Kidnapped (3.5*): “Torquemada? Let’s Face it, You Can’t Torquemada Anything”!

A One Mann’s Movies review of “Kidnapped” (2023) (from the London Film Festival).

Also Known as: “Kidnapped the Abduction of Edgardo Mortara“.

Original Italian title: Rapito.

My title comes from the wonderful song “The Inquisition” from Mel Brooks’ “History of the World Part 1”. “Kidnapped” is set after this period. It is set in Italy. It is not a comedy. Apart from that, it fits just perfectly!

I saw this at last year’s London Film Festival, but I’m republishing it since it is released today in selected (Curzon) cinemas and is also available for streaming on Curzon Home Cinema.

One Mann’s Movies Rating:

Plot Summary:

Based on a true story set in the 1850’s, Edgardo Mortara (Leonardo Maltese) is forcibly snatched by the Papal authorities at the age of 6 from the arms of his Jewish parents Salomone (Fausto Russo Alesi) and Marianna (Barbara Ronchi). Taken under the direct care of Pope Pius IX (Paolo Pierobon), the Vatican refuse to return the boy despite mounting global pressure.

Certification:

UK: 12; US: NR. (From the BBFC web site: “Moderate threat, violence, injury detail”.

Talent:

Starring: Leonardo Maltese, Paolo Pierobon, Fausto Russo Alesi, Barbara Ronchi, Fabrizio Gifuni.

Directed by: Marco Bellocchio.

Written by: Marco Bellocchio & Susanna Nicchiarelli. With Edoardo Albinati & Daniela Ceselli.

The Mortara family in happier times. Edgardo (Leonardo Maltese) is far right. (Source: The Match Factory).

“Kidnapped” Review:

Positives:

• This is an extremely handsome film, with sweeping Italian cityscapes and memorable lighting that makes many of the darker scenes reminiscent of Rembrandt paintings. (The cinematorgrapher was Francesco Di Giacomo.) This praise extends to the Production Design. For example, the Papal chambers are utterly magnificent: I’m not sure if they were filmed somewhere, or this was created, but the effect is superb. The film is pleasantly ‘old-fashioned’ in most of its telling, with a linear timeline, traditional camera blocking and very few “tricks” employed. (One ‘trick’ that does really work is a moment of spiritual imagination, with Edgardo in the student’s church) that is genuinely quite moving.
• The story sounds so crazy when you describe it to someone that you struggle to believe it happened. The driver behind the action was a baptism which might, or might not, have happened. The father’s plaintive pleas fall on the deaf ears of the local official, Pier Gaetano Feletti (Fabrizio Gifuni, channelling strong Ben Cross (RIP) vibes with me). The mother’s attack on the officials in Rome (a great performance by Barbara Ronchi) is even more dramatically vehement: a stand-out scene in the movie. There are interesting historical touches: such as the financier Rothschild held a crippling financial loan over the Vatican of the time.
• Top acting awards from me though go to Paolo Pierobon playing the Pope. He has a really magnetic screen prescence, reminding me repeatedly of Joachim Phoenix at his best. “The Pope answers only to God” he says… and you can believe it!
• Credit should also be given to the young man playing Edgardo in his 6+ years: Leonardo Maltese has some pretty intense scenes and he absolutely pulls them off.

Negatives:

• I’m pretty much completely unaware of Italian history, so some aspects of the 1870 uprising against the “Pope and King” left me confused. The invaders appeared to breach the Vatican, yet afterwards the Pope is still “in power”?
• Some aspects towards the end of the film confused me. For example, a dramatic audience with the Pope, where a now 17 year old Edgardo bowls him over, left me wondering if that was a simple stumbling accident or deliberate? And another change of character by Edgardo at a funeral left me equally confused: was he just trying to save his own skin?

Summary Thoughts on “Kidnapped”

I went into this thinking “historical religious drama… I doubt I’ll enjoy this”. But the story really hooked me in and kept my attention. Together with some impressive technical film-making skills and some very good acting performances, this is one that I’d recommend you try to catch.

It is now on selected release in Curzon cinemas and is also available to stream on Curzon Home Cinema for a fee. I dare say it will make it to other streaming services in due course.

Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)

Trailer for “Kidnapped”:

The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQAK0yBHQZ8 .

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