The Rum Diaries

The Rum Diaries captures Puerto Rico’s perspective of a gringo going to work in a newspaper in San Juan in the 1950's. From the beginning the identity dilemma is present all through the movie, it decision is whether to be a gringo in a foreign country or to make the Puertorican Identity part of his culture. Puerto Rico is widely known to be a drinking island and that influenced the early days of the reporter Paul Kemp when he learned that it is almost a custom to have a drink every day. Along with his new colleague, who know live together, they are assigning a report on a guy that’s looking to buy an island near the capital to build a hotel. The journey that they had while following this guy’s life was adventurous to say the least. In the movie Puerto Rico is shown a place where many expatriates go to settle when they become tired of the USA, Where everybody almost always is drinking and where the underground economics flourish in a battle of who survives the most. The Puerto Rico depicted in the film is one that basically has no rules and the only way to survive is to thrive. Paul’s internal journey depends on how well can he learn and adapt from the different environments so close to each other while at the same time maintain his reporting eye while his outside journey requires much attention because he need to find a way that does not give up his real identity. Paul’s trip to the island was no vacation given the fact that he had to assimilate the culture it can be said that he was more of a traveler than a tourist. His identity and perspective shifted at the end of the movie where it can be seen that  his journey was a pleasant one and one that definitely changed his life.