pmassey-23533 Ryan Gosling is the star of this film, by which i mean that all other roles pale by comparison, although Theresa Russell plays her part very well.Gosling is a Jew. And a Nazi. Hmmm...This film is clever. The central idea here is that the way the Jews look at non-Jews could be looked at in the same way that Nazis viewed Jews. They are 'other'. There is an uncomfortable paradox there, and the film is exploring this.Obviously the big political and philosophical themes are important, and big issues feature big (being, as they are, big). But the thing that sticks out most for me is the performance of Ryan Gosling.His character Danny Balint, is in conflict. With himself. With Judaism. With the world. He is a tortured and confused young man, trying to make sense of a world that makes no sense.He is also super-bright, and a violent thug. A very scary combination.Obviously, a great actor (for that is what Gosling is) can do nothing without a superb script and fab direction. A lot of thought has gone into this film. Gosling manages to convince us that he is a devout Jew, on the one hand, and terminally ashamed of this on the other.This film is genuinely delicious. But one helping is enough. This is not powder-puff politics, and is not the kind of film you rewind immediately and watch again. This is disturbing stuff, brave and provocative. How will Danny's conflicts resolve themselves?Watch it to find out - you will not regret it.

Attila Tormus When I read the first time a news on Jewish Nazi sympathizers in Israel, I thought that it was a bad joke. But it was true, unfortunately true. The movie is a kind of visual debate on that fact but the scene is in US. Although the movie can try to depict the darkened mind set of Nazi supporters in a psychological tempo, I must say that the movie was quite unsuccessful in bringing a strong impression for the audience like me, who likes challenging impressions. Ryan Gosling's performance was totally great although the confused architecture of the screenplay. If the synopsis of the movie was asked from me, I would have written "A believer Jewish young man prefers a very opposite way to show his anger on Nazi. He is in between his anger at Nazis and his anger and mercy on Jewish people who became the victim and who couldn't show deadly resistance to Nazis." The synopsis looks interesting but sub stories cannot complete the whole story. Perhaps, the director tried to show many things at the same time. I don't know, I advise this movie to be watched but will not be one of my favourite ones!

CinemaClown Inspired by the true life story of Daniel Burros, The Believer is a thought provoking, hard-hitting, powerfully disturbing yet profoundly moving tale starring Ryan Gosling in one of his earliest & most electrifying roles and despite its provocative subject manner, is a heartbreaking experience at the same time.Set in New York City, the story of The Believer concerns Daniel Balint; a Neo-Nazi skinhead with very strong anti-Semitic feelings despite having a Jewish background himself. The plot presents him as a morally confused individual who constantly finds himself torn between his beliefs & his heritage before being exposed by a journalist.Finely directed & nicely written, the film is unflinching with its content & is often a tough sit at times but a rewarding experience nonetheless. The technical aspects don't add much to the story for the entire narrative is mainly driven by Ryan Gosling's explosive performance as the self- hating Jew & still remains one of his best works to date.On an overall scale, covering the themes of religion, hate & self-loathing, The Believer is a fiercely crafted & steadily paced drama that's much worthy of a wider audience, is a fascinating but somewhat underdeveloped study of a troubled character, and benefits greatly from Gosling's commanding screen presence & show-stealing performance.

