Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: o6/30/23

The passion of Jim Caviezel. TV fans know him for his acclaimed performance as the mysterious hero he played for five seasons on the hit CBS sci-fi crime drama Person of Interest – but Jim Caviezel will be quick to tell you that John Reese is not the most important role he’s ever played. That, of course, is Jesus Christ, the ultimate person of interest he portrayed  in the 2004 big screen epic The Passion of the Christ, a part he is reportedly reprising in its sequel The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection which is being prepped for a 2024 release.

Prior to that, this Tuesday (July 4th) he’s starring in the theatrical thriller Sound of Freedom as Tim Ballard, a real-life former Homeland Security agent who put his life on the line to rescue children from from a ring of child sex traffickers. It’s a cause Caviezel himself is passionate about – which explains why he considers playing Ballard to be the second-most important part he’s ever played.

JWK: How did you come aboard this film?

Jim Caviezel: I look for material that moves me and this absolutely did. I knew (producer) Eduardo Verástegui (who also has a role in the film) a little bit. We knew each other here and there but he came out of nowhere and said “Look…read the script!” I read it…and I said “Please, don’t go any further! Come to me on this. I can knock this one out of the park.”

JWK: You’ve said that playing Tim Ballard is the second-most important role of your career – obviously behind playing Jesus in The Passion of the Christ. Why do you say that?

JC: Let’s look at what is going on in trafficking, organ harvesting and (the enslaving of) children…Imagine, for example, you’ve made a movie to show what the world did to people in Auschwitz, Dachau and Buchenwald. Imagine making that film. Why is that important? To draw attention to them. It’s a warning tale. It also helps you understand, when the Fourth of July’s going on (and) let’s say you’re not interested in child trafficking and eventually you’re out at a cookout and little Johnny’s gone. Would you have wished that you learned a little bit about it to see the warning signs? There are warning signs. This is the stuff that you work on when you’re with good operators like Jim Ballard. You have five drug trafficker agents for every one of the agents that are trying to help stop these crimes against humanity – because that’s what they are. So, that’s how I saw this. Also, (it’s) a thrill ride.

JWK: It is actually very suspenseful and works on that level as a movie. Did the script stick fairly close to what actually happened?

JC: Yeah, very, very close.

JWK: The US, as you note, is one of the largest consumers of child sex in the world. Why do you think that’s so and what should be done about it?

JC: Well, the guys that were taking me into that world were like “Hey, what do you want to see, Jim?” I said “I want to see all of it. I want to see what the reality is.” (They said) “Do you understand that this is going to affect you?” So, I went deeper and deeper and deeper into it and I realized what we’re into…These guys opened up their books and showed (me) things that you’re not suppose to see – because it’s the dark web – and they’re giving me information so that, hopefully, I go and make this film and it exposes it. You’re putting light on pure evil. I don’t know why I have to explain that to people. (It’s as if) hurting children is kind of a good thing. We’re now seeing that grooming children is okay. A man wants to have sex with a child, what’s wrong with that? Right? I don’t want that. I have such an averse reaction to that. That’s…our culture (at stake), if we have one left. We won’t have one if we don’t stand up and say “No.”

During the time of Herod, was it good that Herod killed all those babies? Was it good that (in the time of) Moses they annihilated all those babies?…Slavery was (rampant) in those times. We have more slavery now than (ever) in the history of slavery.

JWK: Yeah, I saw that statistic. I actually had to look it up because I was shocked by it. We focus so much on past slavery – which, of course, as awful – but, ironically, we don’t talk too much about the slavery that’s going on right now.

JC: Well, you’ve got destroy it, cauterize the wound and…learn. I don’t believe these three letter agencies don’t know what’s going on. We have people that are giving testimony…that – get this number – 85,000 children disappeared last year. 85,000 children!

JWK: Does our rather lax border policy contribute to this?

JC: In America, on our south border (according to) the media, there’s nothing going on there. There’s no people crossing the border – then there is now, isn’t there? There’s no such thing as a Hunter Biden laptop – for two years!  And I believed the media – because the media’s right 100%! But then there is a laptop now. Isn’t that weird? And then (there’s) the John Durham report. We don’t like Trump. Trump’s evil! Right, because he’s a Russian spy! But then he’s not! So, this is really weird!

So, this testimony (about 85,000 missing children is given) in front of a congressional select committee – sworn testimony – (which) means they have to submit evidence – and what’s fascinating is the media didn’t say “No, no, no, we fact-checked you.” They didn’t do that. I don’t know why. 85,000! There’s nothing in the news the next day?! If it’s not in the news, it’s not news, right?

?UNACCEPTABLE?

▪️HHS has lost track of 85,000 migrant children
▪️Children’s sponsors aren’t properly vetted
▪️Whistleblowers were fired@HHSgov couldn’t answer basic questions about these problems in the unaccompanied alien children program.

HHS will be hearing from us soon. pic.twitter.com/2lJm4197w2

— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) April 18, 2023

JC: So, that’s how this whole thing starts unraveling. That’s not just me (that’s disgusted) – it’s millions of Americas that don’t have the opportunity to get it out on the airwaves…You start having guys that are in Homeland Security – guys that know stuff that they’re terrified to come forward (about) because they could lose their life! So, these whistleblowers start coming forward..and now you really can’t stop this thing. So, it starts with the people. It doesn’t start with the government. The government’s already corrupt. It’s got to be with the people.

JWK: Between child sex trafficking, abortion, gender ideology and CRT in schools and being scared out of their wits about climate change, would you say it’s a pretty tough time to be a kid in the world?

JC: It would be a tough time to be a child if you were a Christian under the Romans, wouldn’t it? It would be a tough time to be a Jewish child under the Nazi’s Third Reich, wouldn’t it? Or under Stalin‘s reign. But yet we go on.

Look, we’re all at some point going to die. There is a definite time that has been allotted to all of us but, this is the power of movies, just go to the movie It’s a Wonderful Life. George Bailey. Remember that? The angel comes and tells George – a man who doesn’t want to live anymore; he wants to die – and he says “Alright, George. You’ve never been born.” And (then) you look at all the people that he affected with his life…That’s how I look at my life. That’s what my faith tells me.

Yeah, sure people are gonna criticize you. Sure, you were in The Passion of the Christ and you represented a (supposedly) anti-Semitic Jesus (as if) He wasn’t a Jew. He was! But, you know, that was the narrative at the time. We got hammered – and, look, what does the film do? If I get out of my way (and) take the attitude – as my friend said – “What you think of me is none of my business” I can go and be a Christian and love anyone and…change lives.

Now, I see the connection between the killing of the unborn babies and what was going on here – and it starts really with people…They’ve knocked us down. It’s like the toad – you put him in lukewarm water (and) don’t (turn it up too fast). (With abortion) you kind of slowly go from the first trimester to the second trimester to the third trimester and then to partial-birth abortion and then maybe…you say you can kill the baby when it’s born…There’s a movie on abortion called The Silent Scream. You can’t hear the baby screaming in the womb but he’s screaming…I’m either going to put my head in the sand and be like a sheep or be a sheepdog and, when God goes and looks for the lost sheep, I’m going to tear any wolf that comes near my Lord’s sheep…That’s what Tim Ballard was to me in this film…I got to spend time with Tim Ballard and “Ye shall know them by their fruits.”

John W. Kennedy is a writer, producer and media development consultant specializing in television and movie projects that uphold positive timeless values, including trust in God.