LOCATION: Edinburgh
FILM: Trainspotting

I still can’t work out what the director is trying to say about heroin in this movie. On one side there are the comedowns, the life of crime, the pain inflicted upon family and friends, the lack of cash and the general living in shit. On the other hand whilst on heroin Renton gets to pull and shag a rather fit school girl, not work and shoot a bulldog in the arse for fun! It’s a difficult choice.

 

Although Trainspotting is set in Edinburgh most of the film is actually shot in Glasgow. I was unsure of where to put it but I decided that the most well known scene actually takes place in Edinburgh, the film is supposed to be set in Edinburgh and if you are visiting Scotland you will probably visit Glasgow at the same time.

 

The story revolves around six main characters, junkies Renton, Spud and Sickboy, clean veined psychopath Begbie, fitness junkie Tommy and the aforementioned school girl Diane. It is a gritty and hard look at the life of a heroin addict with tragic and comedic moments thrown in equal measure. There are a number of places in Trainspotting that you just wouldn’t want to visit but here are a few that may interest fans.

 

The Opening Chase: Renton (Ewan McGregor) and Spud (Ewan Bremner) burst out of the John Menzies Book store that they have just robbed and sprinting off down Princes Street. Renton makes it as far as the Calton Street Bridge before he gets hit by a car and the tackled by Scotland’s finest.

 

The “Do you see the beast” Park: Rouken Glen Park is the setting for the Sean Connery inspired air rifle game. With both Renton and Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller) giving their finest 007 impressions before firing an air rifle at an suspecting pet.

 

Begbies Pub: After taking centre stage with his pool story Begie (Robert Carlyle) shows us an innovative way to return a pint glass to the bar and start a brawl in one swift sequence. The Pub used in the scene is Crosslands and can be found on Queen Margaret Drive in Glasgow and they would rather you returned the empties in a more conventional manner!

 

The other place that I would like to recommend visiting is the Station at which Tommy takes his friends to inspire them about Scotland partly because its beautiful and partly because I just loved standing there and shouting Renton’s speech with my mates. This is the one “It’s SHITE being Scottish! We’re the lowest of the low. The scum of the fucking Earth! The most wretched miserable servile pathetic trash that was ever shat on civilization. Some people hate the English. I don’t. They’re just wankers. We, on the other hand, are colonized by wankers. Can’t even find a decent culture to get colonized by”. There is some debate over which station this was actually filmed at but both suggested look very similar and offer the same experience. It’s either Rannoch Moor Station or Corrour Station.

 

That’s the end of that so I am leaving Trainspotting and I’m cleaning up, I’m moving on, going straight and choosing life.

Filed under: Edinburgh