Trainspotting (1996, UK)
In Danny Boyle's independent film - an urban drama
about slum-dwelling Edinburgh, Scotland junkies with thick accents,
adapted from Irvine Welsh's 1993 cult novel:
- in the film's opening, nihilistic heroin addict
Mark 'Rent-Boy' Renton's (Ewan McGregor) "choose life" voice-over
diatribe as he raced away from pursuing security guards: "Choose
life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a
f--kin' big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact
disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low
cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed-interest mortgage
repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose
leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on
hire purchased in a range of f--kin' fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering
who the f--k you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sittin' on that
couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing
f--kin' junk food into your mouth. Choose rottin' away at the end
of it all, pissin' your last in a miserable home, nothing more
than an embarassment to the selfish, f--ked-up brats that you've
spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life...But
why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose
life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons.
Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?"
- the disgusting scene of Renton's toilet-diving scene
(and voice-over) in a grungy and grimy public bathroom, when he had
to dive head-first into the toilet bowl searching for his precious
opium suppositories just deposited there after his heroin-induced
constipation had worn off - and swimming through the sewage water
to find the opium: "Heroin makes you constipated. The heroin
from my last hit is fading away, and the suppositories have yet to
melt. I'm no longer constipated. (He ran into a pub's dirty bathroom)
I fantasize about a massive, pristine convenience, brilliant gold
taps, virginal white marble, a seat carved from ebony, a cistern
full of Chanel No. 5, and a flunky handing me pieces of raw silk
toilet roll. But under the circumstances, I'll settle for anywhere" (He
pooped, then realized he'd have to retrieve what he had just excreted);
after finding what he was looking for, he exclaimed underwater (garbled):
"F--k! Yes, a f--king godsend"