Mark Wahlberg has shared how his Catholic faith continues to shape his thinking about forgiveness, judgment and mercy, even as his latest film, “By Any Means,” plunges him into a world where justice and vengeance are increasingly difficult to distinguish.
The 55-year-old actor stars opposite Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in a film loosely inspired by events surrounding the 1966 murder of civil rights activist and NAACP leader Vernon Dahmer by members of the Ku Klux Klan in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Directed by Elegance Bratton, “By Any Means” is set against the racial violence and voter suppression of the Jim Crow-era South.
Dahmer had publicly offered to help black residents pay poll taxes that prevented many poor citizens from voting, declaring that their participation at the ballot box was a statement that “we here, that we matter.” The film follows Wayne Strider (Abdul-Mateen), a black FBI agent who returns to his native Mississippi from Chicago and encounters an institution in which authorities routinely turn a blind eye to racist violence.
After the federal government prioritizes the investigation into Dahmer's murder, Strider is paired with Gregory Scarpa (Wahlberg), a feared Brooklyn mobster recruited for an off-the-books effort to identify those responsible. Scarpa was a real-life mobster, while Strider is a composite character inspired by FBI agents who reportedly worked with him.
In an interview with The Christian Post, Wahlberg, a devout Catholic who has frequently spoken publicly about the importance of faith in his life, reflected on how the film's themes stand in stark contrast to the Christian mandate to forgive. “I think at the end of the day, of course, you can't be forgiven unless you forgive,” Wahlberg said.
“And in this world, you know, to do what God wants you to do, and to emulate what Jesus has done, to be able