In 1858 in Bologna, papal soldiers burst into the home of the Jewish Mortara family and kidnap their seven-year-old son, claiming he is Catholic due to a secret baptism in infancy. As the church began indoctrinating the young boy, the family launch a struggle to regain their son. Directed by Palme d’Or winner Marco Bellocchio, this gripping narrative unfolds with operatic intensity and visual grandeur, depicting a small Jewish community in turmoil as they resist the overbearing authority of the Catholic Church.

Reviews

‘It is a full-tilt melodrama with the passionate vehemence of Victor Hugo or Charles Dickens, which lays bare an ugly formative episode of Europe’s Catholic church: an affair of antisemitism and child abuse.’
★★★★★
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian