Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara Reviews (original) (raw)

Summary In 1858, in the Jewish quarter of Bologna, the Pope’s soldiers burst into the home of the Mortara family. By order of the cardinal, they have come to take Edgardo, their seven-year-old son. The child had been secretly baptized by his nurse as a baby and the papal law is unquestionable: he must receive a Catholic education. Edgardo’s pare...

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Kidnapped is an expertly paced, gorgeously shot and evocative true story of faith, family, and the power of people coming together to right deeply ingrained wrongs.

If the details of “Kidnapped” aren’t familiar, do yourself the favor of withholding an online search until the full thunder and rigor of Bellocchio’s dramatic instincts can work you over — equivalent to a lavish ’60s period costume drama burnished into an engine of galvanizing narrative intention.

Kidnapped (Rapito) is one of Marco Bellocchio’s most successful films, both as a taut thriller that will capture audiences with his terribly human drama, and as a masterful reflection on the themes that the Italian director has worried and revisited over a lifetime of filmmaking: the Catholic church as an anti-liberal indoctrinating machine that steals children’s souls, the frailty of personal identity, and the struggle for liberation on an individual and societal level.

Kidnapped hides a bleak and bracing message inside lovely old costumes and sumptuous set pieces .

One gets the sense that the director, in not wanting to rob the adult Edgardo (Leonardo Maltese) of his agency, even if it was woefully compromised, resorts to a horror-inflected score and overdramatic scenes of parental anguish to make clear the devastating consequences of a child separated from his family. The heightened drama seems hardly necessary.

If Kidnapped aims to dive into the subconscious of its characters, it gets stuck on the surface.

Despite the cool, screeching, horror-like score and some memorable moments, Kidnapped plays more like a heavy sigh than an absorbing adaptation of history.

Kidnapped tackles institutional abuse but struggles with its storytelling. The real events it's based on, the abuse of papal power, are powerful. However, the film can't decide whether to focus on Italy's political changes during its unification or the misuse of church power. This makes the story feel disjointed, and the true events are more interesting than the way the film tells them.

O filme é muito escuro, a fotografia é péssima, talvez para lembrar os tempos onde não havia uma iluminação adequada. Mas o fato é que os momentos que podiam render, como do garoto no monastério, passam voando, alé do começo apressado. Quando o filme resolve apresentar uma iluminação melhor e finalmente se revelam os contornos do conflito, mais para o lado juídico, fica bem interessante, mesmo que o resultado seja frio, no geral. A trilha sonora tenta ajudar na emoção, e particularmente, nas cenas com a mãe, funciona. Mas a religião seja ela cristã ou não, continua sendo o ópio do povo mesmo,um conflito meio ridículo para nós, seres pensantes, saber se o menino teve um ritual de batismo ou não. Fé e irracionalidade não necessariamente andam juntas, pode haver fé sendo racional, mas não foi o caso aqui. A derradeira cena com a mãe no leito mostra o quanto a religião cega.

Production Company IBC Movie, Kavac Film, Rai Cinema, Ad Vitam Production, The Match Factory, ARTE, Canal+, Ciné+, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Ministero della Cultura (MiC), La Région Île-de-France, Emilia-Romagna Film Commission, Regione Lazio, Arte France Cinéma, Cinecittà

Release Date May 24, 2024

Duration 2 h 14 m

Rating Not Rated

David di Donatello Awards

• 5 Wins & 11 Nominations

Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists

• 7 Wins & 10 Nominations

Golden Rooster Awards

• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations