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";s:4:"text";s:6587:"Caviezel is most well-known for portraying Jesus in Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," as well as the series "Person of Interest." Even though they only have a couple of scenes together, it's enough to establish the relationship dynamic. Agenda-driven films make for dreary viewing and "Infidel" is never dreary. He's not drawn in broad brush strokes. It's a nice touch. Aided by excellent performances across the board by its international cast, "Infidel" works best when it's an old-fashioned thriller. His wife heads to the city after hearing the … Doug's wife (Claudia Karvan) works for the United States State Department, and does her damnedest—pulling every string possible—to get him out. Supposedly "inspired by true events," "Infidel" was executive produced by Dinesh D'Souza, who helmed the propaganda films "Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party" and "Death of a Nation: Can We Save America a Second Time?". With Jim Caviezel, Claudia Karvan, Hal Ozsan, Stelio Savante. Later that night, thugs abduct Doug from his hotel room, whisk him away to Lebanon for months of torture, before transporting him to Iran. At one point, Ramzi says to Doug, wryly, "We take this shit far too seriously, mate.". There are a couple of jarring digs at "secularists" being the real enemy, and you can practically see Dinesh D'Souza's face peeking out from beneath the screen in these moments. He comes from a very authentic place of anger and grievance, and isn't particularly devout. His frustrated wife, who does not share his faith, watches the Cairo interview on television back in America, and says, exasperated, "What are you doing, Doug?" He's a wonderful actor, and mostly chooses projects where he can express his Christian faith. Later in a telephone conversation, she says to him, "You're preachy. He's a practical man of the world. Agenda-driven films make for dreary viewing and "Infidel" is never dreary. Sheila O'Malley received a BFA in Theatre from the University of Rhode Island and a Master's in Acting from the Actors Studio MFA Program. He even admits it was stupid to try to preach to the camera on Cairo TV. She forces him to not take himself too seriously. The ideological and theological questions posed by the first half are mainly tossed out of the window, although vestiges of it remain. The tiresome binary of "Muslims bad, Christians good" is undercut by this inter-faith opposition team. Caviezel and Karvan, who worked together before in "Long Weekend," have very good onscreen chemistry. The faith conversation here is presented in a very human scale, a relatable and real-life scale. He lies in his prison cell, begging to be allowed to go home. In Tehran, she is taken in by a group of persecuted Christians, who hold services in secret in someone's home. He tries to reason with Doug: "Just tell them what they want to hear and this will all be over." Aided by excellent performances across the board by its international cast, "Infidel" works best when it's an old-fashioned thriller. Never Make Rules: Director Rachel Talalay on A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting, Netflix's Social Distance Struggles to Sum Up the Ordeal of 2020, A Preview of the 56th Chicago International Film Festival, Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time Offers Hours of Deadly Fun. Ozsan brings a sense of insouciance and almost playfulness to his interrogations of Doug, making him an extremely unpredictable and sometimes frightening figure. But Ramzi is no sneering stereotypical "Middle Eastern" villain. He's not even particularly brave. (Karvan, in particular, is fantastic.). This film marks the second collaboration between Nowrasteh and Jim Caviezel, the first being 2009's effective "The Stoning of Soraya M.," with Oscar-nominated Shohreh Aghdashloo tremendous in the role of an avenging aunt determined to save her niece from being stoned. An added layer of complexity is that the prison guards are not Christian, but Muslims who oppose the Iranian regime. Nowrasteh does not make the mistake of presenting Doug as a saintly martyr. It weirds people out." The faith aspect of this is foregrounded to some degree, but not as much as you might think. Because of D'Souza's presence, one might think the agenda of "Infidel"—and there is one—would be front and center to a tiresome degree. Caviezel is often a very solemn figure onscreen, and here, Karvan makes him laugh. Like everyone in "Infidel," he is human-sized. The movie wants to be two different things. Religion doesn't come into his reasoning at all. Doug's lead captor is Ramzi, played by Turkish Cypriot-born British actor Hal Ozsan. The American ends up in a notorious Tehran prison, filled with political prisoners. Doug is a believer but he's not self-righteous. Written and directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh, "Infidel" is the story of an American kidnapped by Hezbollah during an interfaith conference held in Cairo. He is given a death sentence, based on the trumped-up charge that he's a spy for the CIA. His British accent destabilizes him from a specific region, and he tells Doug of his radicalization due to the brutal treatment he received in the United States. Nowrasteh handles the action sequences confidently and there are many legitimately gripping moments. But that's not the case. Directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh. The first half has very little resemblance to the second half. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here. Among their ranks are prison guards who pass messages to prisoners, flouting authorities. In "Infidel," he plays Doug, a well-known Christian blogger, who causes an international incident when he proselytizes to a Muslim audience during his appearance on a Cairo talk show: "Jesus is God, and he wants to be your God." I have so much affection for the 2000 film "Frequency," where Caviezel plays an emotionally damaged man who connects with his dead father (Dennis Quaid) over a ham radio. Advertisement. It is Doug's wife's quest to get her husband out of Iran that makes up its thriller-movie second half. INFIDEL is a contemporary political thriller set in the Middle East and filled with suspense and intrigue, inspired by true events, and ripped from today's headlines. Other viewpoints are allowed space. An American man, played by Jim Caviezel, is kidnapped after a friend invites him to Cairo to speak out about recent militant uprisings. They heard of her plight and want to help. There's a lot going for "Infidel" and there's quite a bit against it. The best moments for me were the small ones, the intimate ones. 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