Pandora brought up the surprising objection that Spielberg might better have lavished his resources on the story of Catholic children abducted in the 19th century and awarded to WASPS. Perhaps a little historical perspective is in order.

The kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara by Pius IX provoked an international outcry that only intensified with the revelations of Giuseppe Coen's baptism and sequestration in 1864. The scandal surrounding Mortara inspired a campaign of antisemitic invective and rumor-mongering by the Catholic press. The pope ratcheted up his crusade against "modernity," releasing the "Syllabus of Errors" the year of Coen's abduction. After Pius successfully maneuvered to have himself declared infallible at Vatican I he lost Catholic support as well, becoming increasingly isolated. In 1870 Pius lost the Papal States to Italian nationalists.

Spielberg is attracted to precisely this kind of epic narrative. Provincial religio-ethnic antagonisms, not so much.