Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara Offers Uneven Telling of Amazing True Tale

By Chris Knight

Rating: B-

It’s never a good sign when the Wikipedia page is more interesting than the based-on-a-true-story movie it references.

Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara tells the 19th-century tale of a Jewish boy living in Bologna (then under Papal rule), who is forcibly removed from his family after Church officials discover he was secretly baptized as a baby.

Edgardo (Enea Sala) is barely seven years old in 1858 when Fr. Feletti (Fabrizio Gifuni) arrives to cart him away. Parents and child are understandably distraught, but little Edgardo soon thrives in his new home — it’s suggested that he was treated well under the auspices of Pope King Pius IX — and even flowers into something of a catechism savant. He would grow up to become a priest.

Italian writer-director Marco Bellocchio (The Traitor) wades through the story with a bit of a heavy hand, layering dramatic music over an already portentous plot, and often overstaying his welcome in one scene only to underplay the next.

For instance, the alleged Baptism (numerous versions of the story exist, with the absolute truth lost in the mists of time) is included as frontispiece when it would have been better added later in flashback.

And if you’re going to pepper your movie with on-screen dates, at least make sure they’re necessary. Do we need to know that it’s June 28, 1858, when the previous scene took place on the 24th? Nope, we’re good.

There is still much to admire in this beautifully shot film, mind. Paolo Pierobon is excellent as Pope Pius IX — he reminded me of a youngish Ian Holm — his introductory scene taking place in a cavernous, map-filled room that suggests the pontiff is far more concerned with this world than the next one.

I also enjoyed several dream sequences, which included “rescuing sculpture of Jesus from the cross” and “unwanted circumcision.” (Or, if you prefer, “bris amiss.”)

But ultimately, Kidnapped runs into some problems with its presumption of historical knowledge on the part of the viewer. This critic’s grasp of mid-19th-century Italian geopolitical rivalries is scant. I was confused by the notion of Rome being conquered by Italy in 1870, unfamiliar with the timeline of unification. And the Bologna uprising of 1859? If you told me it was a contretemps over sandwich toppings, I’d believe you.

So, we have a problematic telling of a fascinating historical episode, one Steven Spielberg apparently toyed with for many years before throwing in the towel. (Mark Rylance was to have played the Pope, and what a treat that would have been!) Bellocchio’s version isn’t perfect, but it’s likely the best (read only) one we’re likely to get.

Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara. Directed by Marco Bellocchio. Starring Enea Sala, Leonardo Maltese, and Paolo Pierobon. In theatres June 14 in Toronto (Varsity and Empress Walk), Vancouver (Fifth Avenue), and Ottawa (ByTowne).