Trainspotting and T2: Trainspotting are films about drug addiction, recovery, friendship, sexual desires and harsh comedy. Throughout both films, Mark Renton (played by Ewan McGregor) and his friends struggle with being a part of a normal lifestyle. This struggle leads to a constant search for escape of what is ‘normal,’ ‘quintessential’ or ‘right.’
In the first film, this leads Renton to find the pleasure of heroin that a few of his friends are already enjoying. Through this, Renton becomes an addict and influences his friends to follow along side. The only thing that matters is the drug, how to get money for heroin, and where to buy heroin. Renton is stealing to then sell the items for money for heroin when he is caught and has a court sentence. The judge drops the charges if he were to seek addiction help and get clean. Spud, his friend, on the other hand is sentenced to jail. Renton gets sober, but not for long.
This film concludes with the group of friends – Sickboy (Simon), Begbie (Frank), Spud, and Renton (Tommy passes, due to his heroin addiction and HIV getting the best of him) – coming together to sell a certain strand of heroin for 16,000£. The deal goes well and each friend should acquire 4,000£ all said and done. In search of something new, more fulfilling and less life sucking, Renton walks away with the money. Begbie is caught destroying the hotel room the next morning and arrested (and probably charged for many other accusations once there). This is a redemption moment for Renton. After drugs, action and confusion, the movie ends with Spud writing out all the stories the group has gone through throughout the years and sending them off with Sickboy’s girlfriend along with illegally signed papers that the $100,000 grant they received for the sauna would be for Sickboy’s girlfriend. Again we are left with the group of friends without anything to show for their “hardwork”. PC: Nathan Huisenga A main struggle faced in the movies is addiction. There is the obvious addiction of heroin, but addiction shows its face in many ways. For example, Renton’s parents are glued to the TV while he scurries around the room in a frenzy to get more heroin. Sickboy switches over to cocaine. They all smoke cigarettes. And Begbie is addicted to violence. Although it may seem like a small few are addicted the way a heroin addict is, it is inevitable that everyone suffers with it in some way, shape or form. This is portrayed a few different times within both movies. For example, when Renton takes the money at the end of the first movie and walks away from his friends, family and heroin. Another example is when Sickboy’s girlfriend leaves to go back home at the end of the movie. Both moments portray the starting of a new. One cannot move forward and away without closing off what has been negative to them. Renton seeks escape from the ‘normal life’ with heroin. Heroin lifestyle isn’t just about the pleasure but about the escape. He is free from commitment and boredom and all the little worries that come with the ‘daily grind.’ Heroin offers him instant satisfaction and a sense of purpose in a young adult’s life which seems aimless and confusing. Although finding a healthy sense of purpose in life can seem difficult, it is possible – which leads us to the next point… In T2: Trainspotting, Renton takes Spud for a run after he nearly kills himself on an overdose. During this, Spud talks about detoxing his body from the heroin and how difficult it is. Renton replies snarkily that it isn’t about detoxing your body, but rather about detoxing your mind. Being an addict is a part of a mindset and mental making. So be addicted, but find something healthy to be addicted to. Running, boxing, crafts, puzzles, gardening, etc. Spud chooses writing and family. Finally, the oh so famous phrase throughout both movies, ‘Choose Life.’ Renton is constantly fighting with the idea that ‘Life’ is what his parents have and that seems silly and uninteresting. This is why he chooses heroin. It is different, satisfying. By the end of the first movie he chooses life by walking away from the heroin lifestyle. The difference is that he is making his own form of ‘Life.’ One doesn’t choose where or who they are born into this world with, but one can make it be whatever they want it to be. What did you think of Trainspotting? Did T2 Trainspotting do the first cult-classic justice? Are there any lessons we missed?
Pick up 20 years later, and we find Renton getting off a plane to come home for his mother’s funeral. This is the first time Renton has gone back since stealing the money from his friends. He tries to meet up with a few of them while back which is welcomed with some less than friendly encounters. Spud, still addicted to heroin and losing his family, was found trying to commit suicide when Renton showed up and saved his life. Sickboy, clean off heroin by addicted to cocaine, was furious to see his “best friend” back with no money to show for the last 20 years. Begbie escaped from prison and is in a constant run after Renton. Meanwhile, Renton, Sickboy, Spud and Sickboy’s girlfriend come together to turn Sickboy’s bar into a sauna (whorehouse).There is a lot of insight into the life of an addict throughout both films. A few lessons learned:
@vvd_mnd via IntagramThere are many forms of addiction.
You have to close a chapter to start another.
Finding a sense of purpose in life can be difficult.
“Be addicted. Be addicted to something else.”
One doesn’t “Choose Life”, they make it.