"We Would Have Injected Vitamin C If Only They Had Made It Illegal!"

Because I’m a poor college student strapped for cash, this time I’ve chosen to not review a new release, but an older film. This time around is Trainspotting, a cult favorite I just saw for the first time.

This movie has almost nothing to do with trains, but has everything to do with drugs, particularly heroin. Lots and LOTS of heroin. Mark Renton, played by Ewan McGregor, is a young man with nothing better to do than shoot up with his junkie buddies. And when he’s not shooting up, he’s looking for the next fix, stealing televisions from retirement homes and cash from his parents to feed his habit. Renton captures the disenchantment of Generation X and his own feeling of purposeless:

“Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a f*cking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage…Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, f*cked up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?”

I should warn you… this movie is definitely not for the squeamish. Toilet diving for lost suppositories, the issue of constipation and then decidedly non-constipation, AIDS, death by cat feces, violent brawls, most certainly underage sex and the stealing of friends’ homemade pornography are just a few of the antics that Renton and his junkie buddies get themselves into. But the worst is when Renton is locked in his childhood bedroom by his parents after he accidentally overdoses and they force him to quit heroin cold turkey. He suffers a series of hallucinations, each more terrible than the next; his friends in jail, infected with HIV, and the dead baby of one of his junkie buddies crawling across the ceiling to slowly creak its head around Exorcist-style (Ahh!).

While I spent much of this film in slight shock or pulling my shirt over my head in disgust, I really enjoyed it. It’s strange that such a dark and prickly movie would end up giving me such a fuzzy feeling. Throughout the film Renton attempts to stay clean and off heroin, and although he missteps several times, by the end we are left with the feeling that he might have finally found his way. After it all, Renton does finally decide to choose a future, to choose life.

If you don’t mind excessive bad language, drug use and have a strong stomach, I would highly recommend this film. Ewan McGregor does and excellent job as Renton, as does the rest of the cast. Against the gritty background of Scotland, Renton and his junkie friends perfectly embody the disenchantment of his generation, a sentiment that still holds true for young people over ten years later.

And just for kicks, and because I was curious, here are some of the many street names associated with heroin.