Trainspotting sequel brings back ‘ 97 memories
THE release of Trainspotting 2 ( T2) brought us all hurtling back to 1997 and caused us to take stock of the last two decades.
For many of us the meaning of the film was lost on us twenty years ago, but watching it now, it takes on a whole new meaning. Thankfully the whole heroin side of it is still a mystery but the relationships and the bitter sweet side of the film are more relatable.
For many of us though the main thing it made us realise is that twenty years have passed since ‘ Born Slippy’ filled the airwaves and how many changes have taken place. For me I was a 19- year- old heading off to NUIG full of optimism ( and Budweiser). I dreamt of being a journalist and was resigned to never having children. Twenty years on and albeit part time at the moment the journalism part came to pass and the never having children part has been replaced by my three offspring.
1997 Ireland differed greatly from the Ireland of today. As we said goodbye to our first strong woman President, Mary Robinson who took up her new role as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, we welcomed possibly our greatest female ambassador Mary MacAleese. Fast forward twenty years and we have Michael D. Higgens representing the nation, who to be fair has done an excellent job and proved that good things do come in small packages.
Bertie Ahern would take over from John Bruton as Taoiseach. And Michael Lowry would resign from Fine Gael. So politically wise, just as it did then, politicians come and go and therefore not much has changed.
It was a year that saw Hanson inflict MMMBop on the world, a song we all hated but secretly couldn’t stop singing. And of course Aqua offered us up Barbie Girl and we all ate it up.
It was also the year that the world stood still with the announcement of the death of Princess Diana. Long before the footballers’ wives and the celebrity craze she was the most photographed woman in the world. Her private life was more interesting than any mini drama. But unfortunately for her the season finale reflected a series that never reached its natural conclusion. Everyone remembers the harrowing scenes of a young William and Harry walking behind their mother’s coffin and regardless of your politics, sympathy for the two young princes was unilateral.
Far from the iPhone 7 it was a time of phone boxes , which were only used to ring home to ask your parents for money for books ( which were funnily enough sold at the college bar). Your method of communication was word of mouth. If you wanted to meet a friend you arranged a time and place and strangely enough if one of you was late you simply waited for the other.
So I am looking forward to watching T2 to see what has happened in the characters’ lives over the past twenty years. And let’s hope we are all around and in good health for T3.