The King Who Never Was Review: Re-examining the tragic shooting accident of 1978, the Netflix documentary (Il Principe) directed by Beatrice Borromeo, sheds light on the events once again. The cinematography is done by Clarissa Cappellani and the music is given by Giulia Tagliavia. There are three episodes in the mini-series, with a runtime of about 40-47 minutes.
The cast featured in the documentary includes Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia, Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia, Birgit Hamer, Monti Monticelli and many others who were present at the crime scene or got involved in the case later.
The King Who Never Was Review
Prince Vittorio Emanuele is the son of the last Monarch of Italy, Umberto II, who was exiled from the country in 1946, following the constitutional referendum which abolished the monarchy. Since then, the Italian royal family had been living on Cavallo Island with the hope of going back to their home country once again, which gets accomplished after almost 56 years. However, a lot of things happen in between that make one question – why would they even welcome back the controversially exiled person?
The documentary investigates the events that happened on the tragic night of August 17, 1978, at Cavallo Island. A group of people that included Birgit Hamer, her brother Dirk Hamer, Nicky Pende and many others made a stop at the island but due to high waves, they were not able to go back. Thus, they ended up staying the night and apparently took Vittorio’s dinghy to their boat, after having dinner at the island. This seemed to anger the exiled Prince and he went to get it back with a rifle in his hand.
Among the sleeping lot, Nicky Pende was the one who woke up after hearing some noise and found the rifle’s mouth pointing in his direction. To disarm the person, he threw himself and the armed man off the boat and into the water. Amidst this commotion, some shots were fired (it was argued as only two) which ended up lodging in 19-year-old Dirk Hamer’s stomach, who was sleeping in the adjacent boat. That’s the start of a decades-long struggle for justice as Vittorio refuses to accept having killed anyone.
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Although Dirk survived the gunshot injury at that time and had to undergo a number of procedures. But he eventually lost his life in December of the same year. While it looks like a clear case with enough evidence to support it, the circumstances change when a person with as much power and money as the former Monarch in line is the alleged culprit. The biggest factor that helped him evade all the punishments was ‘intention’. Did he intend to actually kill Dirk or not become his way out.
Yet it took another 13 years to even put him on trial but the Paris Assize Court found him guilty of only unauthorised possession of the rifle, while unintentional homicide charges were dropped. Even Vittorio changed his statement from having accepted shooting to being ambiguous and confused if it was his rifle bullets or if there was another shooter on the boat. All at the cost of Hamer’s family’s peace and constant fight with the judicial system to get justice. Dirk’s sister Birgit was always at the forefront to get the right culprit acquitted since she was the reason that her brother was even there at the unfortunate moment.
It’s an age-old story of how people with power are able to get away with crimes, regardless of their severity. Vittorio denies everything till the end of the documentary, despite clear evidence that says otherwise and tries to paint a picture of a person who was pained from getting shunned from his birth country. Apart from the crime, the documentary gives some insight into his life and relationship with his wife Marina Doria which looks like a prerequisite to feature Vittorio and his family in the documentary.
Even after keeping this incident aside, he is still a controversial figure to be deemed innocent of everything he has been accused of. Also, the documentary just sails around the subject and assumptions for the most part until crucial evidence is revealed towards the end. It leaves the conclusion in the hands of the viewer and what they decide to believe.
Rating: 2.5/5
The King Who Never Was is currently streaming on Netflix.
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