The opening scene is one of the best and most important
scenes as it sets the tone for the whole film. We see Renton and his friends
running down a busy street to the non-diegetic music, Iggy pops ‘Lust for
life’. The fast pace of this song gives the audience a feeling of the rush and
euphoria the group experience throughout their high points in the film. It
could also represent the groups fast paced lifestyle as none of them have jobs
and are forced to cheat and steal in order to get the money for their next fix.
This immediately engages the audience, causing them to question why they are
running or what they are running from, a question that is soon answered as the
camera angle changes from a close up of their feet hitting the ground to a
close up of Renton’s face as we see that there are men in suits chasing them.
This seen quickly indicates that these are not a group ordinary, law-abiding
young men. This is the theme throughout the film as they are always running
away and they use their drug use as a way of doing so. We see them running away
from authority, employment, conformity, family and friends. However, most
predominantly we see them running from their own responsibilities and the
consequences of their actions. The non-diegetic monologue over the music during
this scene of Renton saying: “Choose
life, choose a job, choose a career, choose a family…” This gives his
philosophy of a typical, middle class life. The monologue ends with “I chose
not to choose life” again reflecting that he is running away from conformity.
Later in the film we see him with his parents in a house that looks quite
suitable for a middle class family however the impression we get from him is
very different. He surrounds himself with people of the underclass which he has
now also become as he does not work and him and his friends rely on stealing to
make a living. This also shows Renton’s rebellion against his parents and the
middle class people in general. His views are an accurate representation of
working and underclass people at this time due to Margret Thatcher’s introduction
of the poll tax to Scotland. This was first tested on Scotland to see how they
reacted as the government knew that the Scottish people were already not on
their side so losing their votes would not make a huge difference. The poll tax
involved taxing people based on the number of people living in a house rather
than the value of the house as it was done previously. This meant that many
people, typically young groups of men, who could not afford to live on their
own were now being individually taxed rather than splitting it between their
household. This meant that many Scottish people felt that the government did not
care about them as they could not afford to pay this tax. This increased the
underclass peoples need to steal in order to gain money to pay their taxes due
to it costing them more than before. This could explain why Renton rejects
everything that is stereotypically desired by people as he does not want to be
part of this society. This point is supported later in the film as Renton
famously says “it’s shite being Scottish” and explaining that they are
“colonised by wankers” which shows exactly how he feels about the English
people which could possibly be due to them neglecting the Scottish.
The
opening scene also quickly cuts to clips of the group playing football against
a team of well-groomed and more skilled players. Throughout the film
masculinity is symbolised in different ways and one of these ways it through
football. The fact that they are seen to have very poor football skills in
these scenes may show that they are not very masculine characters and the team
they are playing against represent the men they could be if they didn’t spend
all their time and money on doing drugs. The parallel editing between these two
scenes would usually show two things happening at the same time however in this
film this is not the case as the shots show the same people doing different
things. However, I feel that both scenes show that the group are losers in
every way. We see Renton getting tackled to the ground by a very middle class
looking man in a suit and in the football shots we see them being clearly
beaten by a group of men in expensive looking, clean football uniforms. Both of
these groups of people are seemingly middle class or at least not underclass
like Renton and his friends, this could show that the underclass are the losers
in society and are always beaten by the people in the higher classes.
Although
all the scenes are hard hitting and draw the viewer deeper in to the story,
there are certain scenes that stand out to me. One of these scenes is when
Renton climbs into the filthy “worst toilet in Scotland” to retrieve his opium
suppository. The natural lighting and grey walls in the bathroom create a
depressing atmosphere, showing just how Renton is feeling at the time. In my
eyes this scene represents how degrading and dehumanising being an addict can be
as he is willing to retrieve drugs from a dirty toilet. This also shows how far
addicts are willing to go to get a hit. The lack of lyrics in the tranquil
classical music during this scene creates a juxtaposition forcing the audience
to focus on the gruesome scene in front of them. The mid shot used in this
scene takes the viewer close to the toilet, enveloping the audience in Renton’s experience and showing just how filthy it
actually is which helps them to empathise with him a little more. As the scene
progresses the director chooses to take the viewer on a dream -like,
hallucinogenic fuelled journey with Renton into the toilet itself. To me this
represents just how all- consuming it was for him to retrieve his drugs and how
detached from reality he had become. During this scene the colour scheme
changes from the dull grey to a beautiful deep blue, reflecting the change in
Renton’s mind once he had retrieved his drugs. This shows how much addicts
depend on drugs to change their mood and the contrast between the colours in
these shots shows how much drugs change the way Renton perceives this
situation. Overall colour plays a big part in the film as there are many bright
colours in the film however they appear dull and dirty looking. This gives the
film a depressive feel as even the bright yellow colours seem to be dim and
miserable. The film is a surrealist twist on a realist style film as many of
the scenes in the film seem like very gritty depictions of real social issues.
However, the exaggerated effects and odd scene choices make this film stand out
from the normal realist films. I feel that this adds to the effectiveness of
the film as through the eyes of a drug user the world may seem like a very
surreal place due to the drugs altering the way they perceive things. I think
that this film purposely breaks the conventions of a realist film in order to
get across the idea that Renton sees the world in a very different way to the
way we see it. The drugs cloud his judgement making him unable to distinguish
between what is real and what is not and we, as an audience, are shown what he
is seeing rather than what is actually going on.
