Adapted from Irvine Welsh's famous novel (1993), Trainspotting, this ode to heroin and other addictions illustrates the depraved Scottish youth of the 90s. Still relevant, Trainspotting takes us on a trip of a group of friends who preferred heroin to life.
A forgotten Scotland
Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor), an unpromising and unambitious young man, lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, an economically weakened state. Like most Scots of the time, Renton was a heroin addict. He spends his time with his best friends, heroin addicts, Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), a James Bond-obsessed tombeur, and Spud (Ewan Bremner) a sympathetic simpleton. But also Tommy (Kevin McKidd), an honest boy, sports enthusiast and Begbie (Robert Carlyle), a furious alcoholic who hates heroin.
To pay for the heroine they consume in the den of the dealer Swanney ("The Mother Superior"), the three friends will commit several small crimes. 
Wonderfully adapted by Danny Boyle, Trainspotting depicts the harsh Scottish reality of the time. Indeed, the country falls into a difficult economic crisis following the election of Tchatcher. Ruled by Great Britain, Scotland is seeing its independence and any possibility of having it soar. This economic crisis and the English takeover of the country are evoked several times by the characters. Especially during yet another speech of revolt on the part of Renton, when Tommy asks him if he is not proud to be Scottish. "It's shite being Scottish! We're the lowest of the low. The scum of the fucking Earth! " (It's crap to be Scottish! We are the most null of the most null, the waste of humanity.). But community belonging is a point that we find in each of the characters. British humour, arrogance, self-mockery, pride and a lot of addiction.
Choose life
"Take the best orgasm you've ever had, multiply it by a thousand and you're still nowhere near it!" (Take the best orgasm you've ever had, multiply it by a thousand, and you're still a long way off). Ewan McGregor brilliantly interprets this heroin addict who never finds a last fix to his last fix. His friends are harmful, the mirror of his addiction, impossible to get out without running away from them. Even when they do, they come back like the plague. But as Renton says in the film, "he's a friend, what can we do?" Against a backdrop of rock from before (Lou Reed, Iggy Pop) and Britpop of the 90s (Blur, Pulp), Trainspotting was and remains the British recognition film, the British equivalent of La Haine. A phenomenon of identification, the feature film adapts both today and to its time.
A sequel titled T2 Trainspotting, based on Irvin Welsh's novel Porno, was released in May 2017. Still directed by Danny Boyle, we find in this second opus, the same characters 20 years later, interpreted by the same actors.
A dramatic black comedy, Trainspotting takes us into the dark world of addiction. Thanks to a scenario punctuated by rock and flaming Britpop, the scenes scroll by at high speed, further illustrating the constant drug use. A classic from a classic to discover without further delay on Netflix.
