Kidnapped

Marco Bellocchio’s historical drama explores the true story of a six-year-old Jewish boy abducted by the Vatican.

Marco Bellocchio is a veteran of Italian cinema having made his first feature film, the award-winning Fists in the Pocket, in 1965. A prolific filmmaker, he is now 84 years old but still giving us substantial and ambitious works as evidenced by Kidnapped which lasts over two hours and details a real-life drama that played out in the 19th century. At the heart of this story are the Mortara family living in Bologna. The head of the family is Salomone usually known as Momolo (Fausto Russo Alesi) and his wife is Marianna (Barbara Ronchi), but the key figure here is their son Edgardo, one of eight children in this Jewish family. The film opens with a preface set in 1852 when Anna (Aurora Camatti), a Catholic maid within the household, becomes aware that baby Edgardo is ill. Six years later she reveals to the church authorities how, believing that the child was about to die, she had secretly given him an emergency baptism and this information leads to the six-year-old Edgardo (Enea Sala) being taken away from his parents. It happened because this was a time when the Mortaras were living in a papal state under the direct rule of the Pope who at that time was Pius IX (Paolo Pierobon). Accepting Anna’s story, the church insisted that the boy had to be brought up as a Catholic and to that end, having once seized him, they placed him in an institution for boys in Rome where he was instructed in the Catholic faith.

What was in fact a kidnapping took place in 1858 and a substantial part of Bellocchio's film is set between then and 1860 as it shows the endeavours of Edgardo’s parents to challenge what had been done and to bring the boy back home. With the Italian Unification movement challenging papal power, it proved possible by 1860 for a court hearing to take place in which the Holy Inquisitor Feletti (Fabrizio Gifuni) was accused with responsibility for what had occurred. But the story did not end there and Kidnapped goes on to show us the growing Edgardo now played by Leonardo Maltese and to reveal the course that his life eventually took.

Although this history of the Mortaras is well-recorded, for many viewers Kidnapped will be telling an unfamiliar story and it is one which, centred on injustice and parents fighting for their child, has an inherent emotional pull. For the most part Bellocchio opts for a naturalistic rendering while allowing himself a few dramatic flourishes in the telling which function well enough even if they do remind us that the Italians embrace all things operatic. Aided by a sound cast – and not least by the child actor Enea Sala whose role is so crucial – the drama largely plays out persuasively. Indeed, on checking out what I had seen against the Wikipedia entry on the matter, I was struck by how closely Bellocchio’s film was true to the facts even if that sometimes meant having to choose between rival historical narratives especially as to the extent to which the boy Edgardo was or was not happy to embrace Catholicism.

In old age Bellocchio may not be achieving the remarkable enhanced and pared down artistry that marked the final works of his compatriot Luchino Visconti but nevertheless Kidnapped does demonstrate his continued assurance. There are, however, two drawbacks which will matter more to some than to others. One lies in the fact that the politics of the period led to upheavals that are important to the story but which an audience unfamiliar with the history might wish had been presented here in greater detail. The other questionable element is the way in which scenes late in the film despite having some degree of factual basis are handled in a way that carries a certain air of fiction about them. This happens when Edgardo has a confrontation with a soldier who turns out to be his brother Riccardo (Samuele Teneggi) and again in a conflated account of the older Edgardo's attempted reconciliation with his mother. Given that Kidnapped lasts 134 minutes, it is the more disappointing that it comes to seem less surefooted in its last half-hour. But there is still much to be appreciated here and the film does tell a remarkable story to which many audiences will be drawn. For some the scandalous behaviour of the Catholic Church will be the central issue here, but for others the anguish of the family torn apart will be what makes this historic tale so involving.

 Original title: Rapito.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Cast: Enea Sala, Leonardo Maltese, Paolo Pierobon, Fausto Russo Alesi, Barbara Ronchi, Filippo Timi, Fabrizio Gifuni, Andrea Gherpelli, Samuele Teneggi, Corrado Invernizzi, Aurora Camatti, Christian Mudu, Paolo Calabresi, James Basham.

Dir Marco Bellocchio, Pro Beppe Caschetto, Simone Gattoni and Paolo Del Brocco, Screenplay Marco Bellocchio and Susanna Nicchiarelli with Edoardo Albinati and Daniela Ceselli, from Il Caso Mortara by Daniele Scalise, Ph Francesco Di Giacomo, Pro Des Andrea Castorina, Ed Francesca Calvelli and Stefano Mariotti, Music Fabio Massimo Capogrosso, Costumes Sergio Ballo and Daria Calvelli.

IBC Movie/Kavac Film/Rai Cinema/Ad Vitam Production/The Match Factory/Canal+/Ciné+-Curzon Film Distributors.
134 mins. Italy/France/Germany. 2023. UK Rel: 26 April 2024. US Rel: 24 May 2024. Cert. 12A.