The movie

Rapito

A Jewish boy is kidnapped and converted to Catholicism in 1858.
His parents' struggle to free their son became part of a larger political battle that pitted the papacy against forces of democracy and Italian unification.

Length: 135 min
Country: Italy
Language spoken: Italian
Language subtitles: Dutch
Cast: Barbara Ronchi, Fabrizio Gifuni, Filippo Timi
Director: Marco Bellocchio
Release date: 22/02/2024

Description

In 1858, in the Jewish quarter of Bologna, the Pope's soldiers burst into the home of the 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. 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 take a political dimension. But the Church and the Pope will not agree to return the child, to consolidate an increasingly wavering power…

The story of Edgardo Mortara, a young Jewish boy living in Bologna, Italy, who in 1858, after being secretly baptized, was forcibly taken from his family to be raised as a Christian. His parents' struggle to free their son became part of a larger political battle that pitted the papacy against forces of democracy and Italian unification.

Reviews

The Guardian
"Marco Bellocchio’s antisemitism drama is a classic in the making”