Director writer Cyrus Nowrasteh has pieced together a story of Doug Rawlins (Jim Caviezel) a character who finds himself a captive in Iran after speaking out about his believes which include that Jesus is God. Not too popular in places in the Middle East. The program he filmed in Egypt ends up in a capture by Iranian thugs and he spends most of the film In prison in Iran.
The film shot in Jordan has an exciting ending but overall it’s a very dull film watch.
Rawlins has a blog and that is what leads him to appear to discuss the relationship between Christianity and other religions that exist in the Middle East on a visit to Egypt.
Even with the harsh treatment Rawlins receives while in jail the script feels contrived he could easily avoided angering folks by simply saying he believed Jesus is God but he insists that Jesus is God.
Rawlins is beaten over and over again even put before a firing squad, but he won’t take a plea from the court to save his life.
Sadly Caviezel and Claudia Karvan produce bland performances, their emotions show in their body movements but not in their expressions, their facial expressions hardly ever change.
The emotional hook of the film is that a true Christian like Rawlins will not will not bend and in the end he will pardon and help those who have hurt him.
The final last scenes involving car chases in an attempt to escape are enjoyable and exciting to watch. That action reaches out with emotion for the audience but overall the script is drab and bland.
“Infidel” gives us very little to enjoy or to be impressed with.