Being a junkie never looked better and never looked worse. From the off, Iggy Pop beats the drums around our ears, he sings his “Lust For Life” of all things, and Renton (Ewan McGregor) runs and runs and runs away from his captors. Until eternity, because there is one freeze frame. When his stuff falls into the dirtiest public toilet in Glasgow, Renton dives into the shit – and in his imagination he swims through a colorful, shimmering ocean in search of his treasure, to the sounds of Brian Eno’s moon music.
Later, while he is delirious in withdrawal, he is followed by a dead baby that crawls upside down on the ceiling towards him – to this day one of the most terrible horror sequences that does not come from a horror film. Renton is plagued by feelings of guilt because the mother let the infant starve to death in her junkie den; when he finally hopes to die of a heroin overdose himself, we see how he six feet under is let into his bed – why dig a grave? – which, Lou Reed also thinks, he considers the condition of a “Perfect Day”.
Heroin is the perspective
What makes Danny Boyle’s “Trainspotting,” which hit theaters 21 years ago, so special is the lack of political commentary that names culprits. A comment that draws a connection between neglect and drug addiction or between unemployment and drug addiction. The director tells the story the way Irvine Welsh did in the original book: The Scottish junkies around Renton (Ewan McGregor), Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller) and Spud (Ewen Bremner) do not suffer from a lack of prospects, on the contrary, heroin does the only thing that offers them perspective, no matter what society offers them.
Life is more than just trainspotting, spending afternoons watching trains. Then it’s better to lie in the park and shoot skinheads and attack dogs who just want to relax in the sun with an air rifle. In his monologue that has become legendary among film fans, Renton says: “I chose not to choose life: I chose something else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you’ve got heroin?” Philosophy or junkie drivel, everyone can decide for themselves.
1996 – the year of the English
Still, it’s hard to say that Boyle and Welsh would recommend pursuing a career in drugs. In his interview for a McJob, we see Spud as a sweaty stutter in a suit, high to the max, and of course he doesn’t get the job. The material is also to blame for the absolute worst case scenario occurring after a one-night stand: his sphincter failed while he was sleeping, so the sphincter, and the bed is full. So heroin addicts crap out regularly, but at least they do it peacefully. The same cannot be said about alcoholics: Begbie (Robert Carlyle) is a real pub crawler, he beats people up when he’s drunk. So fuel is not a worthwhile alternative in this film.
“Trainspotting” marked a highlight of the year in 1996, which would go down in history as “Cool Britannia.” The English are crying, as the opening party of the London Olympics in 2012 showed, even today. Back then, Oasis competed against Blur, the “Britpop” label brought together a number of good and a number of not-good bands, the Spice Girls were considered feminists and Noel Gallagher shook Tony Blair’s hand at 10 Downing Street.
This film proved that the United Kingdom could still do cinema. The “Trainspotting” soundtrack brought together almost 80 minutes of music that was the soundtrack of life in the spring, summer, fall and winter of 1996, and also in the spring, summer, fall and winter of the following year. In addition to the Americans Iggy and Reed, these were mainly Britpop bands like Blur and Elastica, as well as the veterans New Order and Primal Scream. “Camp! Lager” called Underworld, their “Born Slippy” marked the highlight of all festival appearances that year. Many viewers say that was the time of the last big raves.
If you had told the young Ewan McGregor before filming began that he would be playing a Jedi three years later in the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, he would probably have laughed. After Trainspotting, McGregor became a Hollywood star, just like Robert Carlyle and director Danny Boyle. Who might have suspected back then that he had what it took to be an Oscar director.
“T2 Trainspotting” is coming now, it will premiere at the Berlinale, and we will go to the cinema because the characters have grown close to our hearts, especially because of their many mistakes.