With The Believer, his first film as director, screenwriter Henry Bean wastes no time in going for the jugular. In the opening scene a timid Yeshiva student is chased off a New York subway train, racially abused and savagely beaten up by a ranting skinhead, and from then on in the level of hatred and violence rarely abates. But the passion that fuels the film is as much psychological as physical. The skinhead Danny Balint is the film’s protagonist, and his anti-Semitic venom has an unusual cause: he’s Jewish himself. Bean, whose previous work as a scriptwriter (Mulholland Falls and the like) has been accomplished but not exceptional, tackles this fraught subject with a strong sense of personal commitment. He doesn’t go for easy targets, either. Like Edward Norton's character in American History X, Danny is no mindless thug: he’s intelligent and frighteningly articulate, and he can argue his case with mouth and brains no less than with fists and boots. The film traces his attitude back to his schooldays, when he revolted against the unquestioning submission to Orthodox doctrine that his teachers tried to instil. Faced with a group of Holocaust survivors he denounces them for their passivity in the face of oppression. "Kill your enemies!" he tells them scornfully.
There’s a lot of talk in this film, and several of the characters are little more than mouthpieces for their respective views. (If Bernard Shaw had ever written a play about anti-Semitism, it might have come out rather like this.) But the play of ideas is passionate and deeply felt, and as the tormented Danny, constantly drawn back to the faith he despises, Ryan Gosling gives a riveting performance. This is an intense, anguished film that dares to pose deeply disquieting questions. --Philip Kemp
On the DVD: Although the disc only has one special feature, "Anatomy of a Scene", courtesy of the Sundance Channel, it is an interesting and informative dissection of the filming processes, the casting and the controversial and moving script. The visuals are on top form with 16:9 widescreen, but the sound is a disappointment--only mustering a 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo. --Nikki Disney
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