Rating: 
Summary: There's no easy way to summarize this movie ....
Review: .... and that's what makes it such an amazing piece. There's little wonder that this film scared studios and Jewish organizations away while attracting a devoted near-cult following.
This is not a film about anti-Semitism exactly, and definitely not a film about the neo-Nazi movement. To suggest either is to suggest that Waiting for Godot is about people sitting on benches; while it is a necessary context in which to discuss the theme, it is context only and says nothing about its substance. Daniel, the film's protagonist (and at once its antagonist), looks straight into his own soul, a soul constructed out of a complex and sometimes contradictory tradition. Judaism today is at a strange crossroads, perhaps the strangest since the destruction of the Second Temple in the first century.
Are Jews supposed to abide in submission to their host governments, as proscribed by Jewish religious law? Or are Jews destined to return to Israel, a State far removed from its Biblical heritage in that it's a (semi-)secular democracy? Is Judaism an ethnicity decided by birth, as suggested by Israel's "law of return", or is it a matter of belief?
Interestingly, Daniel decides that Israelis are not really Jews at all, and instead dives headfirst into the Jewish Diaspora in search of an identity he can accept. It is not so simple as asking how a loving G-d could have allowed the Holocaust; Daniel "the Believer" (perhaps the only person in the film who truly understands the complexity of the Jewish G-d) goes all the way back to the near sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham. Daniel is seeking desperately for something to hold on to, when Judaism seems to offer nothing but self-sacrifice.
...
That's my two cents, at least. What makes this film so compelling is that multiple arguments can be made, and the truth of the film's message probably lies somewhere between them all (not unlike the truth of Judaism itself).
Rating:
Summary: A very good and thought provoacking film
Review: The Believer is about a young man in his early twenties named Danny who happens to be an ortodox Jew.The plot of the movie basically foucuses around Danny's struggle to except the fact that he's jewish.The struggle gets to be so bad for him that he all together denies he's jewish and he becomes a neo-nazi.Hedoes have what you could call a girlfriend but she really isn't because she doesn't belong to him;her name is Carla.He has a father that he loves but doesn't show it,a sister to deal with, a whole gang of neo-nazi's who are suppose to be his friends but they really aren't, and this point isn't really brought up in the film but it's evident.There are other things Danny deals with that I won't mention because that would take too long.The beginning of this film opens up with,in my opinion, one of the best scenes in the whole movie.Of course I wouldn't tell what happens in this scene but's it's really good and quite disturbing.That's basically the way most people who see this film would feel about the movie as a whole:really good and quite disturbing,but I believe that's exactly how the filmmakers intended it to be.The film wasn't written to answer any questions about any thing that happens in the movie.Do not expect this film to be the typical hollywood film about this topic bacause it isn't.This movie isn't goody-goody and doesn't have a typical ending.The actor who played Danny did a wonderful job portraying him and his name is Ryan Gosling.My advice to most of you is that if you don't know who Ryan is yet,you should start to because he's GOOD;that's all I'll say about that.The last thing I'm going to say about this film is that it's not for everyone.If you're only open to typical movies and aren't even able to hear or understand something like it's very possible for someone to hate themselves for no apparent reason and if you're into pollitical correctness and offened easily;this movie's is DEFINETLY NOT FOR YOU!!
Rating: 
Summary: Clumsy propaganda
Review: The tale of an intelligent young man rejecting the morality of his family's Jewish tradition during his youth eventually developing Nazi leanings. However, while this our main-character is portrayed as part of the intellectual elite of American National Socialists, his politically incorrect arguments are on purpose made to sound ridiculous, leading nowhere, and so many of the facts are diminished. Eventually, the questions on the Jewish problem get bigger in the movie, and in order to overcome this, the writer/director uses a weapon which he knows will affect the audience enough to return over to the "good side": sentimentality. Much of the second half of this movie is filled with crying-scenes, guilt-ridden "flashbacks" from WWII and old "wise" men and women describing their suffering. And somehow, our Nazi Jew goes "good" again, and so they lived happily ever after... (Well, not really, but I can't reveal the film's end.) This is propaganda, pure and simple, and it is hilariously obvious as well. And still, many are those who will fall for it, whether they really do so, or just play along in order to keep their social status alive. I hardly ever watch movies, but this I had to see, and I can't say I was surprised by its message. Even if we do remove its apparent indoctrinating side, it is still extremely dull watching. Avoid, unless you really want to get depressed by beholding what this insane world has come to.
