British Masterpiece: Trainspotting

Drugs. Thick accents. Raves. Iggy Pop. These are the words that come to mind when Danny Boyle's 1996 film Trainspotting is mentioned. The film launched the careers of Ewan McGregor, Danny Boyle and ushered in a wave of pop culture which is referred to as the second British Invasion or simply "Cool Britannia". The film is the British version of Pulp Fiction, with cool dialogue, and classic scenes fueled by massive pop tracks of the years past. But what makes Trainspotting a classic is its subject matter and how it is dealt with by director Danny Boyle.


The film follows Mark "Rent Boy" Renton (Ewan McGregor) who, along with his friends, are twenty something heroin addicts in mid-eighties Edinburgh, Scotland. They aren't like the stereotypical heroin addicts in TV ads. Renton and his friends, as he states at one point, are full functioning drug addicts. They steal to get money for their addiction, steal prescriptions and live off welfare. The film dives right in, showing the gang shooting up at Mother Superior's. Renton says he is kicking the junk, which sets off the plot. Renton's journey to get clean. His friend Sick Boy, says he'll kick the junk too just to prove to Renton he can do it too. Renton barricades himself in a room but breaks out to get one final hit(a common theme in this film).



Critics who were opposed to the film claimed the film glorified heroin and it's users because the film features a great deal of humor (see Renton's surreal experience climbing into the toilet while in the "worst Toilet in Scotland"). This is simply false. The film shows Renton and his friends in a bright light because that is how they feel on heroin. The only friend who doesn't use is their jock friend Tommy. They even go as far as to keep a baby in the room with them as they shoot up. This is very important. We see the baby at the beginning of the film, but then (much like the characters) forget about it until we discover it dead from being neglected. At this point, the film flips from being a fun movie where you feel good for the characters, into a film where you despise the characters and their flaws become more apparent. Sick Boy has kicked heroin, he now deals it along with pimping women. Spuz gets arrested for shoplifting along with Renton and goes to prison. Renton gets out of it by saying he'll detox, but he shortly thereafter overdoses. Renton attempted to get clean his way, now he'll do it the hard way: cold turkey. Renton up to this point was the guy you were rooting for but now his actions are clearly disgusting. He steals a sex tape from Tommy who's girlfriend thinks he returned it to the video store so she leaves him. Tommy asks Renton to shoot him up with heroin. Renton agrees but only when he sees Tommy has money. While Renton gets clean, Tommy becomes a reclusive addict, contracts AIDS and dies. Renton moves to London and starts to get a good life going, only to have his psychotic friend Begbie (Robert Carlyle) and Sick Boy visits and proceed to mooch off him. They get him into a massive 'skag' deal to which they deal 9 pounds of heroin to Russian drug dealers. While his friends sleep, Renton steals the money and the film ends.


The themes are very important and apparent. Trainspotting not only tackles drugs, but personalities, AIDS and morals. Renton is a repulsive character, yet you root for him. This can give the viewer a direct port into the character's world. Trust no one you're surrounded by, but use them for their drugs. Even Mother Superior, who is with Renton at the time of his overdose and seems sensible, doesn't call an ambulance for him, merely a taxi cab to the hospital. We see an ambulance drive by before we see the taxi, tricking we the viewers into thinking that someone in this world has actually done something right. This is how Renton feels. He is trapped in this desolate world and his only solace is more heroin. He is so tricked by the heroin, that it makes him care so little about the people around him that he gets Tommy addicted to heroin, and more importantly steals the money from Begbie and Sick Boy at the end. The film is somehow transformed by Boyle into a human story, where we care about what happens to Renton despite his lack of good will at the beginning. Renton is not only trying stop using heroin, but to stop surrounding himself with addicts or as he puts it his "so called friends".

Trainspotting is like a pop video on speed with a message. It speaks to everyone and in no way glorifies heroin or its users. After watching Trainspotting if you feel like you want to use heroin, you watched the wrong movie.Trainspotting will always be relevant and speaks greatly to the heroin trend of the 90's. All of this and more makes Trainspotting an instant British cinema classic from now until the end of time.

Photos Courtesy of:

www.bbcmedia.com