Danusha_Goska Save Send Delete The 2001 film "The Believer" is worth seeing for Ryan Gosling's riveting performance as Daniel Balint, a violent, mentally disturbed American, Jewish, neo-Nazi. Unfortunately, the rest of the film is not anywhere as good as Gosling's central performance. Gosling is on screen throughout most of the film, though. I rarely watch movies at home in one sitting and I sat through this entire film, almost afraid to look away, Gosling was so intimidating and fascinating. "The Believer" was inspired by Daniel Burros, (1937-1965) a Jewish man who became Grand Dragon of the NY Ku Klux Klan. After the New York Times revealed Burros' ancestry, he killed himself. "The Believer" opens with Balint menacing a wimpy Jewish student on the New York City subway. The Jewish student cringes, cowers, and attempts to scurry away. Balint menaces him before he gets into the subway car, on the subway car itself, and on the street outside the subway, where he finally pounces, beating the student into a bloody, broken mess. It's a horrible scene to watch. The soundtrack expertly wrings the scene for all the tension and terror it is worth. As brilliantly manipulative as this scene is, there's a problem with it. As much as you hate what you are seeing, you end up identifying with Balint. The Jewish student is weak and cowardly and refuses to defend himself. Balint at least has the integrity to act on his vile ideals. Even if you didn't know that Gosling is playing a self-hating Jewish character, you would be able to read that from his facial expressions. He sneers as if smelling something foul. He begs the student to defend himself. You know that he is beating the student because he hates the despised potential Jewish victim inside himself. That theme – the theme of Jewish self-hatred as a reaction to the Holocaust – is one of the movie's big ideas, and it is not a worthy one. After committing one of many hate crimes, Balint is forced to undergo sensitivity training. He is lectured by three elderly Jewish Holocaust survivors. One describes the Nazis bayonetting his son, peeling the corpse of the son off the bayonet, and dropping the corpse on the ground at the man's feet. Balint turns the table and lectures these survivors. Why didn't you fight? He asks. At least then you would have had your dignity. You were going to die anyway. The film allows that question to go unanswered, and that is not right. Jews *did* fight. Jews fought in the Polish Army when the Nazis first invaded Poland, and in the Anders Army at famous battlegrounds like Monte Cassino. Jews fought in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the first urban, civilian uprising in Nazi-occupied Europe. Jews fought in the forests with the Bielski Brothers. Jews fought in the Treblinka concentration camp uprising. Jews fought in non-martial ways, as well. There were poetry readings in the Warsaw Ghetto, and Sabbath commemorations in concentration camps. To remember your own culture in the face of death is also a revolt against death. It isn't the responsibility of "The Believer" to provide viewers with this detailed history lesson, but it lessens the value of the film to allow Daniel Balint, a Jewish neo-Nazi, to go unrefuted. Other than Gosling's performance, there isn't much to recommend the film. There are shadowy scenes of fascist plotters meeting in New York City apartments, strategizing ways to take over America. Billy Zane is pretty much wasted in his few scenes as a fascist theorist. Summer Phoenix, River's little sister, has a gratuitous, exploitative, topless scene. She plays the part of a depressive, masochistic fascist sex toy. Through Balint, she becomes obsessed with Judaism, and begins to practice, lighting Sabbath candles and attending synagogue services. This is the movie's second big idea: if you look at it through the right kaleidoscope, being a member of a Jewish community is in some ways comparable to being a member of a hate group like the Nazis. This is just simple-minded, undercooked, grandiose thinking, and this is why, outside of Gosling's performance, I can't recommend this film. There is some incoherent, implausible plotting: fascists meet in the woods and beat each other up; there is a bungled assassination attempt; there are a couple of synagogue bombings. None of this goes anywhere. There's another problem with this film. It is very much in the cinematic tradition of Sexy Nazis like "Inglorious Bastard's" Colonel Hans Landa, "Black Book's" Ludwig Muntze, Oskar Werner, Maximilian Schell, and too many others to mention . Ryan Gosling is a very attractive man and in this film he is shown shirtless, lifting weights, and masterfully beating other men. In real life, Daniel Burros was not so omnipotent, not so sexy. In fact, journalist William Bryk said of Burros that he "was an inept paratrooper: overweight, poorly coordinated and slow. He wore thick-lensed glasses that made his eyes look larger than they were. The other guys in the barracks laughed at him. He had no friends. Finally, he made three phony suicide attempts: a few shallow razor cuts on the wrist; an overdose of aspirin; and again the razor … The Army discharged him 'by reasons of unsuitability, character, and behavior disorder.'"In short, Burros was mentally ill, as is Daniel Balint in this film. Given that the film is about a man who is not processing reality accurately, it is unfortunate that the film provides no coherent counter voice to the flawed conclusions Balint lives by.