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Trainspotting Review

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Published: May 27, 2015

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_{This might have just been called “Confessions of a Heroin Addict,” because that's basically what this was. The movie is about a bunch of people addicted to heroin and what it's like trying to get and stay clean. It was a little hard to get into at first because everyone had strong Scottish accents. In one of the beginning scenes the main character, Renton, says he wants to get clean. His first step is preparing himself for coming off of the drugs. He stocks his room with food, a tv, and boards to lock himself in once the withdrawals hit.

One good quality of this movie was the honesty. Heroin is far from pretty, and that was definitely depicted as Renton was going diarrhea from it. I hate movies that glamorize drugs and drug use, because it's not realistic. Heroin is an ugly drug, and the filth that the characters lived in while they were high definitely portrayed heroin addiction accurately.

Drugs make everyone react differently- some people get violent, others get mellow. Many of the different characters portrayed all of these qualities of addicts. I enjoyed that, because if everyone had been aggressive when high then it wouldn't be realistic. One guy, Begbie, was the violent one, while Spud was the more chilled out character. I really enjoyed the diversity in characters.

Ren realizes his sex drive is finally coming back as he stays clean from heroin, so he ends up going home with a girl from a club. They have sex and then he spends the night. The next morning he realizes she is just a 15 year old school girl and tells her he can never see her again. However, she blackmails him and says she will go to the police if he refuses to see her again. The movie doesn't make his reasons totally clear, although I think it has to do with this girl, but Renton decides to get back on heroin. I think it's at this point that he realizes how much his life sucks, and he wants the drugs to numb the pain of that realization.

Upon getting back on drugs, he describes what a full-time job it is being an addict. He had to steal and rob people to get money for drugs, and steal things to cook the drugs. There were a few scenes of the characters running from police too. Then, the worst scene of the movie- a baby dies. One of the girls living with all the characters had a baby, and they found her dead in her crib. That was really heart-wrenching. Being a generally caring and sensitive person, I absolutely detest movies that show children dying or being abused. The movie was pretty realistic though; the baby really looked dead. And the mom was going crazy (of course), so she took a shot of heroin to dull her pain. It's such a sad cycle of drug abuse. However, the scene in this movie really added emphasis to this movie. No matter how much drugs the characters seemed to have, they were never enough. Cravings always got stronger and everyone always felt alone even though the big group of “friends” were always chumming around together. The actors truly did a good job of showing this.

The main chunk of this movie was narrated by Ren, although there was a little bit of dialogue in every scene between the characters. I loved that aspect of the movie. It kept it interesting and I didn't have to guess everything that was happening since the narrator was telling me. I also really loved the musical element to Trainspotting. Heroin is about adrenaline rushes, and I loved how the music portrayed that during the entire movie. The music wasn't actual songs that I knew (some of it was just a beat or a beat/melody), but every bit of music fit the movie perfectly.

I won't give the ending away, but I did enjoy it. It wasn't exactly what I expected, which is good, because I really hate overly predictable things. However, this wouldn't be a movie I would want to watch again. It was really depressing overall. The life of a drug addict is shameful and not very optimistic. Two steps forward, three steps backwards. But it was definitely a thought-provoking indie film in the drama genre, especially about drugs. I enjoyed the stability of the characters (they didn't really “progress” per say, but they were drug addicts- I wouldn't expect them to really change dramatically). The movie was okay, it just wasn't really my preferred genre. So if you want a thought-provoking indie drama for a rainy day then you probably would enjoy this one.}