The Rum Diary

Adapted from one of Hunter S Thompson’s early works, this is a witty, relaxing watch

‘Gonzo journalism’ is the general description of Hunter S Thompson’s writing, and it refers to a style that is first-person, impressionistic, and which lays no claim to objectivity, because, as he says, ‘absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism’. Unfortunately, The Rum Diary is based on a very early work by Thompson and doesn’t have the iconoclastic style he developed  later.

But it has enough of booze and gambling, all seen through the tropical haze of Puerto Rico, where his fictional self, Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp), arrives in 1960. Kemp is a floater. At the newspaper he joins, he does the Astrology and Sports edits and is AWOL most of the time. His editor (Richard Jenkins) is a bitter man stuck in geography and politics that he can’t reconcile with the principles of journalism.

Kemp is wiser and focuses on the pleasures of an expat in paradise, soaking in the wild contradictions of extreme wealth and poverty in a land that is trapped in the ambit of American neo-colonialism. He is rarely sober, and in the rare moment when he is, falls in love with the girlfriend of a land development shark who is making him an offer of embedded PR journalism. All he has to do is sell the idea of a luxury hotel on an abandoned island.

He chooses the blonde (Amber Heard) instead. The beginning of the legend? The atmosphere, location and dry humour combine well in The Rum Diary. It is a witty, relaxing watch, though sometimes the screen image of Depp, particularly from Pirates of the Caribbean, intrudes into the persona of Kemp. This is when the  slightly tipsy journalist mumbling words of perceptive clarity seems derived.

Otherwise, the movie is immensely enjoyable, particularly the joke on agency reporting—“He has a mouth like an AP wire.”

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Ajit Duara