The Believer – Review

It is 1960s New York. An extremist, fascist, and hate-filled nazi named Danny Balint (Gosling) is on a path of destruction. His eloquence is wasted on never-ending anger, and despite a strong articulation of his thoughts, they are all disgusting. He spends his time working out, and reminiscing about biblical and racial debates proving that the white Christian man is at the top of the pecking order. Despite being a young man, he has brought himself to a place of utter hatred for Jews, blacks, and virtually any non-white God-fearing male. Yet there is a crazy twist here with Danny…

He is violent, loud, and rages at anyone he perceives as weaker to him. As he connects with Curtis Zampf (Zane) and Lina Moebius (Russell), other Nazi sympathizers, Danny’s ideology continues to bubble up into hostility to his surrounding community. He advocates for race war and genocide. His main crew, like Billings (Dillahunt) are all for a targeted racial attacks. Balint figures they want Germany all over again, just done right this time in American streets.

Danny’s day job is driving a forklift in Queens, but that is just to get by and keep his energy up for his larger plans for the world. He feels like he has the guts to say what he needs to, and even has targets on his list, like Ilio Manzetti, the former ambassador to France, who is now an investment banker. Ideally, he would shoot the man on a New York city street, and make a spectacle of it. Zampf and his crew begin to let Danny’s extremism further into their circle. Despite attraction to Carla Moebius (Phoenix), Lina’s daughter, there is no slowing down his internal hate machine. We know that bad things are on the way.

The Believer is based on a real story about a K.K.K. member Danny Balint (Dan Burros in real life), which has a shocking twist or two inside its runtime. The script is expertly presented, and does not shy away from white supremacy and its related anti-Semitic ideals, or other racial disparaging. As it is based on New York Times story, there is likely plenty of realism, despite some artistic expansion for the film. It certainly feels real.

Despite the 2001 date on this film and the 1960s setting, it feels just as relevant as ever to today’s world. For some reason, humanity cannot seem to shake the anger, fear and hatred it holds for anyone different from themselves. The consequences of these animosities are far reaching and always lead to horror.

The acting is top notch, with Gosling sinking into his disreputable character. Everyone in it is believable however, and the serious nature of the script demands strong acting. The story is well written and realized, driving home its points effectively, and looking deep into psychology of self-hating people. It makes viewers uneasy, as it should, and is full of tension, angst and antagonism. It is well directed and paced quickly, remaining an important presentation of emotion, but it is not an easy watch.