"The Believer" is based on the true story of a Jewish kid who grew up to be a neo-Nazi skinhead. Such an incredibly ironic
turn of events practically begs to be made into a film, and first-time director Henry Bean guides this one very well. Ryan Gosling plays Danny Balint, the former Jewish-school troublemaker who has grown up to be a hatemonger. We see in flashback how he asked questions he shouldn't have asked, about how the Old Testament shows God to be power-hungry and malicious, about how his teachers were mortified at the things he would say. Now, in the present, he hides his roots from his peers, for obvious reasons, and emerges to be an articulate spokesman for the new movement. The fascist and racist groups he connects with are a little embarrassed by him at first; anti-Semitism, frankly, is not fashionable anymore. Leading racists Lina (Theresa Russell) and Curtis (Billy Zane) recognize his potential, though, and try to use them for their good. Danny, meanwhile, is an item of increasing curiosity to Lina's daughter, Carla (Summer Phoenix).
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