MOVIES AT LA PLAZA: “TRAINSPOTTING”—THIRTY YEARS LATER

Movie Review by Sergio Martinez

This film, directed by Danny Boyle and based on a novel by Irvine Welsh, premiered in 1996. Thirty years later, it returns to the big screen, perhaps so that a new generation can be impacted, as the original generation was, by its frank and harsh portrayal of the subculture of drug addicts and marginalized people in late 1980s Scotland, under the effects of Thatcher's economic adjustments.

The story is narrated by Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor), a drug addict who lives with his parents and frequents three other friends with whom he shares his addiction and moments of relaxation, usually in a pub, and also occasionally earns money through robberies and other petty crimes. The film very effectively portrays the underworld of drugs and marginalization: the poverty of the neighbourhoods where the protagonists live, the very basic diet they consume—junk food from seedy establishments—and, especially, the humble apartment shared by Sick Boy (Johnny Lee Miller) and Allison (Susan Vidler) with their baby, Dawn. Amidst poverty and neglect, tragedy will strike Allison hard, but she won't abandon drugs.

Of the four friends—if you can call their relationship that—Spud (Ewen Bremner) seems to be the least bright, and it's no surprise that when a robbery attempt fails, he's arrested along with Renton, but he's the only one who goes to prison. Meanwhile, their heroin injections, made without proper precautions when using shared syringes, lead to tragedy once again befalling the group, this time affecting Tommy (Kevin McKidd), who contracts HIV.

Sex is also a part of these young men's lives, although it backfires on Renton: after sleeping with a girl he meets at a pub, he realizes that Diane (Kelly Macdonald) is actually underage and now pressures him to continue the relationship; otherwise, she'll report him to the police.

Renton eventually ends up in his parents' custody after an overdose. During this period of forced abstinence, he will endure several episodes of hallucinations. It is in the seclusion of his bedroom that he experiences the only instance of "watching trains"—specifically, the trains depicted on the wallpaper in his room. (There is only one other instance where the young men are walking along the tracks and see a train.)

However, when it comes to money, opportunity finally seems to smile when, at the urging of Begbie (Robert Carlyle), a sinister and highly violent psychopath who occasionally preys on the young people, a lucrative heroin deal is made with an unexpected outcome. The episode will give Renton a new opportunity, and he, incidentally, won't forget his friend Spud.

Thirty years later, Trainspotting retains all its thematic freshness and its ability to shock and, at times, move the audience. A portrait of the drug underworld, more relevant than ever. We recommend it, although we warn that it contains some intense scenes.

Running time: 92 min.