I just recently watched the movie The Rum Diary based (very loosely) on the book by Hunter Thompson. The book is one of the few books I've read multiple times. I know this movie was in the theater about six months ago, but I don't see many movies in the theater. I'm actually a bit embarrassed to admit the last movie seen on the big screen. I was sitting behind a row of kids (and it wasn't much of a kids movie) with my seat being repeatedly kicked by a child who wanted to go home in a box. I much prefer watching them at home in my own chair where I can pause, review any time I want and for any reason. I guess I miss some of the societal buzz, but whenever I see it, it is new to me. The great thing about the library is that I can get put on the waiting list for a movie and when it is finally available, I get the surprise of seeing it even if it is months later.
I read the book first in 2004. One of the themes of the book not captured by the movie is the overall picture of a man going over the hump; moving to something more stable or at least in a more stable direction for a time. The movie also makes far too much of the environmental disaster in store for Vieques. This plays a role in the book, but not on the scale as in the movie. The most significant disaster of the movie is the writing out of Yeamon and subsequent larger role for Lotterman. Moving from the page to the screen almost always requires making choices, but it shouldn't require mistakes like this. Many other events from the book are also missing and oddly, there are additions that exist nowhere in the movie; the motorcycle with a sidecar? The hallucinogenic drug taking? By being Sanderson's arm candy, Chenault seems more whorish than anything else. In short, I was more disappointed by the movie than anything else. It doesn't even begin to compare to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas which plays fairly close to the book. It is impossible to note this without realizing HST played a role in that movie, but not in The Rum Diary.
I've read most of what Hunter Thompson has written in book form. He is one of the few writers I seek out specifically. His writing style is genius; he wrote a lot about sports which I don't care about as a subject, but his writing kept my attention anyway. His writing on the Rumble in the Jungle was unforgettable, but I guess there was actually very little boxing in it.
Much of his writing skates a grey line between fiction and non-fiction. Even The Rum Diary (the book) is said to be based loosely on his time in Puerto Rico. And, it is yet unapologetically written as fiction. It was also originally written early in his life. One sad truth that is rarely acknowledged is that almost without exception, we all do our best work when we are young. Before a decline in energy, effort in youth is new, less scripted, raw, highly uncensored. This is frequently seen in art. Hunter Thompson, Clive Cussler, Salvador Dali, David Sedaris. Even Albert Einstein's best work was done when he was younger. Grey hairs even when dyed infect the brain. We often pretend this isn't true, but it is.
I'll finish this by quoting the genius of the book not captured in the movie. If there are questions about how the movie compared with the book, this should provide a partial answer. From there, read the rest.
"I left then, and drove back to Jesus Lopo's place. I bought a small bottle of beer for fifteen cents and sat on a bench in the clearing, feeling like an old man. The scene I had witnessed brought back a lot of memories - not of things I had done but of things I failed to do, wasted hours and frustrated moments and opportunities forever lost because time had eaten so much of my life and I would never get it back. I envied Yeamon and felt sorry for myself at the same time, because I had seen him in a moment that made all my happiness seem dull." (HST)
