A profound cinematic statement about the nature of spirituality
Added 11/1/2009
"The Believer" is not a film about neo-Nazism, although it does make some valid points about the ultimately religious nature of the rituals and philosophy of National Socialism (what some have termed "esoteric Hitlerism"), as well as the inconsistencies of anti-Semitic ideology (i.e., anti-Semites claim to hate Jews both because they're weak, yet at the same time because their influence on the world is so strong). It is a bit more about Judaism, evoking some of the mysteries which lie at the heart of its theology, but the film's ultimate point goes far beyond the nature of any specific religion. As the title suggests, this film is about the nature of belief, and the particular problems that those of us who live in the modern world face if we choose to become believers in any form of spirituality. The contradiction that this entails is that, in the modern world, people are often tempted by the power of spirituality, but because most of us are weaned on the idea that the sovereign individual should be at the center of everything, we find it difficult to make the act of complete surrender of our freedom to something exterior to ourselves - God - that, like Danny, the main character of this film, we seek God, but are unable to open ourselves to the relationship which would enable us to see Him. In "The Believer," Danny is at first entranced by his inherited Judaism, but then, frustrated by what he sees as the unjust nature of the Hebrew God, tries to become a hardcore neo-Nazi. However, Danny's inability to acknowledge that there is anything superior to him - God, or anything else - remains, and he is never able to fully commit himself to either belief. Over the course of the film, Danny begins to mix the two beliefs, weaving and trapping himself within the web of an increasingly bizarre and dangerous ideology which fails to resolve the dissatisfaction that he experiences. In our age of designer religions, in which people often select parts from many different belief systems in order to fashion something which is "right for them," this act of syncretism allows them to leave out the most important aspect, surrender, which is essential to reaping the benefits of any genuine system of beliefs. The modern West has, for the most part, forgotten this fact, which is why Americans gawk in horror at the sight of Muslim women who wear headscarves, unable to understand their motivation, and why many Christians forego the genuine teachings of the Bible in favor of believing that Jesus wants them to be rich and that low taxes are a divine right. Yet, as for Danny, the hunger for belief does not go away - it is merely sublimated, often in extremely self-destructive forms.
If you are a secular-minded person, then this film will seem like a nightmare to you - the story of a young man who is incapable of reconciling his idealism with the real world, and as such is condemned to a life of perpetual frustration, anger and fear. If you are a religiously-minded person, then you will see it as a warning against the dangers of belief without humility. Either way, you will not be able to watch it and remain unmoved.
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Boring, stereotyped and oversexed
Added 10/17/2009
Apparently I didn't get it, since all the other reviews are so glowing. Personally, I found "The Believer" to be boring, stereotyped and incomprehensible. A couple of bizarre sex scenes have been thrown in for good measure, naturally starring a twenty-something woman.
The main character, one Daniel Baliant, is a self-hating Orthodox Jew who becomes a neo-Nazi. All the usual Nazi stereotypes are there: skinheads, the fight between Daniel and The Big Tattooed Guy at the secret Nazi camp, the fat stupid Nazi, the crazy paranoid Nazi, etc. There is even a computer nerd Nazi. Since Daniel is an educated intellectual type of person, it's unclear why he would hang out with underclass skinheads of this sort. Nor is it clear why the "respectable" fascist front group recruits a crazy skinhead and suspected terrorist as a fund-raising speaker. In other words: the plot is very illogical! And no, it's not *really* based on a true story. Finally, the anti-Semitic speeches of the main character are meaningless rants. I fail to see why other customer reviewers found them so disturbing. Neither intellectual nor underclass Nazis sound like this.
Occasionally, "The Believer" does hint at a deeper message: Baliant seems to be a sceptic or atheist who argued with his Jewish teachers already in school, he seems to reject Judaism because the Jews went like lambs to the slaughter during the Holocaust, hence proving their weakness, and there are some kind of Kabbalistic hints which I didn't understand. There is also a tension between Danny and his equally Nazi girlfriend, who seems to be fascinated by Judaism and perhaps thinks of converting. However, the movie never really follows up on any of this. The end is also inconclusive. Does God forgive Danny and take him to Heaven? Does he end up in Hell? Is the message really atheist? No idea.
Maybe people who studied the Zohar for twenty years can grasp the esoteric message of "The Believer". I didn't. I was just bored.
PS. What *is* the difference between a kadish and a kiddush?
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The True Story of A Jewish Nazi
Added 10/11/2009
"The Believer" is an extraordinary film based on a true story. From the beginning it sucks you unwillingly into the violence and hatred permeating right-wing racial hate groups, and graphically and disgustingly illustrates terror tactics. The focus is on Danny Balint who is determined to kill Jews and set in motion a movement that will ignite and foster hatred, a return of the Nazis.
