It’s about time that I did a blog post on British Cinema, and what better way to start one than on Trainspotting, directed by the one and only Danny Boyle. Boyle’s artistic styles surround hyper-realism, and dysfunctional lifestyles, which are very much apparent in this film.
Trainspotting, set in Edinburgh, follows Renton, a young man with a serious heroin addiction along with his friends, Spud, Sick Boy, and Mother Superior. One day, Renton and friends decide to come off heroine, in order to start a better life, and reintegrate back into a working class society. Which turns out, is very difficult to do when you don’t have the right support.
The plan to sober up fails as certain factors in their lives affect them negatively. Spud fails job interviews, Sick Boy’s baby dies, and Renton, unbeknown to him, ends up having sexual relations with an underage girl who threatens to tell the police if Renton doesn’t carry on with their relationship. To further fund their habit, they result to robbery as well. The reality of the situations bring them back to doing something that makes them feel better, and to distract themselves from the dire world around them.
Relapsing back into his heroin use, Renton’s parents take action and lock him in his room and force him to go cold turkey, thus becoming clean. Themes of HIV/AIDS are included within the story line, to show awareness that with sharing needles, you are more likely to contract the disease. This is more prominent with the character Tommy. Tommy who has been clean for a while, tries to persuade Renton to stop his drug use. However, after a breakup with his girlfriend, he becomes addicted, contracts the disease and then later dies.
Renton starts a new life down in London, with a stable job. Whilst trying to get back on track (Good train pun there), he is visited by his old friends. Following one last drug deal, Renton slips away with the money, and goes onto live his life to the fullest, away from his friends and drugs.
Whilst the high is short-lived, the whole concept of the film is to make the audience aware of the negative affects of drug use. The idea of Sick Boy’s baby being in such a hostile environment and exposed to drugs, is absolutely horrific, however, to some people, it is reality. The friends Renton kept, ending up being bad influences which egged on his drug use, and the environment itself, is something that he needed to get away from, as the film distinctly focuses on poverty.
Alongside the realism, Boyle imitates the effects of being high with hallucinations. An example of this, is when Renton is high, to indicate he has overdosed, he sinks into the floor, wrapped in carpet, which represents the feeling of being high. Whilst Renton is experiencing withdrawal symptoms, he hallucinates and sees all of his friends down-spiralling more into their addictions, which ultimately scares him into sobriety. The extremity of these scenes contrast against the rest of the film to further indicate the extensive drug use.
Overall, whilst the film is quite controversial with extreme themes, it is still a must-see, to understand the effects of poverty and how people cope in those situations. It also shows that sobriety is a difficult journey to make, especially when those around you are not supportive. Therefore, by spreading awareness through film, it aims to be impact for any type of audience.
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