Rating:
Summary: wow
Review: from the subject matter (a jewish nazi) this film doesnt seem to be that appealing to most people but this is a truely astonishing movie with an excellent performance from ryan gosling. yes there is violence and yes there is anit semitisim and racisim but the main point is that it is about an inner struggle between love and hate and if you can love and hate the person that you really are. the camera has a gritty realtic feel to it as if you are really there while danny(gosling) is on his journey.
this is a film that people need to watch!! it is powerful. you will walk away shocked.
Rating:
Summary: A chilling true story with a remarkable lead performance
Review: At first glance THE BELIEVER seems like the ultimate oxymoron: a Jewish neo-nazi. What makes this movie even more fascinating is that it is based on a true story.
The opening sequence in which the film's protaganist Danny Balint (Ryan Gosling) beats up a Jewish student he stalks from the subway is chilling and leaves the viewer appalled at Balint's ignorance and self-loathing and his apparent unwillingness to accept his creed.
In several flashback scenes a nerdy Danny is shown in his Torah class giving opinions on religion his teacher doesn't like- actually very intelligent and provocative observations- his teacher's inability to accept a different opinion to his only serves to add another dent in Danny's psyche (As a lapsed Catholic, I can understand this all too well).
THE BELIEVER is utterly compelling, Gosling gives a frighteningly plausible performance, the scene in which he gives a newspaper reporter a look at his passionate but undeniably flawed reasoning is one of many powerful moments. A couple of other sequences of the movie I found very interesting is a film clip where God is describedby a yeshiva as "The purest form of spirit. Nothingness without end"; and especially the scene where Danny rolls up a damaged Torah scroll while his friends are destroying a Jewish synagogue. The movie also co-stars Theresa Russell and the almost unrecognizable Billy Zane both in fine perfomances as nazi radicals. I'll go so far as to say this is better than AMERICAN HISTORY X, which I also gave 5 stars. This is a must-see, though not for all tastes.
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: When I saw this movie two months ago I was reeling at the end. I couldn't even put my thoughts into words (although I was tempted to ask my self-righteous hippie friend why he couldn't be THAT kind of self-hating Jew). Two months later I'm still shell shocked. You can't even compare this movie to American History X. Not only because American History X was a sappy melodrama about a Nazi that learns how to love everyone by talking about basketball. This is a searing portrait of nihilism, Judaism, racism and self-loathing. The only comparison that can be made is that the movie rises and falls by the main actor. Only, where Edward Norton does his best to keep saccharine afloat, Ryan Gosling has some real meat to work with. Danny (Ryan Gosling) is a Hebrew School dropout going further away from Hebrew School than most. As an all-out Nazi beating up Jews on the street and advocating the killing of Jews, he's scary. Only as the movie goes along you realize that it's not Judaism that he's fighting against, but G-d. THe push-pull relationship between him and his faith create a vivid Dostoyevskian character filled with contradictions and angst. My favorite scenes include the one where he's trying to give the Nazi salute but instead says the blessing for the Torah scroll, and the scene where he finds his girlfriend naked reading teh scroll, makes her get dressed, admits that it's stupid, but then explains the seperation between the sacred and teh profane with rabbinical authority. THis is not just a movie about Nazism and Judaism. This is a movie about faith, belief and the extremes which we go to deny our personal destinies. At least that's what I think it's about. This movie keeps playing with my head and I'll have soemthing else to say about it in another month.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing, One of the best movies i have ever seen
Review: First of all i want to say that this is one of my favorite movies of all time. It brilliantly protrais the life of this neo-nazi in New York. Many people have written about it saying that it had abad script, but I thought that it was very good. The movie though would not hav been as good if they did hav Ryan Gosling. He is by far one of the finest actors of our time. Anyway back to the movie. It is a very powerful movie, about rasicm and freinds and death. The movie focuses on Danny (Ryan Gosling) It goes throught his life with his skinhead friends. I dont want to ruin anything but belive me his life is not great. BUt he is a very littler and incrediblely smart person. This definalty reflects on him through out the movie. The cinamotagraphy is amizing, its seems as thought it is a documentary. and the scens are amazing, esspecially the scen where he stands in front of the mirrior and salutes Hitler with just his pinky and the traditonal robes on. Anyone who saw it will remember that secn. All in all the movie is incrediale, watch it at all costs. You will be amazed.
