Trainspotting

Trainspotting is a 1996 British black comedy-drama film directed by Danny Boyle and starring Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, and Kelly Macdonald in her debut. Based on the 1993 novel of the same title by Irvine Welsh, the film was released in the United Kingdom on 23 February 1996.[4]

The Academy Award-nominated screenplay by John Hodge follows a group of heroin addicts in an economically depressed area of Edinburgh and their passage through life. Beyond drug addiction, other themes in the film include an exploration of the urban poverty and squalor in Edinburgh.[5]

Trainspotting was released to critical acclaim, and is regarded by many critics as one of the best films of the 1990s.[6][7][8] The film was ranked tenth by the British Film Institute (BFI) in its list of Top 100 British films of the 20th century. In 2004, the film was voted the best Scottish film of all time in a general public poll.[9] In 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine ranked it the tenth best British film ever.[10] A sequel, T2 Trainspotting, was released in January 2017.

Plot

Mark Renton, a 26-year-old unemployed heroin addict, lives with his parents in the Edinburgh ward of Leith, and regularly partakes in drug use with his friends: treacherous, womanising James Bond fanatic Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson; docile and slow-minded Daniel "Spud" Murphy; and Swanney, "Mother Superior", their dealer. Renton's other friends, aggressive alcoholic psychopath Francis "Franco" Begbie and footballer Tommy Mackenzie, who both abstain from illegal drugs, warn him about his dangerous drug habit. Growing tired of his reckless lifestyle, Renton attempts to wean himself off heroin with a bare room, several foodstuffs, and opium suppositories given by ill-reputed dealer Mikey Forrester; he also suffers a bout of diarrhoea, and has to relieve himself in "the worst toilet in Scotland". At a nightclub, Renton notices that his cessation of heroin use has increased his libido. He seduces a girl named Diane Coulston and they return to her apartment to have sex. The following morning, Renton is horrified to learn that she is below the age of consent and lives with her parents, who Renton initially assumes are her flatmates. Diane threatens to report him to the police if he does not continue the relationship.

After several unsuccessful attempts to reintegrate into society, Renton, Sick Boy, and Spud relapse into heroin use. Tommy also begins to dabble in drug use, after becoming depressed due to being dumped by his girlfriend Lizzy, thanks to the actions of an unknowing Renton. Even the negligence-induced death of Dawn, the infant daughter of Sick Boy and his girlfriend Allison, does not persuade the group to recover. Later, Renton, Sick Boy, and Spud are caught shoplifting; Renton and Spud are arrested while Sick Boy narrowly escapes. Spud receives a six-month custodial sentence at HMP Saughton, while Renton avoids jail time by entering a drug rehabilitation programme. Despite being given methadone to help him, Renton quickly relapses and nearly dies of a heroin overdose at Swanney's home. Upon returning home after his revival at a hospital, Renton's parents lock him in his childhood bedroom and force him to go cold turkey. Following a difficult withdrawal punctuated by hallucinations of his friends and visions of Dawn crawling on the ceiling, Renton is released upon the condition of an HIV/AIDS test. Despite years of sharing syringes with other addicts, Renton tests negative.

Now clean, but bored and devoid of a sense of meaning in his life, Renton visits Tommy, who is now severely addicted to heroin and has tested HIV-positive. On Diane's advice, Renton moves to London and takes a job as a property letting agent. He begins to enjoy his new life of sobriety in London and corresponds with Diane, who updates him on developments back home. However, to Renton's shock and frustration, Begbie, wanted for a failed armed robbery, tracks him down and takes up refuge with him in his apartment. Sick Boy, now trying to be a pimp and drug dealer, soon joins them. Begbie and Sick Boy later attack two of Renton's clientele (at a supposedly impossible-to-sell property where Renton has sent them to get them off his back), resulting in him losing his job, and the trio return to Edinburgh, both to avoid police attention and for the funeral of Tommy, who has died of AIDS-related toxoplasmosis.

Following the funeral, Sick Boy asks Renton, Begbie, and Spud (who has been recently released from prison) for help in buying two kilograms of pure heroin from Mikey Forrester (who got it after a drunken night out with two Russian sailors), for the low price of £4,000, to later resell at a higher price; but Renton is needed to supply the remaining £2,000 asking price. After Begbie threatens him, Renton reluctantly covers the remaining cost, and the group returns to London to sell the heroin to a major dealer for £16,000. As they celebrate in a pub, Renton secretly suggests to Spud that they could both leave with the money, but Spud, motivated by fear and loyalty, refuses. However, Sick Boy indicates he would happily do so, and Begbie brutally beats a man after a petty accident. Concluding that Begbie and Sick Boy are unpredictable and dangerous, Renton quietly steals the bag of money and leaves the next morning. Spud witnesses him but does not warn the others. Renton leaves £4,000 in a safe deposit box for Spud, who "never hurt anybody". Begbie, discovering both Renton and the money gone, angrily destroys the hotel room where the four stayed, prompting the police to arrive and arrest him as Sick Boy and Spud flee. Spud discreetly claims his share of the money, and Renton walks away to his new life.