Its a subject matter that will always raise brows when converted into a movie even if this was after the brilliant American History X.

Danny Balint played by Gosling has become one of the most articulate representatives of the New York neo-nazi movement so much so that the political branch of the movement, led by Lina Moebius and Curtis Zampf (Billy Zane), are trying to recruit him to work for them. He's perfect material for a party struggling for prominence - he's young, intelligent, charismatic but also Jewish. As time goes on Danny finds it more and more difficult to mask this from his new found friends and more importantly from himself. The hate of his Jewish ancestry is strong yet despite his hateful and violent exterior, Danny is still unable to delete it from his life. Is it all as stupid as it seemed to him when he was a young teenager?

Although on paper this may seem too similar to American History X, there is little in common between the two films bar some of the subject matter. Based on the true story from the 60s of a Jewish man who was a member of the KKK, this film transposes the story into a modern setting and uses documentary-like cinematography to blur the line between fiction and reality.

The film's subject matter could easily have caused it to fall into caricature but the director does well to avoid that pitfall and gives us a very good debut, despite the potentially sensationalist nature of the subject, the film works very well within it's low budget and is easily well worth investigating.

overall 8.3/10

This movie is intense & powerful, one of Ryan Gosling's best roles. The story tells of his character fighting within himself of his own spirituality. We see a huge gamut of emotions with this character as he struggles with what he believes. we witness the confusion & he world fall as he becomes more dysfunctional & self-destroying. The Believer is a movie I feel many of us can relate to in certain areas if & when we struggle with our own faiths, what drives us, what makes up our own, personal belief systems.