Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara (2023) | Dir. Marco Belluchio
Courtesy of Cohen Media Group
Written by: Belle McIntyre
Before the unification of Italy, the mid 1800’s were politically turbulent times with many states trying to retain control of territories and resist unification. This is when this shocking, historically correct story takes place . In 1857, a six-year old young Jewish boy (Enea Sala) is taken from his home, parents and seven siblings. The abductors come at night under orders from the local inquisitor Father Pier Gaetano Feletti (Fabrizio Gifuni). As you can imagine the father is irate and the mother hysterical.
Courtesy of Cohen Media Group
The devoutly religious parents are told that they can all stay together if they all convert to Catholicism. The reason for the abduction turns out to be an act of caring by young Edgardo’s nanny when he was quite young and dangerously ill and she performed a baptism to protect him from harm. Somehow word of this action has reached Felleti who had found the maid and gotten a confession out of her. According to Catholic law no one baptized a Catholic may be raised by a family of any other faith. The family tearfully let him be taken and determine to go through the court system.
Courtesy of Cohen Media Group
To be fair, the film does not treat the abductors as venal, sinister autocrats. They are kind to Edgardo and treat him with distant warmth as they indoctrinate him with Catholic dogma. As a devoutly trained Jew, it is not an easy transition and he tries to hold onto what has been ingrained in his young mind while having to performatively behave in an all new way. He is a bright boy and the clerics are fond of him, especially the Pope (Paolo Pierbon). The many attempts by his father, Solomone (Fausto Russo Alesi) and mother (Barbara Ronchi) fighting for his release in the secular courts and an attempt to retake him, are gut-wrenching events which keep the story in the news. The revelation of the details of the baptism toward the end of the film goes a long way to answer questions.
Courtesy of Cohen Media Group
It all served to ignite debate on the larger question about secular vs. sacred as a governing principle. ( Well, we know how that worked out eventually.) The intensity of partisan emotion on both sides is balanced by the serenity inside the monastery where Edgardo is dutifully being inducted. The film moves at a clip that keeps you fully engaged, with a well-chosen ensemble cast. And for me, it was visually superb with many images which conjured Old Master paintings through judicious lighting and magnificent colors. It had the added benefit of being beautifully informative.
