Trainspotting

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Trainspotting (1996), directed by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire), depicts young Scottish men who prefer using heroin to living conformist lives under British rule. However, as the story unfolds, there is a change in the attitude of the main character which implies there may be no good choices for those like him. It is a raw, unsettling movie, but also a courageous one.

The title of the film may refer, according to Irvine Welsh, to taking drugs at a train station, or an obsessive hobby that only those participating in it understand. In that sense, it is an outsider lifestyle divorced from all others. The central character Renton (Ewan McGregor) states at the onset of the story that people can choose a “job,” “a family,” and electrical appliances and other material things that you put into a house with a “fixed interest mortgage.” But his opening monologue gets darker as he skewers the conformity of an average life where one is “sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows … rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourselves.” For Renton, at this point, he denies that taking heroin is because of “misery and desperation and death.” He says, “it’s the pleasure of it. Otherwise, we wouldn’t do it. Afterall, we’re not fucking stupid. At least, we’re not that fucking stupid.” He says with drugs one doesn’t have to worry about all the concerns of everyday life, only “scoring.” Later, Renton does concede that their lives are miserable because they were colonized by the British who are all “wankers.” He says that he and his friends took all kinds of drugs and would have “injected Vitamin C if only they made it illegal.” That statement shows that the drug use for these men was an act of rebellion.

He says that his parents were always trying to set him on the so-called right path, but his mother took pills, so she was a user herself. One of his mates, Begbie (Robert Caryle), berates him about Renton’s use of hard drugs. But, Renton’s father drinks large amounts of alcohol and is a violent man. Renton says Begbie didn’t do drugs, “he just did people.” His drug was violence towards others, a much worse way to get high. (Actor Caryle believed that Begbie’s rage was due to being a closeted gay and his fear of being outed translated to an outward eruption).

Renton’s other friends are Sick Boy (Johnnie Lee Miller), Tommy (Kevin McKidd), and Spud (Ewen Bremner). Sick Boy and Spud, along with Renton, shoot up heroin at the place of their provider, Mother Superior Swanney (Peter Mulan), whose AKA is a reference to the Beatles song referring to drug use, “Happiness is a Warm Gun,” with the line, “Mother Superior jumped the gun.” The irony of mixing religious elements with drug use is obvious in the song and in the film.

After waking up after another mind-bending fix, Renton decides to quit his drug habit. He acquires opium suppositories to help him wean off the habit. What follows is a disgusting, surrealistic scene where Renton must find a spot to relieve himself immediately winding up in what he describes as the “worst toilet in Scotland.” The bathroom is revolting with feces wall-to-wall (which was really chocolate), and Renton, after relieving himself, realizes he ejected the suppositories. In a surreal, nightmarish act, he dives into the toilet after them. This scene, if no other, shows that choosing heroin was not a good choice, in contrast to Renton’s earlier manifesto.

Because his sex drive kicks in again after stopping his drug use, Renton zeroes in on a seductive girl at a club, Diane (Kelly MacDonald), and they have sex. He discovers later that she is only fifteen years old. Her innocence is a sham, and her schoolgirl clothes merely a costume. The film implies that the upright appearance of the world is a façade. Renton fears that if his intimacy with Diane is discovered, he will go to jail, although in comparison to the violence of Begbie, his transgressions would be unfairly punished.

Tommy starts to use heroin after his girlfriend breaks up with him. The film shows how drug use can be used as a way to escape any type of pain. However, that hard drug usage is a victimless crime is in question when Allison (Susan Vidler), who is a friend and fellow junkie, reports that her baby is dead, most likely out of neglect. The story implies that Sick Boy is the father. He is devastated, but not scared straight. Instead, maybe because of guilt, he puts himself in more danger. He, Renton, and Spud attempt stealing from a bookstore. Sick Boy escapes, but Spud and Renton are caught. Spud goes to jail because of past violations. Renton escapes incarceration because he undergoes a drug rehabilitation program, which turns out to be a failure. He is on methadone and when he takes heroin later the combination almost kills him. So, it starts to appear that there is no exit from the horrors of his world.

Renton’s parents lock him in his room and make him go cold turkey to quit the habit. In withdrawal, he hallucinates about Diane and Allison’s baby, possibly reflecting his guilt over his underage relationship with the young girl and inability to save the child. There is also the scary possibility of contracting HIV through IV drug use, but luckily, Renton tests negative.

Tommy does not escape that fate, as he contracts the virus after becoming heavily addicted to heroin, and later dies of toxoplasmosis. The now clean Renton saw how his friend was living in squalor and attempts to give his life direction by becoming a real estate agent. He saves money and keeps in touch with Diane, but he does not stay happy in a conventional life for long. Sick boy is a drug dealer, and Begbie is on the run because he committed armed robbery. They invade Renton’s flat, trash it, and steal from Renton. The suggestion here is how difficult it is to detach oneself from the destructiveness of an addictive life.

Spud is released from prison and joins Renton, Sick Boy, and Begbie in selling a large amount of heroin for a huge profit. They go to a pub to celebrate. Begbie gives in to his sociopathic ways, attacking a patron and destroying property. Given Sick Boy’s self-destructive actions and Begbie’s violent behavior, Renton tries to get Spud to join him in stealing the drug money. The timid Spud refuses. While the others sleep, Renton steals the cash and runs off.

In an ironic act at the end of the film, Renton says he will use the money derived from selling drugs to now choose those things he once rejected for a life on drugs.