Trainspotting (reaction paper)

 The opening scene of the movie Trainspotting directed by Danny Boyle was two guys, Mark and Spud running away from two men of authority and while being chased, there was a voice over of Mark saying several things that comprises a good life which at first I thought was exactly what he wanted his life to be. But as soon as he finished enumerating, he ended it by saying that he chose not to choose life and he chose something else and the reasons are, none  he said. That scene already established that the whole story would be about his and his friends’ encounter with drugs and all that it takes in having a life depending on drugs, sex and violence.

At first, I was culture shocked at how Renton and his friends managed to have a life like that and live in such a filthy place. I can’t imagine how people, especially the young ones could depend that strongly on drugs and what it does to them. The five main actors in this film are all males and with a life threatening drug habit. Drama, comedy, crime and drug culture are the genres where Trainspotting can be classified. Drama was present whenever their lives as drug dependents was shown on the film. On the other hand, comedy was there during Spuds job interview which kind of lessen the seriousness of the film therefore giving it a light feel. Trainspotting showed crime and drug culture with the characters being drug dependents themselves.

Three of the main characters, Renton, Spud and Sick Boy had serious heroin addiction while the psycho one, Begbie is an alcoholic. Getting tired of the usual scenarios of having a platter of needle, spoon, lighter, and heroin in his life, Renton decided to get rid of this bad habit. But it wasn’t that easy at all, he even came to the point where he said to take one last hit but that one last hit resulted into an overdose. That was my favorite scene because the red carpet on his sides already gave the audience the idea that he is already close to his death.

When Renton finally chooses survival, he plunges into the sweats, chills, pain, cravings, and hallucinations of withdrawal. Wisecracking all the way, Renton stumbled his way into alcohol, heroin, and vomit. As he works through the deadly aftermath, he surrenders: "I'm going straight; I'm choosing life, starter home, junk food, family Christmas." As if there were nothing in between.