‘Kidnapped’ Review: A Bittersweet Tale of Childhood Resilience
23.05.2023 - 22:41
/ thewrap.com
Cannes-premiering “Kidnapped” offers the comforting pleasures of a cracking tale well told, a handsome tour of Old World locales and a throwback mix of Big Themes served on heaping platters.The story certainly lends itself to such heft, as it follows the true tale of Edgardo Mortara, a Jewish boy confiscated from his family by the all-powerful church and raised to be a priest. What pushed the local authorities to turn up unannounced one night — making demands of a Jewish family that would echo persecutions past and to come – becomes clear when church police set their sight on a 6-year-old boy and tell his parents, “Someone betrayed you.
Someone baptized your son in secret. “In the ironclad theocracy of the Papal States, Jews couldn’t house Christians and church authority was never in question.
Not that beleaguered parents Momolo (Fausto Russo Alesi) and Marianna (Barbara Ronchi) don’t try their best. In real life, as in the film, the Mortara family turned their child’s abduction into an international scandal, drawing support from liberal reformers and Jewish organizations across Europe and North America, and in doing so created a wealth of archival materials for Bellocchio to explore.In hewing the historical record, “Kidnapped” evolves in tone and tenor as the story goes on.
What begins as a somber persecution drama leads to a bittersweet tale of childhood resilience, as Edgardo (young actor Enea Sala, heartbreaking in the role) must adjust to new life at an orphanage run by the Pope himself and filled with fellow Jews pulled from their families and schooled in the reigning faith. In one powerful scene, Bellocchio cuts between Edgardo taking Communion and the rest of the clan chanting Shabbat prayers with an empty place
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