Rating: 
Summary: ...and he still wears those dorky glasses.
Review: (N.B. some of the following may be considered spoiler.)
"Believer" is a wonderful piece of cinema. It deftly handles the issue of racism without becoming didactic. And when you're saying without qualification "Racism bad" that's a non-trivial feat. Coupled with the intelligent treatment of subject matter, the film boasts a sublime performance by Ryan Gosling.
There seems to be an almost inescapable desire to compare "Believer" and "American History X". After all, they are both recent anti-racism films about well-read, intelligent and loquacious neo-Nazis. The comparison is by no means a necessity, as both films easily stand on their own merits. But it's nonetheless extremely interesting to consider how the same basic issue is handled by our respective writer/directors. They're both good films, but because "Believer" avoids the overt pedagogy of "American History X", it is ultimately the better of the two.
"American History X" basically shows us that racism is a destructive thing to devote one's life to. It's bad for the hated, naturally, but also for the hater and his family. I could go on, but the basic premise is that racism begets racism; it's about the need to stop the spread of racism to the next generation (portrayed here from father to older brother to younger brother). Here the cycle of racism ends in a bloodbath; it's an effective way to show us that hatred is bad.
But whereas "American History X" took this simple approach, "Believer" avoids the plain moral high road. We are first introduced to Daniel Balint as he harasses and beats a young Jewish scholar. But we soon learn that his apparently atavistic loathing for Jews and Judaism was originally, and is still, essentially intellectual. Sure, his anti-Semitic tirades identify the primal disgust he feels ("Judaism is like a sickness") but he also talks of the (arguably) destructive "Jewish" intellectualism of Marx, Freud and Einstein (despite the fact that they all renounced the Jewish faith, but to go on...). As a boy, Daniel had some serious theological objections to Judaism; unfortunately, he has grown into a man who cannot separate the theology from the Jews themselves. And lo, we have a violent neo-Nazi.
But we had one of those in "American History X". Where "Believer" differs is in the fact that Daniel is a violent Jewish neo-Nazi. It's an intriguing idea: a well-educated Jew becomes a rabid anti-Semite and racist.
Does it work? Without doubt. It works because writer/director Bean treats it as the complex issue that it is. Racism is a sticky topic on its own; but this film has this added complication. And thankfully for us, it's handled extremely well.
In a film full of brilliant scenes, a few are worthy of note. Perhaps the single best scene is that in which reporter Guy interviews Daniel for an article. This scene works well because it presents Daniel as fundamentally absurd, but not completely silly. He is shown to have silly notions ("The Jew is essentially female"), but at the same time, he's shown as not only articulate, but also perceptive ("Why are you writing this down if you're recording it?" he asks Guy. He's quick.). But what really makes this scene is one line. Daniel, so enraged by Guy's suggestion of his being a Jew, sticks a gun into Guy's mouth and says, "If you publish any of this, I'm going to kill myself". This film is clearly examining racism differently from others, such as "American History X". Daniel is an angry, violent, hateful man, much like Derek Vinyard was in the other film. But Danny's anger and hatred is clearly directly towards himself as much as towards others.
(And let's not forget Daniel's speech to a group of fascists where he concludes that "We must love the Jew." It sounds silly if you haven't seen it, but is masterfully executed. There is also the scene in which Daniel and his daft, Holocaust-denying cronies berate a group of Concentration Camp survivors. Also, the scene where Daniel does Nazi salutes while wearing a prayer shawl is powerful, if not a bit too literal.)
But though Bean does a wonderful job with script and direction, this film wouldn't be half as memorable if not for Ryan Gosling's performance, who may have been as motivated for a great role as he was to separate himself from Breaker High. Well, mission accomplished, because he's about as far away from that as possible. If you've yet to see the film, or upon a repeat viewing, pay close attention to Gosling's eyes; the way they only half-focus, the way they shift and fly about, and especially the way he only blinks with one eyelid in a few scenes. Sure, these are minor things, but they add to a performance which already borders on genius. It's such a good performance not only because Gosling so effectively portrays a seething, hateful man, but that he manages to humanize him so well. Daniel is not a monster, and Gosling nimbly shows us, for example, with a boyish grin when a Jewish school friend recognizes Danny in a bookstore.
