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.

Credits: TheMovieDb.

Film Cast:

• Edgardo Mortara bambino: Enea Sala
• Edgardo Mortara ragazzo: Leonardo Maltese
• Papa Pio IX: Paolo Pierobon
• Momolo Mortara: Fausto Russo Alesi
• Marianna Mortara: Barbara Ronchi
• Angelo Padovani: Andrea Gherpelli
• Riccardo Mortara: Samuele Teneggi
• Giudice Carboni: Corrado Invernizzi
• Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli: Filippo Timi
• Pier Gaetano Feletti: Fabrizio Gifuni
• Sabatino Scazzocchio: Paolo Calabresi
• Anna Morisi: Aurora Camatti
• Maresciallo Lucidi: Bruno Cariello
• Angelo Moscati: Walter Lippa
• Padre Mariano: Alessandro Bandini
• Brigadiere Agostini: Leonardo Bianconi
• Bonaiuto Sanguinetti: Daniele Aldrovandi
• Avvocato Jussi: Fabrizio Contri
• Avvocato Liberale: Giustiniano Alpi
• Rabbino Vita: Orfeo Orlando
• Signora anziana: Federica Fracassi
• Signora giovane: Giulia Quadrelli
• Rettore: Renato Sarti
• Madre Simone: Flavia Baiku
• Tagliacozzo: Tonino Tosto
• Elia: Christian Mudu
• Aronne: Riccardo Bandiera

Film Crew:

• Screenplay: Marco Bellocchio
• Screenplay: Susanna Nicchiarelli
• Producer: Beppe Caschetto
• Producer: Simone Gattoni
• Director of Photography: Francesco Di Giacomo
• Editor: Francesca Calvelli
• Costume Designer: Sergio Ballo
• Costume Designer: Daria Calvelli
• Production Design: Andrea Castorina
• Original Music Composer: Fabio Massimo Capogrosso
• Editor: Stefano Mariotti
• Book: Daniele Scalise
• Executive Producer: Patrick Carrarin
• Executive Producer: Alessio Lazzareschi
• Executive Producer: Maurizio Feverati
• VFX Supervisor: Rodolfo Migliari
• Line Producer: Sonia Cilia
• Casting: Maurilio Mangano
• Co-Producer: Alexandra Henochsberg
• Co-Producer: Pierre-François Piet
• Co-Producer: Michael Weber
• Co-Producer: Viola Fügen
• Producer: Paolo Del Brocco
• Co-Writer: Edoardo Albinati
• Co-Writer: Daniela Ceselli
• Makeup Artist: Enrico Iacoponi
• Hairdresser: Alberta Giuliani
• Script Supervisor: Anna Belluccio
• First Assistant Director: Barbara Daniele

Movie Reviews:

• CinemaSerf: Based on a bizarre true story, this follows the tale of the young Edgardo Sala who was living quite happily with his Jewish parents and siblings in Bologna until an official arrives one evening to tell them he is to be removed from their care. Why? It appears that many years earlier when he was in his cradle, he has been baptised and so must therefore be looked after by the church. Despite their appeals and protestations, he is swiftly taken to Rome where he is enrolled in a Catholic school where his is pretty thoroughly indoctrinated into the ways of his new Church – even becoming of special interest to Pope Pius IX (Paolo Pierobon). The story really centres around the trial many year later of the Papal Officer Feletti (Fabrizio Gifuni) after the city had become part of the Italian Kingdom, and those proceedings are used to fill in some of the backstory and to test the theories of responsibility of actions done in the name of the State. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the young man grows up to become conflicted – his love of Jesus struggles with his love of family and of the Talmud that was so important to him as a child. What I didn’t really understand was just why the Pope would ever been at all interested in the fate of a small Jewish lad when the Papal States were in permanent decline, but Marco Bellochio uses a solid cast and a sparing, but frequently impassioned, amount of dialogue to deliver a stylishly made intrigue that show the last vestiges of the once all-powerful Papacy and of the inconsequential hopes of a family and a small boy.