2. Trainspotting (1996)
I lived in Scotland for five years, and I frequently visited Edinburgh, which I felt to be a gorgeous capital city full of culture and beauty. Little did I know of the sleazy underbelly of the city as experienced by Renton and co in Trainspotting. Renton and co are introduced in the early part of the film. There is amoral con man Sick Boy, simple minded but good natured Spud, clean cut athlete Tommy and violent sociopath Begbie. Renton wants to quit heroin, and after a diarrhoea mishap, he locks himself into a hotel room to detox. Due to this, his libido increases and he takes a 15 year old girl called Diana home to her house. Initially in the dark about her age, Renton is blackmailed to keep seeing Diana. All the lads start using heroin again and even Tommy agrees to try it. A ghastly event occurs. Allison - their friend and fellow user - finds her baby dead from neglect in its cot. Nobody noticed and they are consumed by guilt - especially Sick Boy who may have been the baby's father. Renton and Spud are caught stealing from a bookstore. Renton chooses rehab over prison and is put onto methadone. He is bored silly and goes to his dealer's house for heroin - nearly killing himself by OD. Renton's parents take him home and force him into withdrawal where he hallucinates the famous baby on the ceiling bit of the film. Renton comes through the detox but is bored and depressed. Tommy is now gravely addicted to heroin and HIV positive as well. Renton tests negative for HIV and he goes to London where he gets a good job and lives soberly. That is until Begbie and Sick Boy - by now hardened criminals - turn up at his door, looking for shelter. In Edinburgh, Tommy dies of AIDS related illness. Renton becomes involved in a heroin deal which nets the lads £16,000. Seeing Begbie beat the crap out of a man and then glass him for the mere crime of spilling beer over him, Renton decides to steal the money. He asks Spud if he wants in on it, but Spud is scared silly by Begbie. Nevertheless, Renton steals the money and leaves two grand for Spud. The implication is that Renton is now through with drugs and will have a stable life. Upon its release, there was a great deal of controversy about Trainspotting - it was almost critically revered across the board - but some worried that it might glamourise drugs. I can tell you now that the film, whilst not coming down with a reactionary sledge hammer on the use of drugs, will not inspire any great desire in you to try heroin. There's the poor neglected baby girl Dawn who dies in the corner while the lads get stoned. Her mother may be a pathetic junkie but she is heartbroken over the death of her child. Heroin abuse is firmly the cause of the baby's death which comes back to terrorise Renton in his detox. There is also a lot of messy bodily fluids in the film such as vomit, diarrhoea and blood which are extremely off putting. The characters all seem like they are on the verge of crapping themselves - which is hardly a great advert for people to go using heroin. But it is the bleakness of their lives - just living for their next fix, never working, sitting around in grotty doss houses - the sheer boredom of it all, the fact that nothing ever gets done, that may be the strongest advert to never take heroin in Trainspotting.