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Criticism In Trainspotting

Decent Essays

“Choose your future. Choose life.”

This week, audiences will once again hear the famous mantra to the 1996 cult-classic, “Trainspotting,” in its new sequel, “T2 Trainspotting.”

The delivery of those last lines from Ewan McGregor’s opening monologue was a moment that will live on forever in film. The words illuminated the understated, emotional punch that the frenetic, thinly-veiled comedy delivered more than 20 years ago. An adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s novel, “Trainspotting” told the story of four heroin addicts in Edinburgh, Scotland. Viewers saw a glimpse into their impulsive, drug-fueled lives, experiencing all their highs and lows.

McGregor’s monologue laid out the driving force behind the original “Trainspotting” — the consequence of our choices. The paths the four men took in the film were their own, but as McGregor said, they had the ability to choose their future, to choose life. “Trainspotting” didn’t overlook the inherent struggle in dealing with addiction and the fight that it takes to reverse damaging decisions.

The maturity and life perspective in original 1996 film will be further investigated in its sequel, “T2 Trainspotting.” More than 20 years have passed since audiences last saw the four men together, and much has been left to brew between them during that time. The sequel is a reflection on the past, on aging, on regret.

The film’s general sentiments are explained perfectly by one of the four main actors, Ewen Bremner (“Snowpiercer,” “Black Hawk

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