Trainspotting
I'm not sure I was prepared for this movie. I had heard what drugs did to you, but I had never seen it before. Trainspotting showed, very graphically, exactly what it was like. I have to admit that I really liked this movie. It had many good points and some bad points. As a documentary (in a way, it is), this movie enthralled me. I enjoyed it and was somehow in a trance while watching it.
However, I was also sickened by it. It was very difficult to watch, but at the same time it held my view. The filmmakers took many risks to bring the realism to the screen. In fact, they may have made it too realistic. I was turned off by their lifestyle, but I realized that this was their only way to escape from reality. While watching Trainspotting, I recalled A Clockwork Orange, which I didn't like very much, possibly because I didn't understand it or just was turned off by what was going on screen. This movie did almost the same thing, but I related to these characters more because I got to know them more than I did in A Clockwork Orange.
Perhaps I should watch Orange again. After seeing Trainspotting, I have come to the realization that this really happens. Maybe that's the reason I didn't like Orange: I didn't want to believe that it really does happen... even though it was partly sci-fi. But Trainspotting I enjoyed most of the time. However, I felt that it dragged sometimes. I'm not sure why so many people liked this film, because, though I liked it, I wouldn't want to see it again. Guess it's just one of those cult classics... or soon to be classics.
Trainspotting, for those who don't know already, is about drug use the resulting depravity. The movie stars Ewan McGregor in a terrific performance as Mark Renton who uses drugs to escape the reality of life. However, one day, he decides to go straight and get his life back in order. In one shocking scene, the apartment where they take the drugs is littered with garbage. The camera moves forward and shows the people sitting in a room shooting up. We also catch a glimpse of the room next to it which is only separated by a very thin wall. The room is a mess as well, but in the middle of the mess, a baby is crawling on the floor. The scene is shocking even for the few seconds that it was shown for, but the director, Danny Boyle, has done a terrific job with this movie.
I must say that I did not like what I was watching. I am very liberal when it comes to movies, and can take pretty much anything thrown at me. But moments, such as the scene when one of the persons wakes up in a pile of his own feces and then the mom takes the sheets that has the feces in it and rips it away from him, splattering the walls and people with it, are disgusting. I'm sure that it was Boyle's decision to do that, and it really does show what drugs do to you. I loved Trainspotting for its riskiness to show us what it is like. And it does it powerfully. One of the best scenes in the movie is when Ewan McGregor has to go to the bathroom. When he goes, he realizes that he lost his suppositories as well and has to go fish them out. The entire scene is very well done and almost funny in a way.
That's what surprised me the most was the movie's humor. During all these shocking moments, there was a level of humor kept. One liners are spit out, situations people get into are funny, even the glass tossed over a balcony and smashes a girl in the face has some humor in it. I guess it's funny because it's so sickening that these people don't think anything of it.
Trainspotting is rated R for graphic heroin use and resulting depravity, strong language, sex, nudity, and violence. This is one of those movies that kids should watch in order to see why they shouldn't get into heroin and other drugs, but it also shouldn't be watched by kids because it's offensive and vulgar. But then again, that's the point. Drugs are offensive and vulgar, or at least they should be thought that way. And to anyone who says that life may get so bad that you have to use drugs to escape the pain, I say watch this movie and tell me if it is really worth it.