But the twist is that Danny himself is Jewish, raised in the teachings of the most religious aspects of Judaism. In effect he has become a Jewish Nazi. But why?
In flashbacks we see how as a brilliant youth he questioned those religious teachings and was thrown out of his religious school. It seems his hatred of Jews in general stems from a hatred of their inability to fight back during WWII. No matter how much he is motivated to kill Jews, at heart he is still a Jew. It is the story of an intelligent, confused man, conflicted internally between what he thinks he believes and what is his real identity.
This is a powerful drama, the acting is excellent and the topic hard to watch. Yet, if you can tolerate all the violence and repulsive acts, the movie provokes deep thought. Not for everyone.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Undeniably flawed but thought-provoking
Added 8/9/2009
The Bottom Line:
The Believer has a whole bunch of things wrong with it (sketchily-drawn secondary characters, a bizarre scene where Summer Phoenix licks vomit off the main character's chin, sometimes too-persuasive attacks on minorities, etc.) but at the same time it delves deeply into the nature of Judaism, features a compelling performance by Ryan Gosling in the lead, and raises questions that linger in the brain; it's an imperfect film but one worth seeing.
2.5/4
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Just another Jewish Superiority movie wrapped in anti-White movie
Added 7/20/2009
First, the movie pushes the idea that a confused, angry teen could easily blast up the neo-Nazi ranks. Why? Well, because that teen is Jewish...and, according to the movie, Jews have superior speaking skills, superior critical thinking abilities, superior intelligence, superior fighting abilities, superior debating abilities, and endless other Jewish supremist myths.
You see, according to this movie, all neo-Nazis are dumb knuckle-dragging brutes (aka, whites). And when the Jew isn't dominating the brutes (whites) with his superior brain, he's knocking them out with his fists...literally.
But why does this Jewish teen hate Jews? Well, according to the movie, he mostly hates Jews because Jews have superior sexuality, superior intelligence, superior culture, superior business mind, superior spirituality, etc. Really...those are most of his arguments.
What about the other arguments? Well, he contradicts them with Jewish supremacist myths. For example, he picks on a Jewish kid for being weak and cowardly, but later he (a Jew) beats up a 'Goliath' of a man. Another example, he ridiculously claims Jews lack thrusting abilities, then later he's bitter about how great Jews are in bed.
You see, the subtext of the movie is that Jews are better...just better.
Thus, in the end, he succombs to the notion of Jewish supremacy and their inevitable domination of the world...and advises non-Jews to just accept it too and to just love Jews...yep, just love them. But don't love them as you would any ol' human, love them for their superiority...otherwise, their superiority will, according to the movie, make you into a bitter, jealous person.
BTW: This movie was never meant to go wide because the audience was mostly in cities that show limited releases: Jews. This movie is, like most anti-nazi movies, meant more to motivate Jews to support Jewish leaders than enlighten/shame non-Jews. A Jew who both feels his/her belief system/race is superior than others and who is a bit scared of anti-semitism is much more likley to support Jewish leader's 'support Israel by any means necessary'.
Face it, like every other kind of supremacist, Jewish supremacy exists. It exists in Hollywood, in US politics, and it definately exists in Israel.
Instead of looking for ways to reward Gosling for this movie (as they have done for Crowe and Norton for perpetuating neo-nazi stereotype)...perhaps Hollywood should point its cameras honestly at Israel. Jews and non-Jews with real spiritual integrity have been screaming against how Israel came into being and how Israel has treated non-Jews for generations.
2 out of 7 people found this helpful.
