TRAINSPOTTING : ANALYSIS OF SECOND HALF
Analyse how film form is used to explore the ideology, messages and issues of the film
( friendship, betrayal, escape , family life, alienation, addiction , past v future , masculinity , responsibility v freedom, individuality v society, etc. ).
You should focus here on the second half of the film and on Tommy's narrative and fate and Renton's attempts to escape and his final betrayal. Look at how film form is used to guide audience response and alignment in key scenes.
( friendship, betrayal, escape , family life, alienation, addiction , past v future , masculinity , responsibility v freedom, individuality v society, etc. ).
You should focus here on the second half of the film and on Tommy's narrative and fate and Renton's attempts to escape and his final betrayal. Look at how film form is used to guide audience response and alignment in key scenes.
In the scene with Renton and Tommy we can see a close sense of friendship even though we know that realistically it shouldn't be like that and that is is quite ironic. Renton got Tommy hooked on heroin which then ended up causing him to get AIDS.
From this scene and the first scenes where we see Tommy we can see a drastic change in his character. In the beginning of the film he was playing football, enthusiastic to climb the mountain, having sex with his girlfriend, was employed and overall was very active unlike the rest of his friends which looked like addicts and failures next to him as he seemed to have his life together. Now in this scene we can see he is an addict too like they were, while Renton stands there and isn't addicted anymore as he can go on and off of heroin without it affecting him anymore. This comes across as quite unfair and almost as a betrayal of friendship, because he allowed Tommy to try heroin and now suddenly he has AIDS, whilst Renton has been doing it for a very long time and he hasn't caught it.
Even though Renton should feel guilty and Tommy should feel betrayed, during this shot they appear to be getting along quite well. Renton gives Tommy money which could express his guilt and a way to be forgiven, while Tommy is just happy that he received the money and doesn't seem to be feeling any hatred towards Renton.
There is a strong sense of depression and sadness in the dim lighting of the rough apartment. In earlier scenes we could see the same apartment, just we didn't really focus on how depressing it really looks as we were more focused on the addiction and the heroin going into their veins.
A blue glow in seen in the corridor in the scene where the viewer discovers that the baby is dead whilst the mum is screaming. This glow gave the apartment some colour to make it look a bit less dead, even if blue is a colour that symbolises sadness which is what was about to be felt by the viewer, which could be as if the light was foreshadowing it.
The lack of music makes the viewers focus on the apartment with diegetic sounds which make the atmosphere quite tense and unsettling. The apartment also looks quite specious and empty, filled with a feeling of death. The silence makes the viewer pay more attention to the little actions or movements of the characters. We are used to having a beat or music all the way through the film so in these rare occasions we feel as if something important is going to happen.
