Infidel

Infidel
Starring Jim Caviezel, Claudia Karvan, Hal Ozsan, Aly Kassem
Directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh

I'm not a huge fan of propaganda films, movies made strictly for the purpose of the director's own agenda, because politics is divisive and I watch films to get away from such negativity.  One of the most well-known propagandist directors is Dinesh D'Souza, who directed the "documentaries" "2016: Obama's America," "America: Imagine the World Without Her," and "Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party."  So when I first saw the trailer for "Infidel" and saw it was produced by his company, I figured it'd be another propaganda-ridden film, and while there were moments, it's surprisingly not as indoctrinated as I thought it would be.

Doug Rawlins (Jim Caviezel) is a famous Christian blogger whose wife Elizabeth (Claudia Karvan) works for the State Department.  He's friends with Javid (Aly Kassem), a Muslim who's celebrating his daughter's graduation.  The next night Doug and Liz get a frantic call from Javid's wife, saying their daughter never came home last night, and they head to their house which is already swarming with police.  They discover Javid is running a terrorist recruitment site.  One week later Doug heads to Cairo to attend a talk show about differing religions, and ends up proselytizing to the audience, while Liz watches at home dismayed after losing her religion after a car crash killed their unborn baby.

That night David is abducted by Ramzi (Hal Ozsan) and his goons, and taken to Iran, where he's interrogated and told to give up his faith.  Doug refuses, and his captors bring him to the corrupt Iranian court to be tried for being a spy.  Meanwhile Liz tries everything in the States to bring her husband home, but finds resistance at every turn, so she heads to Iran to find Doug and bring him home herself.

The film opens with the words "Based on true events," and after the film I searched for the supposed true story, but there wasn't one.  Instead, director Cyrus Nowrasteh (whose own father was actually detained in Iran) based the film off different Americans who were held captive in Iran.  The concept of the film itself seems to be separated into two parts, neither one really coinciding with the other.

The first part of the film centers on the more propaganda-driven narrative of Christianity good, Muslim bad, as Doug's friend is sought out for being a Muslim extremist - something that could've worked out better if he actually wasn't a Muslim extremist and the two could actually had been friends, bridging a divide between the two religions, but it's not my film to make.  Sure, this "friendship" comes into play later on, but once the action starts taking place overseas, this is merely a hindsight. 

The second part of the film is the action-packed thriller the film made itself out to be, and while the action itself isn't bad, it's nothing memorable either - a trait that the entire film holds.  It's good, but not great, and not bad.  Not one you'll be remembering or reminiscing about either for good or bad, but in the moment it's a decent time-waster.

The performances are all stellar and give surprisingly deeper motives for the characters involved.  Jim Caviezel (who portrayed Jesus in "The Passion of the Christ") isn't your cookie-cutter Christian - he swears, he whines, he has a sarcastic attitude.  It was moreso unintentionally funny when he's crying out to God, and I'm like "you're Jesus, come on!"  Still, he gives it his all and shows a less Christian caricature than other films.

Claudia Karvan plays Doug's wife Liz, who's much more than just a waning wall-flower.  She's headstrong, smart, determined, driven, and not held back by religious beliefs.  When Doug gets kidnapped, she sets out as a one-woman army to bring him home, and finds surprising assistance in Iran from an underground Christian group - which also has Muslims in attendance who want to end the tyrannical regime.  Then there's Hal Ozsan, who plays Doug's captor Ramzi, and even his performance is not typical of your usual captor.  He's almost light-hearted in moments, and that makes him all the more terrifying when he comes unglued in other moments.

Offering a more straight-forward thriller than strong political overtones, "Infidel" still doesn't rise to the greats of other political thrillers, but satisfies the need for thrills for one viewing.

The Score: C+