I wish that more films were this original and daring. There aren't any new themes, just different ways of looking at old ones, and "Believer" is a perfect example of this. We know that racism is bad. Films like "American History X" present this point very well. But what makes "Believer" better is that it avoids rapping us on the knuckles, and instead ends ambiguously. I would have respected this film much less if Bean had taken the easy road. Thankfully, instead of telling us simply that racism is stupid and destructive (which it no doubt is), he uses a wonderfully surreal ending to tell us that racism really gets us nowhere.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating ideas, poor script, so-so movie
Review: ...Danny Balint is a skinhead in his early twenties, a Jew at home but hiding it outside. He practices antisemitism and temporarily succeeds in fascist circles. His very success pushes him to lose it all as he compulsively reveals his roots and his unbreakable love for the Torah (at the same time as he is being outed by the papers). The Believer is shot documentary-style, perfect for DVD (it looks like blown 16mm). A notice at the end says that it is based on true events, rearranged. I read here that the true events are from the 60s. In any case many details are botched and hurt credibility. Treat it as pure fiction, then? Perhaps, but then also several scenes are hard to believe (especially the sensitivity session with concentration camp survivors). In a nutshell, the film hangs on its script by Henry Bean, the director, and the script is poorly done, I'd even say talent-less. (The shooting is workmanlike but low-budget.) There is only one topic, Danny Balint, who figures in every scene and is played brilliantly by Ryan Gosling. Without Gosling, The Believer would be a terrible dud. All other characters, with the exception of Danny's girlfriend, are barely, barely sketched in. All physical details except locations are minimally indicated too -- the framing and cutting are merciless. This fits Danny, as his only concern in life is likewise Danny. Here is a remarkably articulate Jew who has put enough thought into Judaism that he could easily be a rabbi. However, from before his bar mitzvah, his central motive has been to stuff his superior understanding down the throats of devout Jews. Danny is your biblical Joseph in the punk version. The last sequence is Danny's dream as he dies or thinks he dies, and it endlessly repeats the fantasy of his bar mitzvah teacher conceding at last that Danny was right. The more you know about the movie's one topic, Danny, the less you can suffer him. Take it as you will, though, Danny's narcissism hews to a theological path, ending when he wilfully blows himself up in a synagogue. It's Danny's theological motives that made the film worth watching for me. Pushed to take up marginal positions in order to put himself in the light, at twelve Danny rediscovers (and convincingly expresses) a view of the Jewish God that is not unknown in Jewish mysticism -- God as nothing. (This is not the deus absconditus, it's literally nothing. There is the Law, but the Law only. The author it refers to is simply, totally non-existent.) By the time Danny is a neo-Nazi, or rather tries to be, this has blossomed into another form of Jewish mysticism, paradoxalism, where the Law is implicitly celebrated by being broken. In Danny's case, it is the attachment to the Jewish people that is being so broken. In right-wing circles he becomes a local expert on Jews and the naturalness of hating them. His unavowed turnaround reveals the love of Torah that underlies his expertise on the hated race, and the need for vindication in the eyes of devout Jews that underlies his assumed innate contempt for them.
Rating:
Summary: A fascist with minimal gratuity? Refreshing
Review: This particular film about racist skinheads (that's right, don't jump to the conclusion that skinhead means fascist; that's what the media tells you, but it isn't necessarily true) is a welcome change from the films glorifying their very targets (American History X and Romper Stomper) that seem to have infected American media. This film DOESN'T have a fascetiously easy turn-around, and actually portrays the damage that violence and assault do to the assailant, as well as that done to the victim. Ryan Gosling delivers an impressive performance as an articulate, well-read bonehead (racist skinhead) who accelerates his upward political movement in the fascist organization he becomes a part of, while he simultaneously becomes more and more interested and attracted by his Jewish heritage. The only reason this film does not deserve a full five-star rating is one of superficial inaccuracy - Gosling's Danny wears several accessories normally worn by nonracist skinheads, members of organizations such as SHARP (SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice). Several other glaring costuming mistakes attack the consulant's credibility, such as falsely colored laces and poorly constructed "skin head" costumes. Stereotypical tendency toward bleached jeans and flight jackets are acceptable, if not pleasing, but some bootlace/suspender color coordinations characteristic of nonracist skinheads are not. As the film focuses on fascist/racist ideology, however, these mistakes distract a viewer but slightly.
|
