Puerto Rican culture, according to "The Rum Diary"

"I tend to avoid alcohol"
(Pause)
"[Takes a bottle of alcohol], When I can." -Paul Kemp

     American Actor Johnny Depp protagonizes a movie called "The Rum Diary", which is based on American Writer Hunter Thompson's Novel. In the movie, Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp) has not been a successful writer and Journalist in the United States. Besides, he is a heavy drinker which it can be influenced by his unsucessful journey. Instead, he takes an offer as an writer for a newspaper in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The newspaer business which Johnny Depp applied to work was going to close soon.

     The movie takes place during the 1960's. Like many other foreigns, Kemp came for the first time to the island without any knowledge about the actual status of Puerto Rico, its culture, the lifestyle of Puerto Ricans, etc. He just came to Puerto Rico to take advantage of the oppotunity that it was presented, just thinking about the job and he did not wanted to relate with the local environment, as well as the tourists that were intervewed in the Bowling. What Kemp did not expected was that here in the island is where his journey just began to start. 

    Kemp was assigned to write about horoscopes, but when he begins to relate with Sala, he begins to see the reality that locals face everyday. He can analyse how poor are puerto rican society. He really want to wants to talk about the economical status of Puerto Rico, but his boss does not, becuse it will affect Puerto Rico's tourism. Besides, he also tells that puerto rico's society is not an interest for tourists: they just visit the island because of the beautiful beaches, partying, and the local Rum. Kemp also sees the tourist perspective when he meets Sanderson, a realtor who, with other people, want to beging working on some prime real state.

     As the movie goes on, Kemp gets more involved in Island issues, and he want to work with the sitation. At the beginning of the movie, Kemp was a tourist who was not interested in Puerto Rican Culture, but as the action progresses, he contemplates and is awared of the poverty in Puerto Rico. We can see the transition from tourist to traveler.

   At the end of the movie, Kemp goes back to the United States, and he became a very successful writer.This movie can be compared with Jamaica Kinkaid's novel "A small island". The movie, as well as the novel, shows us the mentality of tourists when they vacation somewhere, just caring about the hotel and entertaintment, avoiding the real issue that is affecting the local people, struggling to progress as a nation.