Rising star Ryan Gosling, who made a name for himself in 2002''s
Murder by Numbers, turns in his best performance
in
The Believer, a low-budget drama about a Jewish neo-Nazi.
Gosling plays Danny Balint, a hardcore white supremacist who hates Jews with a passion and would like to see nothing more than have every single one of them killed. The source of his hatred is unknown, but he is intelligent and articulate, a well-spoken young man who becomes the prime candidate to lead a new underground political movement to put white supremacists into power. Still, despite his apparent devotion to the cause, there seems to be one thing that is holding him back - he is, after all, a Jew himself.
The Believer is a very, very interesting film, mainly thanks to Gosling''s performance. Powering every scene he is in, Gosling looks like a young Ed Norton. His tenacity explodes on screen, and his character raises many interesting - though not necessarily convincing - arguments. Of course, the most interesting aspect of the film is that this character, a young man driven by so much hate, is Jewish; so, he essentially hates himself. The conflict within can be seen in every scene, and Gosling handles it terrifically.