RATS

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Nobody wants to end up as a rat for the DEA, but David’s seemingly cavalier approach to the drug trade has landed him in it. Together with his ironically angelic business partner and best friend Rene, he attempts to navigate a world far more dangerous than even he realizes.

Barely older than teenagers themselves, the overconfident pair become entrenched with the Czech/Vietnamese meth syndicate while David is coerced into betraying Rene to the rogue cop, Major Jan Blažek.

With both the mafia and police after him, David is forced to team up with Blažek’s unwitting partner Petra, fresh off an extended maternity leave and eager to prove herself to her politically ambitious police officer husband. As Petra and David become more deeply entangled in the web that controls the gateway for meth to pour into Europe, the lines between order and anarchy collapse completely.

Based on true stories and made in collaboration with the National Anti-Drug Centre of the Czech Republic (DEA), RATS was created and written by talented young Czech screenwriter Miro Šifra (Rédl) and directed by multi award-winning Viktor Tauš (Vodnik, Clownwise, Dom) of Heaven’s Gate and Matěj Chlupáček (Terapie) of Barletta Productions in association with Czech TV and MD4.

Follow RATS on Instagram @rats_tv_series

Original Title	:	Zradci
Genre	:	Crime
IMDB Rating	:	7.8
Production Year	:	2020
Run Time	:	6 X 55'
Country of Origin	:	Czech Republic

Author's Statement

If you wish to understand how the drug business in Europe works, you have to learn about two powerful players.

The first is a Vietnamese mafia based in central Europe in the Czech Republic. There, the Vietnamese people settled back in the communist era as part of an exchange between the socialist countries. The bond between the two is palpable until today. In the last 10 years and with vehement support of the Vietnamese government, some of the Vietnamese businessmen (knows as Bacs - Uncles) became important producers and distributors of marihuana and meth. They own 2/3 of the market in the Czech Republic alone and their product floods all of Western Europe. Their hierarchy and structure are decentralized and so closing a few meth labs means nothing - new ones are funded and opened straight away.

Player number two is the Internet - especially the dark web. To buy meth online is as difficult as to buy a refrigerator. The drugs are delivered by a postman, just like any other parcel.

RATS is set in this new world, where the DEA (the National Anti-Drug Centre of the Czech Republic) must change their ways if they are to keep up with the ever-changing market. But this calls for mistakes and mistakes cost lives. The series is based on true stories and is made in collaboration with the DEA

Miro Sifra, Script Writer

Media Review

RATS is the most mature and interesting series the Czech television has ever produced. It is no longer sufficient to praise it as something unparalleled in the Czech environment; this show stands out beyond its context and circumstances.

Martin Svoboda - DENÍK N

Media Review

Unlike the way Czech detective series are traditionally perceived, Tauš advocates a good detective story shouldn’t just stimulate the viewer’s curiosity, intellect and craving for suspense; it should also be beautiful to watch. With great confidence, RATS liberates Czech detective story from its dependence on the careful way the genre and the topic have been approached so far.

- RESPEKT

Media Review

What sets RATS apart from other crime series is its idiosyncratic artistic rendering. Viktor Tauš surpasses the habitual practices of TV series making with a dose of teasing joy. A western-like feel on deserted small town roadways.

Mirka Spáčilová - MF DNES