A still from the film Kidnapped, which is set in 19th-century Italy. In it, a 6-year-old Jewish child is abducted by papal soldiers who inform his parents that the boy was secretly baptized by a maid. If they want him back, they must convert to Catholicism. In the meantime, the boy will be educated in the Vatican at the feet of Pope Pius IX (Paolo Pierobon). There’s an international outcry, but even as the Church loses political ground with the emergence of an Italian state, the Pope remains adamant: the child has been saved.
Marco Bellocchio (The Traitor, Dormant Beauty and Exterior Night) seizes on this true story to mount a fierce denunciation of antisemitism and the excesses of the Catholic Church, as well as to chronicle a pivotal chapter in Italian history.
Email editor@jewishindependent.ca by Sept. 27 for a chance to win two vouchers to see the Jewish Independent-sponsored film Kidnapped at the Vancouver International Film Festival Sept. 28, Oct. 3 or Oct. 6.