Alexander Marengo Documentary Analysis- The Taking of Prince Harry

Starts of with a helicopter crashing in Afghanistan, the scene then changes to army personnel saying Prince Harry’s helicopter has crashed. Dramatic music plays as prince harry has guns pointed to his head. War scenes are shown with narration; archive Taliban and kidnapping scenes are shown. Prince Harry footage from 2008 is shown in Afghanistan his nickname was bullet magnet. Scenes cut showing editors of magazines and war personnel explaining their views on Prince Harry’s involvement in the war.

Real interviews from magazine editors are used to show the audience how they would react and write about the kidnap. It gives an insight into how they would overexpose the story to the public thus making the kidnap a larger news story around the world.

The scene starts from Day 1 of Prince Harry’s kidnap; he has been taken to a camp and taken hostage. The documentary almost tells a story to the audience as it shows Prince Harry’s kidnapped experience from day 1.

This is done to keep the audience interested as it is somewhat a drama put together with a documentary style of filming.

Footage (dramatisation) is shown how the police will handle the hostage crisis, ‘spy music’ is played showing a role-play of 2 detectives talking to each other. The scene then cuts to show a meeting between investigators’ briefing the kidnapping. Dramatised scenes are linked with archive footage of war and news stories about Harry’s involvement with the army and the war.

Archive footage is shown of royal members of family taking part in wars such as Prince Harry’s uncle Andrew in the Falklands war. A dramatisation is then shown of harry in captivity in a small hut in an afghan compound. Scotland Yard office scenes are shown displaying investigators trying to find harry, they discuss that they may have found him.

This scene shows a comparison between Harry’s involvement in the war and his uncle’s involvement in the war. The comparison is used to show that Royal Family members are willing to ‘protect’ and “fight” for their country, ultimately it is used to make Harry look like a hero.

Prince Harry is then shown putting on a disguise and dressing like a member of the Taliban; he does this as he is ordered by two Taliban kidnappers. He is then given a gun and marched out of the compound. Political conferences are then shown in the next scene with the prime minster talking about a real kidnapping by the Taliban (this is archive footage).

This use of archive footage shows the audience what could happen to the Prince if he was kidnapped, it makes the audience ultimately worry for Prince Harry’s safety if he were to go to Afghanistan again.

FBI and investigators talk about rescue plans, they rule out the military rescue as they show the army failing to save harry, so they then talk about the next rescue method, negotiation with the Taliban. A scene is then shown with Prince Harry being interrogated by Taliban members; they then lock him in a room. The scene then cuts to show a small excerpt of an interview with a filmmaker that was really taken hostage for 9 days.

Scenes are then shown displaying Prince Harry wanting to call the British embassy, Taliban members then take the phone and talk to the embassy member. A member of the US CIA is then narrating over this scene; he is talking about how the negotiation works and is carried out. This informs the audience of how real negotiations play out.

The kidnappers make a deadline for the embassy to give them 1 million dollars and they have 7 days to get the money or Harry will be killed. Past archive footage is shown displaying journalists being captured and then released for money from time to time. The negotiation techniques fail; scenes then show how hostages can be sold to their terrorist organisations.

The Taliban members finally found out they have captured Prince Harry. Scenes are then shown of what would happen if the Taliban moves to propaganda techniques to exploit the capture. This scene shows archive footage to a good standard, it makes the kidnap more believable.

A dramatisation is shown displaying prince harry in captivity watching a propaganda video showing a man being trapped and begging for his freedom. The documentary then shifts to how the media will talk about Harry’s kidnapping. Day 21 is shown displaying the al Qaeda taking Harry to a desert area so they can make a propaganda video. The documentary then shifts to four investigators talking about an escape strategy.

This documentary heavily features dramatisations that are interlinked with interviews from CIA operatives that give their opinion on how rescue tactics will be carried out in order to save the Prince Harry. It makes the audience believe that if this ‘kidnap’ were to happen; armed forces are willing to do anything to save the Prince. This is done to make the armed forces look good as well as make them look loyal to the Prince’s family and their country.

Day 27 is shown, prince harry escapes due to Pakistan forces opening fire near the hostage compound. Day 29 then shows harry being given to U.S forces and then flown to the UK to reunite with his gamily. Harry is dubbed as a hero by the prime mister as a freeze frame show is shown of him walking into NO.1- Downing Street. This scene shows that the media twist the truth in order to make the Prince    look good in front of the public without telling them the true story of  what   really happened, it shows the media sensationalising the kidnapping story in order to positively increase the Prince’s public image.

Channel 4 (the channel that aired the 'docudrama') responded to the controversy the show displayed, "It is a legitimate subject for documentary to explore the risks that Prince Harry faces as a high value target”.