The Rum Diary

In a very vintage and alcohol vapor filled atmosphere of 60's Puerto Rico, an unsuccessful writer sets out to try to become somewhat successful by joining a rag tag band of journalists at a local daily newspaper. I found the first fifteen minutes abounding with clichés and characters drowned in their own self pity, guides to a world on the brink of collapse. Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp) is the writer in question and he will experience all sides of the island, from a five star hotel to prison, from flirting with the fiancée of a big shot to visiting a hermaphrodite witch doctor.

Leaving all the eccentricities aside, this movie deals with a fundamental (and growing) problem, the divide between the rich and the poor and how these two worlds rarely meet, separated by fences and guards or by fear and ignorance. When they indeed meet it's all very "Nitzschean", the powerful rule the weak, sometimes the powerful are the ones with the money, sometimes not.

A great movie overall, you need to see it.


I find this trailer not very representative but we have to make do with what we have.

Directed by Bruce Robinson ; Based on "The Rum Diary" by Hunter S. Thompson ; Starring: Johnny Depp, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Rispoli, Amber Heard, Richard Jenkins, Giovanni Ribis ; Year: 2011