“Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara” (2023) is allegedly a loose adaptation of journalist Daniele Scalise’s “Il caso Mortara: la vera storia del bambino ebreo rapito dal papa,” which translates into “The Mortara case: the true story of the Jewish child kidnapped by the Pope.” Spanning March 1852 through 1890, the film tells the story of a Bologna boy, Edgardo Mortara (Enea Sala as a child and Leonardo Maltese as an adult), who was born to a Jewish family and raised in the faith, but because a servant, Anna Morisi (Aurora Camatti), secretly baptized him, the Catholic Church legally snatched him from his family since Bologna was under Papal rule and relocated him to Rome, where Pope Pius IX, “Papa” (Paolo Pierobon), treats him like a favored son. Which side will claim Edgardo’s soul?
While the Mortara case garnered international attention, it is not necessarily a matter widely known in this era by people outside the Jewish community. Other than several scholarly books that cover the subject, Mortara’s recently released memoirs and Francesco Cillufo’s opera may be the only media other than Italian director and cowriter Marco Bellocchio’s film which reignited interest in the case. Films about controversial historical events usually follow a certain pattern: a comprehensive, straightforward depiction, a more humane, individualistic artistic approach and then a critical, more avant-garde spin. “Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara” belongs to the first category, which means that despite being an innately absorbing story, it is being released at a time when consumers are somewhere in between the second and third category so this style may feel dissonant and old-fashioned compared to the films that avid moviegoers regularly consumer.
Bellocchio is eighty-four years old, and while Americans, including me, may not be familiar with his work, he is not the only filmmaker in their third act or final quarter of his life and still working. Park Chan-wook is still innovating and keeps fans guessing about his style. Ridley Scott’s quality of work may not be what it once was, but no one would ever accuse his work of feeling dated, and one scene in “Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara” feels like an homage to “Napoleon,” which was actually released later so maybe this movie inspired Scott. Runaway convict and alleged mass rapist Roman Polanski’s work is always as fresh as his efforts to evade the law. Werner Herzog guarantees a riveting time. Stephen Frears may play it safe, but he knows how to keep an audience invested even when everyone is familiar with the story. Frederick Wiseman will always surprise. Clint Eastwood can be counted for around every other movie to be solid. Bellocchio has a painterly eye, a flair for the melodramatic, which is fair considering the subject matter, the real-life players and the setting, but he tends to be a bit one-note in the execution of this story and does not quite stick the landing.
The story is simple and straightforward, especially with the benefit of hindsight. All the Jewish characters are good. While the Catholic team are the megalomaniac baddies, Bellocchio is gentle with them considering the Catholic Church’s own growing list of admissions of guilt, which includes mass murder, torture, sexual violence, kidnapping, enslavement and basically genocide. The film never mines these related, but different crimes to color the Mortara tragedy. Bellocchio could have implied that Pope Pius IX had an untoward interest in the fair-haired boy, but he paints the culprits as sincere and resigned as any bureaucrat tasked with enforcing the law. Instead, it is a biological family versus a religious state’s constructed family with the Pope as the Papa of a mostly male family. There probably would have been no point in explaining to anyone that it was still a bit of a leap to conclude that a Christian child automatically leads to a lifetime of celibacy and becoming a priest. It is kind of hilarious, and dark humor is not a part of this film, that the Catholic Church relied so heavily on an ordinary woman of ill repute to perform a sacrament as the legal basis for their actions, yet gender usually denotes authority in their world regardless of what the Bible teaches.
“Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara” is also a film that never doubts the sincerity of faith on both sides, but it is the rare movie that depicts Judaism as the one who wins in the battle of the one true God. Bellocchio, who was raised Catholic, does a superb job depicting Jewish spiritual practices whereas the Catholic rituals feel more alien and stranger, especially given the prevalence of contemporary horror movies set in the Catholic spaces like “Immaculate” (2024) and “The First Omen” (2024). The Mortara family is shown as a wealthy, tight-knit family who do not even get a moment to be offended at the invasion of their home and denial of their privilege because they must focus on a family member’s safety. Can you imagine paying someone to destroy your family? Patriarch Salomone Mortara (Fausto Russo Alesi), nicknamed Momolo, is the gentle, determined heart of the family who will never give up, but also understands how his actions affect others. Matriarch Marianna Padovani Mortara (Barbara Ronchi) is the uncompromising fighter, and if it is possible for Ronchi to have a showdown with Penelope Cruz from “Ferrari” (2023), it would be an acting standoff worth watching. It is unclear until later in the movie that the family was being forced to decide between converting to Christianity or keeping their son.
The real powerhouse of “Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara” is Sala, who succeeds at conveying the conflicting emotions that Mortara felt. He wants to be with his family, but he must survive. Finding a diplomatic way to quiet the loudly praying Mortara, Elia (Christian Mudu), another boy under the Pope’s care, patiently shows him the ropes. What was once an act becomes ardent belief as the boys treat the Pope like a rock star, want to fit in and receive favor. Sala manages to project these conflicting emotions on his face in a subtle, understated way whereas the transition to Maltese feels heavy handed in its approach. Maltese plays the internal war over his character’s soul for the cheap seats, but it is a movie, so it just seems over the top and clumsy though interesting. Also these boys should be nominated for the best behaved boys, especially in a boarding situation, in cinematic history. No, “Lord of the Flies” here or English boarding school abuse here. The real miracle is how kind these boys are to each other. There is no in-fighting, not even picking on the new kid or bullying because he is the teacher’s pet.
Bellocchio dabbles in magical realism with Mortara imagining himself helping Christ descend from the cross, and political cartoons animating because of the Pope’s overactive imagination, fear and deep narcissistic traits. If Maltese is aiming his performance for the back row, Pierobon already chewed through the back row with his rendition, busted through the theater walls like the Kool Aid man and is still running down the street with no signs of flagging. It is such a sweaty, anxious, power-hungry performance that it becomes the most fun (in a horrifying way) element of the story. The viewer does not have to worry about the Pope’s humanity. The Mortara case gets framed as a radicalizing moment for Italians who revolt against Papal rule and aim for the unification of an Italian state. The Pope is losing power, so a little boy becomes emblematic of his tight desperate hold on anything that props him up. Even at his most humble moment ascending the stairs while praying, he admonishes his attendants to pray silently so he can get God’s full attention. Even his most prized captive is not immune to his tyranny and suffers the most egregious on-screen abuse of power .
Overall “Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara” feels like the white-washed Cliff Notes version of a story of systematic, genocidal abuse. It aims for comprehension and basic emotion over the more complex historical films which revisit history with a critical eye. Supporting characters rarely get names or are more than background atmosphere regardless of how deft the performance is. It leaves out the messier details like Momolo getting convicted of killing a servant girl by throwing her out the window or Edgardo being a renowned, animated missionary who appeared to be a true believer not blinking for help, which does not detract from the fact that what happened to him was a violation which impacted and influenced him through adulthood and robbed him of the free will that God gave every person. Apparently Edgardo and his mom hung out a lot towards the end of her life despite their difference in religious opinion.
Side note: though completely unnecessary, if an English rendition of “Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara” was made, James McAvoy would make the perfect Momolo.
