'The Hostage Diaries' tells the story of journalist Sean Langan, who was kidnapped by the Taliban fighters he'd gone to Pakistan to interview. The film isn't badly done: indeed, Douglas Henshall is quite convincing in the lead role, and its portrayal of the mechanics of the situation is solid, but it lacks both piercing insight and dramatic narrative, and isn't quite personal enough to work as a wholly character-driven study either. In some ways, it felt short on material, in part due to editorial choices: the details of life in captivity are dealt with summarily to some extent, while space is made for emotional music and sentimental musings over Langan's family. A tighter focus on the everyday reality of Langan's existence might have packed more of a punch.
2 Reviews
An excellent piece of work from all involved (SPOILERS if you don't read the papers!)
bob the moo14 May 2012
Warning: Spoilers
I got a message recently, completely out of the blue from a director called Norman Hull; I shan't repeat the rather short message here, but it was odd and as a result of it I clicked on his IMDb resume to see what films he had done and which of them I had perhaps commented on. The Kidnap Diaries was top of that list and by coincidence this film had been sitting on my v-box since it screened on BBC4 last year – for some reason I just never got around to seeing it and I figured Hull getting in touch was as good a motivation as any.
The film is a dramatised version of the kidnap of Channel 4 journalist Sean Langan by the Taleban – a contact he made when he was planning to get an interview and a tour of a training camp. I had heard of the kidnapping but didn't know much more than that, nor had I read anything of his ordeal after his release. Although it was only an hour long, the film had a couple of challenges, not least of which is, in regards a traditional narrative, the viewer knows that Langan makes it out alive. The second challenge is the fact that being held captive is probably not the easiest trial to portray to the viewer without exaggerating events or making a drama – the sense of hope lost or fear or desperation in and of itself is harder to do. This is why I do not make films though and others do, because Kidnap Diaries delivers a really succinct, engaging and moving little version of the film which only left me with the criticism that one hour seemed too short.
The film focuses very much on Langan's experience so we have very little of the rescue negotiations and none of the fallout over what was or wasn't done in exchange for his release. To do this we get snippets of his life and a feel of him as a person – in particular a sense that he is hurting his family and marriage by doing these assignments and little moments that suggest there is a little of his own self-importance in taking them. This helps gets us into the character and also creates a background that we fall into frequently. As the captivity continues we have frequent flashes into his mind with brief memories, regrets or longings – the most painful and moving of which is the loss of his soap, that is very well done. Although there is no flamboyant action or dramatics, the film creates the sense of uncertainty and of threat – the kidnapping isn't sudden or violent, it just sort of transitioned into in an awkward way which allows Langan to go through a little denial and then later stages. The toying with him is really good and it put me on edge to have the main Taleban contact (Medi) be friendly and threatening, defender and kidnapper, it worked well.
The performances are a massive part of this working and Henshall is really strong throughout – he totally convinces in his character. So whether he is going through fear, desperation, hate, disbelief or terror, it is all convincing and ingrained in his character – it doesn't ever feel like a "ok in this scene you are feeling x" type performance. Mistry is not quite as good as he has less to do and if I'm honest the casting of such a familiar face in that role was also a distraction to me – but this was very minor and he does still do the job. The actor playing Medi (Abderahim) is really good; I loved the weirdness of his slightly out of place attempts at being English because it contrasted so much with the reality of his world as a person and the power he holds in the story – between him and Henshall they make the film and Hull gets good performances out of both of them. Speaking of direction the use of location is good – it is all a very small area but it never feels stagey or restricted because the material fills a much bigger space.
The Kidnap Diaries is an excellent film – it tells the story of Langan's captivity with a real tight focus on him as a person and it was wise to leave the politics totally out of it. The majority of the film occurs in the house he is held in and it is engaging, gripping and unsettling thanks mainly to the strong performances. The flashes to his memories could have been obvious and cheap but they work very well and are edited in such a way that they are impacting and meaningful without being overdone. Although I didn't appreciate the message from Hull, I am very glad it motivated me to watch this film as it was pretty much an excellent piece of work from start to finish.
The film is a dramatised version of the kidnap of Channel 4 journalist Sean Langan by the Taleban – a contact he made when he was planning to get an interview and a tour of a training camp. I had heard of the kidnapping but didn't know much more than that, nor had I read anything of his ordeal after his release. Although it was only an hour long, the film had a couple of challenges, not least of which is, in regards a traditional narrative, the viewer knows that Langan makes it out alive. The second challenge is the fact that being held captive is probably not the easiest trial to portray to the viewer without exaggerating events or making a drama – the sense of hope lost or fear or desperation in and of itself is harder to do. This is why I do not make films though and others do, because Kidnap Diaries delivers a really succinct, engaging and moving little version of the film which only left me with the criticism that one hour seemed too short.
The film focuses very much on Langan's experience so we have very little of the rescue negotiations and none of the fallout over what was or wasn't done in exchange for his release. To do this we get snippets of his life and a feel of him as a person – in particular a sense that he is hurting his family and marriage by doing these assignments and little moments that suggest there is a little of his own self-importance in taking them. This helps gets us into the character and also creates a background that we fall into frequently. As the captivity continues we have frequent flashes into his mind with brief memories, regrets or longings – the most painful and moving of which is the loss of his soap, that is very well done. Although there is no flamboyant action or dramatics, the film creates the sense of uncertainty and of threat – the kidnapping isn't sudden or violent, it just sort of transitioned into in an awkward way which allows Langan to go through a little denial and then later stages. The toying with him is really good and it put me on edge to have the main Taleban contact (Medi) be friendly and threatening, defender and kidnapper, it worked well.
The performances are a massive part of this working and Henshall is really strong throughout – he totally convinces in his character. So whether he is going through fear, desperation, hate, disbelief or terror, it is all convincing and ingrained in his character – it doesn't ever feel like a "ok in this scene you are feeling x" type performance. Mistry is not quite as good as he has less to do and if I'm honest the casting of such a familiar face in that role was also a distraction to me – but this was very minor and he does still do the job. The actor playing Medi (Abderahim) is really good; I loved the weirdness of his slightly out of place attempts at being English because it contrasted so much with the reality of his world as a person and the power he holds in the story – between him and Henshall they make the film and Hull gets good performances out of both of them. Speaking of direction the use of location is good – it is all a very small area but it never feels stagey or restricted because the material fills a much bigger space.
The Kidnap Diaries is an excellent film – it tells the story of Langan's captivity with a real tight focus on him as a person and it was wise to leave the politics totally out of it. The majority of the film occurs in the house he is held in and it is engaging, gripping and unsettling thanks mainly to the strong performances. The flashes to his memories could have been obvious and cheap but they work very well and are edited in such a way that they are impacting and meaningful without being overdone. Although I didn't appreciate the message from Hull, I am very glad it motivated me to watch this film as it was pretty much an excellent piece of work from start to finish.
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