If you are looking for a movie to challenge you intellectually and spiritually - this is it. Ryan Gosling is outstanding in the role of Danny - a Jewish man who challenged Jewish doctrine from an early age - who later turns to the American Nazi movement to find an outlet for his beliefs. But this is a multi-layered film with multiple messages. While he brilliantly espouses the Nazi mythology about Jews (check out the dialogue/rant in the restaurant with the reporter) he is torn by the (what he believes to be) need for the Jewish people to be victimized. (way too deep for me)This movie motivates you to learn more about Jewry and the religion (much like Danny's anti- semitic girl friend). Especially the Jewish belief in "nothingness." A quick Google search on the subject was not very helpful.But since this is a movie review, this movie is superb. I rarely give movies a "9" but this one deserves it. While we are repelled by Ryan Gosling - his beliefs, speech, attitudes AND actions, we are fascinated by the conflict in him which is just below the surface. The flashbacks to his childhood as a student of the Torah are enlightening - and the memories of the holocaust survivors plays on his mind - and shapes his actions. The connection to the past as Nazi atrocities (one in particular) play on Danny, until the dramatic climax in the closing scene.While not necessarily resolving anything, the closing scene is perfect - for the movie and for our thoughts. I highly recommend this movie - hang in there past the disgusting Nazi stuff - it is worth it.

The Believer is a drama that stars Ryan Gosling as Daniel Balint, an Orthodox Jew who becomes a Neo-Nazi. Billy Zane,Theresa Russell and Summer Phoenix co-stars.The film is loosely based on the true story of Daniel Burros, a member of the American Nazi Party and the New York branch of the United Klans of America who committed suicide after being exposed by a New York Times reporter to be Jewish.It was written by Mark Jacobson and Henry Bean,also the film's director.Danny Balint is a member of a gang of racist skinheads that espouses a vile but well-articulated philosophy of anti-Semitism. He also has a secret: he is a Jew and was a top student in Hebrew school before he began to ask too many questions about the deeper implications of the teachings in the Torah and the Old Testament.Then he got expelled. Angry and confused, he began to explore the philosophies of the neo-Nazi movement, which he soon came to embrace through a mixture of anger over the tragic history of the Jewish people, bitterness over his experiences in Hebrew school, and a loathing of himself. He soon becomes a key member of a skinhead sect led by Curtis and Lina but while they believe that the desire for cultural assimilation by many American Jews will lead to their self-destruction, Danny advocates a more direct and violent approach in dealing with the "enemy".As Danny gains the admiration of his fellow skinheads for his intelligence and commitment, he wins the affection of Carlaand a group member with severe masochistic tendencies. But in time Danny's beliefs begin to shift once again, just as the truth about his background becomes known to his comrades.The Believer is a reminder of the power of film to move us and to make us examine our values.It is also one of the most thought-provoking and hard-hitting films ever released.Also,its underlying premise is simple and understandable to any one of us who have grown indifferent to many of the teachings we accepted with such naiveté, such open hopeful hearts throughout our early education.Finally,what really makes it effective is Ryan Gosling,who commands the screen with a raw, electrifying performance for he is a powerful actor.

I don't understand how this movie received a 7.3 rating. The movie was a solid disappointment the whole way through. It made little sense and was poorly written and acted. The acting at times was atrocious. Also the constant loud cheesy music throughout the show at apparently dramatic scenes was cringe worthy. I am a massive fan of Ryan Gosling but this was one of his worst movies. If it wasn't for him this movie would have been completely unwatchable. The rest of the actors were completely terrible. I am really being generous giving this movie a 3. I wanted to give it zero out of ten but it only got a 3 just because Ryan Gosling did an alright job working with very little. There is nothing in this movie that is deep or makes you think. Although, it is apparent that it was meant to. I feel like I just wasted my life watching this garbage. If you want to watch a good movie along the same lines, but done correctly, with great acting, an amazing plot and a brilliant ending that was actually written by someone who was intelligent then I recommend American History X.

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.