Rapito
Operatic costume drama from veteran Italian director Marco Bellocchio (Vincere) about the true story of the 1858 abduction of a seven-year-old Jewish boy in Bologna at the behest of Pope Pius IX.
In 1858, the Pope’s soldiers burst into the home of the Jewish 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. Therefore, abduction comes naturally. Edgardo is brainwashed into becoming a priest and set up against his original family and faith.
Meanwhile, Edgardo’s parents, distraught, will do anything to get their son back. Supported by public opinion and the international Jewish community, the Mortaras’ struggle quickly takes a political dimension, causing a stir as far away as the United States. But the Church and the Pope will not agree to return the child, to consolidate an increasingly wavering power.
In his 31st film, 84-year-old veteran Bellocchio vigorously kicks the Catholic shins. The main focus is on the historical implications of the ‘Edgardo case’. Decoration, music and camerawork in the film are sumptuous and at times bombastic.