I saw "Infidel", starring Jim Caviezel-Person of Interest_tv, The Passion of the Christ; Claudia Karvan-The Darkside, Daybreakers; Hal Ozsan-Jessica Jones_tv, Dawson's Creek and Stelio Savante-Bad Ass, My Super Ex_Girlfriend. This movie is based on a true story about a Christian, Jim, that is invited to Cairo to speak about military uprisings in the Middle East. Claudia plays his wife, who advises him that he should not go-it's kind of dangerous in that region of the world and Claudia works for the State Department, so she knows what she is talking about. Jim goes anyways-Duh-and makes a Christian statement while appearing on Cairo tv which sets off some extremists. Hal and some of his friends-extremists-kidnap Jim and move him to a secluded spot in Iran. Claudia tries to get the US government to launch a rescue but to no avail. She then decides to go in and see if she can get him out herself. Stelio offers her his assistance-he has some connections. The first part of the movie is a little routine-with the torture scenes-but the last part is a little better in the rescue operation. It's rated "R" for violence and language and has a running time of 1 hour & 47 minutes. It's not one that I would buy on DVD but it would be a good rental.

The fact this is a film with an agenda ... doesn't make what it has to say untrue.

If you go to Cairo as a high-profile Christian blogger ... and effectively "preach Christianity" to a massive TV audience of diehard Muslims ... don't be surprised when your life suddenly takes a rapid turn for the worse. LOL.

Having said that, this is a film worth watching, not so much for the mains (turning in occasionally hammy or contrived performances), but for the concept overall, and particularly the performances of supporting characters such as "Ramzi."

The harshness and lawlessness of the Middle-East felt real (if a little cliched in places) ... but you are left in no doubt as to the eternal divides which exist between the (primarily) Judeo-Christian culture of the West ... and its counterparts of radical Islam elsewhere.

In short, if these themes interest you ... the film is worth checking out.

The haters will tell you that Infidel is a poorly made, heavy handed Christian movie. It's not. It's an international action thriller movie. American man travels to foreign country and is abducted and tortured for his beliefs. His wife works for the State Department and her bosses decline to help. She steps up and tries to rescue her husband.

Infidel contains the action and suspense fans of the genre want.

Yes, Doug, the main character, is a Christian, and he is abducted and tortured by Iranians. Yes, that does happen in real life. In fact persecution of Christians goes on everyday in Muslim countries. The haters are getting their shorts in a wad, not over real life human suffering, but over the depiction of that suffering on screen.

There is no heavy handed Christian proselytizing in this movie. It's not a Bond film, but it's satisfying as a representative of the genre.

Jim Caviezel is, as ever handsome and charismatic. Claudia Karvan, as his wife is charming and lovable, as she should be. Hal Ozsan is very good as the torturer.