Train Spot

Trainspotting is a movie about Mark Renton, a heroine addict in Edinburgh with four friends who’s nicknames were Sickboy, Begbie, Tommy and Spud. For the most part of the film, I personally felt sort of “high” in a sense that the scenes that were depicted were somewhat crazy and stupid that I felt like I was in the situation Renton was in. The scene with the worst toilet ever was the scene that started the “high” feeling for me. Renton being no longer constipated defecated in an extremely dirty toilet and shoved his hand in it to get a white pill which was handed to him. He eventually falls in the toilet and at that time, seemed like he was swimming in an open ocean. I admit that I looked away for most part of the scene since I literally felt nauseous seeing that scene.

As the movie went along, Renton was brought to the hospital by a taxi driver because of overdose of heroine. It was at this moment where I felt the “high” feeling I felt throughout the movie. Renton was brought home and was isolated in his room by his parents to force him into withdrawal which started to make him go crazy. In my opinion, the fast soundtrack that was playing in the background matched what Renton was going through at that time since he wanted heroine but the absence of the drug made him go crazy. He began to scream and have visions of different things which lasted for I think over 5 minutes. I had to look away for awhile since staring at the long scene sort of made me dizzy. I never felt a hangover in my life but I felt like that scene gave me a glimpse of what a hangover feels like since a drug addict goes crazy without it and an alcoholic has bad headaches and vomits at least that is how I would describe what I was feeling at that moment.

After that long scene, Renton eventually moves to London and seems like he has given up on heroine and has his life straightened out. However, Begbie comes back and influences Renton to go back to his old ways. They both return to Edinburgh because of Tommy’s death. Shortly after, Sickboy, Begbie and Spud reunite with Renton and force him to try out a new heroine’s purity. They eventually earn £ 16,000 which they split it amongst the four of them (£4,000 each). They celebrate in a pub but Begbie causes a fight and the following day Renton steals the £16,000 but leaves £4,000 for spud since he felt bad for him.

It was after the long withdrawal scene that I felt “normal” again since I believe the movie did a great job putting the audience in Renton’s shoes. In the end, I felt happy for Renton since he was able to move on from the negative influences surrounding his life. Even if he did betray Begbie, his other two friends Sickboy and Spud also left him which made to believe that they all moved on from a negative force that kept bringing them down.