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A profound cinematic statement about the nature of spirituality
Added 11/1/2009
"The Believer" is not a film about neo-Nazism, although it does make some valid points about the ultimately religious nature of the rituals and philosophy of National Socialism (what some have termed "esoteric Hitlerism"), as well as the inconsistencies of anti-Semitic ideology (i.e., anti-Semites claim to hate Jews both because they're weak, yet at the same time because their influence on the world is so strong). It is a bit more about Judaism, evoking some of the mysteries which lie at the heart of its theology, but the film's ultimate point goes far beyond the nature of any specific religion. As the title suggests, this film is about the nature of belief, and the particular problems that those of us who live in the modern world face if we choose to become believers in any form of spirituality. The contradiction that this entails is that, in the modern world, people are often tempted by the power of spirituality, but because most of us are weaned on the idea that the sovereign individual should be at the center of everything, we find it difficult to make the act of complete surrender of our freedom to something exterior to ourselves - God - that, like Danny, the main character of this film, we seek God, but are unable to open ourselves to the relationship which would enable us to see Him. In "The Believer," Danny is at first entranced by his inherited Judaism, but then, frustrated by what he sees as the unjust nature of the Hebrew God, tries to become a hardcore neo-Nazi. However, Danny's inability to acknowledge that there is anything superior to him - God, or anything else - remains, and he is never able to fully commit himself to either belief. Over the course of the film, Danny begins to mix the two beliefs, weaving and trapping himself within the web of an increasingly bizarre and dangerous ideology which fails to resolve the dissatisfaction that he experiences. In our age of designer religions, in which people often select parts from many different belief systems in order to fashion something which is "right for them," this act of syncretism allows them to leave out the most important aspect, surrender, which is essential to reaping the benefits of any genuine system of beliefs. The modern West has, for the most part, forgotten this fact, which is why Americans gawk in horror at the sight of Muslim women who wear headscarves, unable to understand their motivation, and why many Christians forego the genuine teachings of the Bible in favor of believing that Jesus wants them to be rich and that low taxes are a divine right. Yet, as for Danny, the hunger for belief does not go away - it is merely sublimated, often in extremely self-destructive forms.
If you are a secular-minded person, then this film will seem like a nightmare to you - the story of a young man who is incapable of reconciling his idealism with the real world, and as such is condemned to a life of perpetual frustration, anger and fear. If you are a religiously-minded person, then you will see it as a warning against the dangers of belief without humility. Either way, you will not be able to watch it and remain unmoved.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Boring, stereotyped and oversexed
Added 10/17/2009
Apparently I didn't get it, since all the other reviews are so glowing. Personally, I found "The Believer" to be boring, stereotyped and incomprehensible. A couple of bizarre sex scenes have been thrown in for good measure, naturally starring a twenty-something woman.
The main character, one Daniel Baliant, is a self-hating Orthodox Jew who becomes a neo-Nazi. All the usual Nazi stereotypes are there: skinheads, the fight between Daniel and The Big Tattooed Guy at the secret Nazi camp, the fat stupid Nazi, the crazy paranoid Nazi, etc. There is even a computer nerd Nazi. Since Daniel is an educated intellectual type of person, it's unclear why he would hang out with underclass skinheads of this sort. Nor is it clear why the "respectable" fascist front group recruits a crazy skinhead and suspected terrorist as a fund-raising speaker. In other words: the plot is very illogical! And no, it's not *really* based on a true story. Finally, the anti-Semitic speeches of the main character are meaningless rants. I fail to see why other customer reviewers found them so disturbing. Neither intellectual nor underclass Nazis sound like this.
Occasionally, "The Believer" does hint at a deeper message: Baliant seems to be a sceptic or atheist who argued with his Jewish teachers already in school, he seems to reject Judaism because the Jews went like lambs to the slaughter during the Holocaust, hence proving their weakness, and there are some kind of Kabbalistic hints which I didn't understand. There is also a tension between Danny and his equally Nazi girlfriend, who seems to be fascinated by Judaism and perhaps thinks of converting. However, the movie never really follows up on any of this. The end is also inconclusive. Does God forgive Danny and take him to Heaven? Does he end up in Hell? Is the message really atheist? No idea.
Maybe people who studied the Zohar for twenty years can grasp the esoteric message of "The Believer". I didn't. I was just bored.
PS. What *is* the difference between a kadish and a kiddush?
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
The True Story of A Jewish Nazi
Added 10/11/2009
"The Believer" is an extraordinary film based on a true story. From the beginning it sucks you unwillingly into the violence and hatred permeating right-wing racial hate groups, and graphically and disgustingly illustrates terror tactics. The focus is on Danny Balint who is determined to kill Jews and set in motion a movement that will ignite and foster hatred, a return of the Nazis.
But the twist is that Danny himself is Jewish, raised in the teachings of the most religious aspects of Judaism. In effect he has become a Jewish Nazi. But why?
In flashbacks we see how as a brilliant youth he questioned those religious teachings and was thrown out of his religious school. It seems his hatred of Jews in general stems from a hatred of their inability to fight back during WWII. No matter how much he is motivated to kill Jews, at heart he is still a Jew. It is the story of an intelligent, confused man, conflicted internally between what he thinks he believes and what is his real identity.
This is a powerful drama, the acting is excellent and the topic hard to watch. Yet, if you can tolerate all the violence and repulsive acts, the movie provokes deep thought. Not for everyone.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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