This Friday we open the intense Italian drama Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara at the Royal and Town Center, which is based on the true story of a Jewish family in 19th century Bologna whose young son was secretly baptized as a baby by his nurse. Years later, the cardinal orders the boy abducted so he can receive a Catholic education. The scandal received wide attention at the time and now gets a terrific film adaptation by Marco Bellocchio (The Wedding Director, The Traitor, Marx Can Wait) which, among other accolades, earned a Palme d'Or nomination at Cannes and a Best Foreign Film nomination at the César Awards.
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"It is a full-tilt melodrama with the passionate vehemence of Victor Hugo or Charles Dickens, which lays bare an ugly formative episode of Europe’s Catholic church: an affair of antisemitism and child abuse." ~ Peter Bradshaw, Guardian
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"The director, Marco Bellocchio, anchors the period with a somber visual elegance and employs surreal gestures to tease out the psychological and spiritual aspects of the tragedy." ~ Lisa Kennedy, New York Times
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"[Edgardo Mortara's] tortuous journey gets the respect it deserves in this sensitive and beautifully realized drama." ~ Kyle Smith, Wall Street Journal
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"With stately restraint, Bellocchio manages to put the audience in an ever-tightening chokehold of tension and outrage." ~ Wendy Ide, Observer
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"The performances, meanwhile, are exemplary, the screenplay powerful, and each scene is lit like high-era Caravaggio." ~ Kevin Maher, Times
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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." ~ Barry Levitt, Empire Magazine
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