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The Believer | 135957__believer_l
UNEASY IN HIS SKINHEAD Gosling's young neo-Nazi is a true ''Believer''
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Credits

Limited Release: May 17, 2002; Rated: R; Length: 100 Minutes; Genre: Drama; With: Ryan Gosling and Summer Phoenix
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By Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum is a film critic for EW

The estimable, controversial 2001 Sundance prize-winner, The Believer, which recently aired on Showtime, finally gets a theatrical release. The explosively talented Ryan Gosling (''Murder by Numbers'') stars as Danny Balint, a laser-bright Orthodox Jewish young man who becomes a neo-Nazi skinhead out of a twisted, erudite, love-hate of his own God. He's Daniel in the lion's den, or maybe Jacob wrestling with the angel, religious passion entwined with self-hate and self-destructive impulses. This intense project, a directing debut for screenwriter Henry Bean (''Internal Affairs''), provokes, troubles, and shocks, perhaps even more in the current world climate than when it was made; sometimes it even crosses into a wilder fervor than a less confident supporting actress like Summer Phoenix, as a Jew hater–turned–Torah student, can convincingly carry. But Bean's commitment to serious theological examination is exciting, Gosling's performance is riveting, and this fiery and imperfect feature shines as a demonstration of independent filmmaking at its most uncompromising.


Posted May 17, 2002
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