I paid $7,500 and arrived on US soil, I thought I had it made", comments one migrant. But that turns out to be incorrect, as ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is doing all it can to stop the flow of migrants. We then go to "San Pedro Sula, Honduras" where gangs terrorize entire cities, making Honduras the murder capital of the world. "If I stay here, I will die", a widower comments, after her husband was brutally murdered execution-style on the street. At this point we are 15 min. into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: Season 2 is once again produced and directed by Oscar-nominated Matthew Heineman ("Cartel Land"), in my view one of the best documentarians of this era, and that is saying something. Whereas Season 1 looked at the heroin and pioiod trade, Season 2 looks at the human trade, as in: why are so many people fleeing Honduras and Guatemala, and how do they get from there to here, and then what happens to them when they get here. There is some very harrowing footage of "the caravan" of 4,000 people making their way from Honduras through Guatemala, Mexico and then to the US. Heineman introduces us to Magda, a recent widower who along with her small daughter and the brother of her recently murdered husband decide to flee. Finally tow separate comments: as to the documentary series itself, it puts forward an honest and brutal look of human trafficking and asylum-seekers, and as such I find it compelling to watch. As to the Trump administration's stance on asylum-seekers, it is shameful and of course illegal to deny genuine asylum-seekers entry to this country. We are the richest and greatest country in the world. Are we now so insecure (where once we were eager to help others) that we will not share a tiny fraction of our country's rich resources with people (including many women and young children) fleeing, literally, for their lives? Watch the footage in this documentary series if you think they are just 'faking' it...

Season 2 aired in Showtime this March, and is now streaming on demand. Although it is perhaps not quite as strong as Season 1 of "The Trade", I still find it very much worth seeking out. If you have any interest in understanding why migrants flee places like Honduras and Guatemala, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.