Movie Review SSJ

Be kind to yourself — Trainspotting

Mark Redton is a young but addicted drug addict who lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with three friends: cocky Simon, nicknamed “The Sick Child”; Daniel the goofy but lovable Potato; There was also a young girl named Allison, whose little daughter, Donne, she had by one of the three men, but neither of them could figure out who was the father. Among their frequent friends were Tommy and Begbie: Tommy was a lively, healthy young man, who did not do drugs, and who was in love with Liz; Begbie is a psychotic and violent maniac.

These several people are the street of the small mix, they do nothing all day, drug, fight became their daily meal, really boring, they rely on “train guess” to kill time.

Mark meets young, sexy Diane at a disco. She takes him home for the night. When Mark met her parents the next morning, he was a little scared to learn that Diane was only 14. Tommy is in the throes of a breakup when Liz decides to break up with him because she suspects he sold a videotape of them having sex to someone else, but it was actually Mark who did it.

Mark is one of those people who, on the one hand, is addicted to the pleasures of drugs, but on the other hand, he clearly understands the harm drugs can do to him. He found that his regular use of heroin had reduced his libido, and he envied the sexual power of his friends, so he tried to quit, but eventually succumbed to the temptation, and the habit continued. In order to buy heroin, Mark and Daniel gang up to steal, and with Begbie robbed tourists, Daniel was caught in prison. Tommy is devastated by the loss of his girlfriend Liz and is addicted to drugs, both physically and mentally ruined.

For lack of proper care, Allison’s little daughter dies suddenly in bed, which is a great shock to Mark. Shocked, he overdosed on heroin and was hospitalized unconscious. At that time, Mark’s parents showed up and took him home to force him to quit. Mark finally realized that peace and ordinariness are the essence of life, so he overcame all difficulties and quit drugs. To make a fresh start, Mark left Edinburgh, and his friends, and took a job with a real estate company in London.

However, Mark’s new life is interrupted shortly after the beginning, first Begbie to escape capture after a robbery in London, then Simon, who wants to settle down in London, to make a living as a pimp, Mark almost can’t stand him. Then came the news that Tommy had died of AIDS, and they returned to Edinburgh together for the funeral.

Begbie had obtained ￡4,000 worth of heroin from the Russian sailors, and with Mark and others (including Daniel, now out of prison), he went to London to resell it. He sold it for ￡16,000 and made a fortune. That night, Mark left Daniel’s share in his suitcase, and while everyone was asleep, he took all the money and was ready to start his new life abroad.

1. Psychedelic and depraved

Since the sixties and seventies “angry youth”, the end of the 19th century Britain, Europe and around the world once again the collapse of the spirit of the younger generation, “trainspotting” is the representative of the film about performance, it is seen as “1996 teenagers most moving, even degenerate alone cry bitterly that part of the movie”, than their predecessors, Today’s strayed youth are more decadent and, in a sense, more rational. They have a good nature, but they allow themselves to fall. In Trainspotting, drug use, as an optional option, becomes a way of life for the characters, making them addicted and miserable. “Scotland, Scotland, the ugliest place in the world,” Mark’s partner shouted from the silent railroad tracks. Others derided him – the “angry young men” of the postmodern era, who live in self-imposed exile from their nightmare lives and no longer have any sense of a spiritual father.

2.The nightmare of the postmodern society

“Trainspotting” tells the story of a group of British youth, they take drugs, robbery, destruction and nothing to do, but they are satisfied with the erosion state of life, I don’t want to think can’t change the status quo also they escape all specification and responsibility, they despise all the normal social order, and they are a group of anarchists.

But Mark is a rout in this group, a paradox of a decadent mind and an unfailing conscience, addicted to the highs of drugs while constantly looking inward, ready to get rid of them. This self-struggle wore Mark down, and when Mark was ready to quit, mediocrity gave him a generous hand to life. In fact, each of us will eventually step into mediocrity, which is no one can escape the home.

After detoxification Mark finally understand that he is no longer young, emptiness and boredom let him begin to face the reality of life, he can not go back, he has grown up, he is no longer young. So, he went to find another way of life in the adult world full of cheating and being lied to every day. In this adult world, Mark found that he could still get along just fine. He began to no longer miss his youth, it has passed, nothing worth to continue to miss.

So when the friends of his youth reappeared in front of him, Mark found that he was no longer part of that young world, he was no longer part of it. So he chose to betray, in fact, who will come to this step, it depends on who mature faster, who is more easily accepted by the world.

There is no right or wrong, betrayal is not shameful, shameful is stuck in the past people.

It may be hard for people to accept that Mark finally gets completely liberated by betraying his friends, but perhaps this is just a good wish to express to those who have lost their way, thus giving Mark infinite opportunities and hope. But it is an irony that a man can win social approval through true moral degradation.

The film seems to have confused people, in the post-modern society, what is real? Is it the attachment to the past time, or the yearning for the future life, or that period of unbearable youth?