THE RUM DIARY

THE RUM DIARY is a drama about a troubled alcoholic writer who takes a newspaper job in Puerto Rico in 1960 and tries to build a new life for himself, surrounded by eccentrics and crooks. The film was classified '15' for strong language and infrequent drug use.

There are approximately thirty uses of strong language. This exceeds the terms of the BBFC's Guidelines at '12A'/'12', which state 'The use of strong language (for example, 'fuck') must be infrequent', but is permissible at '15' where the Guidelines state 'There may be frequent use of strong language'. There are also two scenes of drug use. The first scene shows two men taking LSD by dropping the liquid into their eyes before waiting for the drug to take effect. One of the characters then experiences hallucinations as he sees his friend with a very long tongue hanging out of his mouth. There is also one brief scene of joint smoking. The Guidelines at '15' state 'Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse'.

The film also contains two scenes of moderate sex. In one scene, a couple are seen having sex in the water in the distance, observed through a telescope. In another scene, we see a couple in bed with the man removing the woman's bra, with only her bare back in shot.

One scene in the film appears to depict cockfighting. However, the animal action was monitored on set by the American Humane Association (the US equivalent of the RSPCA) in order to ensure that no cruelty was involved.