KIDNAPPED: THE ABDUCTION OF EDGARDO MORTARA -- Formally Impressive Religious Drama Ruined by Inconsistent Script

Review by Sean Boelman

Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio is considered by many to be one of the modern “greats,” but his prolific body of work has failed to resonate with international audiences as much as one would expect for a director of his esteem. His latest, Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara, is unlikely to buck that trend, as it’s a formally impressive film dragged down by a lackluster screenplay.

The movie is based on the true story of Edgardo Mortara, a six-year-old boy who is taken from his Jewish family by the Catholic church after it is discovered that he was baptized. What results is a years-long battle between the church and the boy’s family about who should raise him and what religion he should be brought up in.

Unfortunately, Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara fails to settle on a consistent tone for its retelling of this story. It’s not campy enough to be a compelling melodrama, but it’s also too unserious to work as a family drama or commentary on the brokenness of the church. Much of this can be attributed to the combined shortcomings of the mostly exaggerated performances, overly direct dialogue, and heightened musical score.

Another issue seems to be that Bellocchio and his co-writers are seemingly intent on showing this conflict from as many perspectives as possible. The script starts with the child's parents and, at a certain point, becomes more interested in the political goings-on of the church that caused this situation to arise. The one perspective that the writers seem mostly disinterested in is the child’s — well, at least until the final stretch of the film when he’s grown up enough.

Herein lies the primary issue of Kidnapped — for a movie that should be about giving a voice to the voiceless, it feels all too content relegating those people to the sidelines. The child who cannot speak for himself is merely a pawn in this massive scheme, and the Jewish people being oppressed by the Catholic church are portrayed in such an otherized light that it’s difficult to tell if Bellocchio’s sympathies lie with them.

This is an incredibly complicated story, and the approach that the writers take to telling it makes the narrative even more complex. As a result, it feels like something massive is happening in virtually every moment of the film’s two-plus hour runtime. Yet, despite this, viewers will have so little investment in what is happening that the movie drags anyway.

However, the film does have its merits. Paolo Pierobon delivers a compellingly duplicitous performance as the nefarious Pope, eliciting both disgust and disdain from the audience. The movie’s visual aspects, including the production design, costume design, and cinematography, are also impressive, working at a level beyond what the script deserves.

But even though Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara is an accomplished film in a visual sense, its narrative shortcomings are too pronounced to overlook. There’s certainly a worthy movie to be found in the devastating Mortara case, but Bellocchio et al. take such an unfocused approach that it’s hard to admire much beyond the film’s surface.

Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara hits theaters on May 24.

Rating: 2/5