Shocking yet profound

Rating: Null/10 (29 January 2018)

This movie has a reputation as an unpleasant experience. And I'd have to say for a reason. Yet what often goes unmentioned is the fact that this movie is quite often classified as a black comedy. Again, for a reason.
The story tells of a group of Scottish youngsters struggling through life despite their crippling addiction to heroin and other hard substances. We see them throughout the course of a perhaps a few years. Their highs and their frequent lows. Yet despite all this misery in their lives, they retain a surprisingly chipper attitude about life. They crack jokes, they talk in their thick Scottish accents, they have parties. Yet just beneath the surface, the heroin tightens its grip.
And it's not like director Danny Boyle wants to glorify or romanticize drug use. No, it's still clear that these people have ruined their lives and those around them through their awful life choices. But the movie argues the point that these people are not stupid. There's a reason why people use drugs. Quite often they are the symptom of a life gone wrong rather than the cause.
Very much a movie not for everyone. But, if you can stomach all those nasty scenes, the movie does have a story to tell. A good one and one excellently told.