Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi (2022)

Four part Netflix documentary about a case that won’t go away after 40 years. While the Pope was returning to Poland, Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of one of the officials who live in the Vatican disappeared. Phone calls from supposed kidnappers would indicate that the girl was taken as leverage to get the man who shot the Pope two years earlier released. However things were not clear cut as the case began to go into all sorts of odd directions.  Indeed the case recently (July 2023) sprang back to life.

Belt in kiddies this is a crazy case. It’s the story of the only Vatican resident ever to disappear and never be found. It’s a story that has possible ties to the mafia, the Sovets, terrorists, sexual predators, empty tombs, fakers, power grabs and numerous other factors. By the time you get to the end of the four hours you’ll be well versed in many of the theories of what might have happened and you won’t be certain of any of them. The only thing You’ll probably be certain of is that the Vatican knows what happened but isn’t saying. You’ll come to this conclusion because time and time again the pope or some other official will appear and say something that seems innocent but actually is loaded- such as speaking of things that hadn’t been revealed even to the family.

I was hooked and after stopping one and a quarter episodes in I rushed home from work the next night so I could see the end. While  some of the material in the third part doesn’t really go anywhere, it does give us some idea why the case, which is still unsolved, refuses to die.  

Actually while this series is four parts the reality is that could have gone on for a few more since in reading on the case there are other twists and turns that weren’t covered here, such as the recent re-emergence of the possibility that a family member was involved (though that’s unlikely since the person in question is alleged to have been a hundred miles away)

This is a wild ride into a world where nothing is certain and officials both in the police and the church seem to know more than then are letting on.

Recommended.