Atlanta Jewish Film Festival – Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara

This provocative, richly staged period drama, set in 19th-century Italy and based on true events, recounts the abduction and forced Christian conversion of a Jewish boy by Papal decree, igniting global outrage. In 1858 Bologna, young Edgardo (Enea Sala) is taken from his family and sent to Rome to become Catholic. Despite his parents’ desperate pleas and public furor, Pope Pius IX (Paolo Pierobon) stands firm. The struggle to reclaim their son echoes Italy’s burgeoning nationalism and challenges the Vatican’s power. Directed by the legendary Marco Bellocchio, this epic uncovers a dark chapter of tyranny in the Church, artfully contrasting clashes of faith with a nation teetering on revolution.