Fascinating and frustrating in equal measure, Henry Bean’s directorial debut is an engaging look at anti-Semitism within the American far right. While some of the film’s themes could certainly have been more fully developed, The Believer still makes for intelligent, intense and harrowing viewing.

Danny Balint (Gosling) is an articulate yet extremely nasty neo-Nazi skinhead thug – a forklift operator by day, and disciple of fascist leader Curtis Zampf (Zane) on the side. Both Zampf and his lover Lina Moebius (Russell), are blown away by Danny, whose appearance dovetails nicely with the group’s need for more intellectuals. As Lina puts it: “We have enough thugs.” Even this pair, however, have private misgivings regarding the potency of Danny’s anti-Semitism, what with his calls for the assassination of Jewish financier Ilio Manzetti, coupled with his desire for: “Germany all over again, done properly this time”.

Danny also becomes involved with Lina’s daughter, Carla (Phoenix), and when Danny rescues the Torah from the same synagogue that he attempts to blow up, Carla becomes fascinated by Judaism and insists that Danny become her teacher in the subject – for, in fact, Danny is himself a Jew. Soon he finds himself preaching in typically contrary fashion how assimilation can be used to dilute and destroy the Jewish race. He is subsequently ostracised from Zampf’s group, and seems to become increasingly fucked-up.

Loosely adapted from the extraordinary real-life tale of Daniel Burrows, a Klansman and member of the American Nazi party in the 1960s, who killed himself after the New York Times revealed that he was in fact Jewish, it would be impossible to review The Believer without reference to American History X. The films have far more in common than an interest in the American extreme right: both feature intelligent blokes full of promise and hate, and both boast incendiary central performances with Gosling encompassing the bitter rigidity of Ed Norton’s AHX character and the ill-informed naivete of Ed Furlong’s. Both also are fundamentally flawed films, featuring fascinating subject matter. Where AHX was arguably over-cooked, The Believer feels underdeveloped, coming to an abrupt end before completely exploring its themes. Certainly, one could argue that The Believer’s ambiguity is fitting given the obvious complexity of its protagonist, but his journey from disgruntled yeshiva student to self-loathing anti-Semite is not as adequately charted as it might have been. Furthermore, though there are constant implications of violent ferocity off screen, the film pulls back from actually showing them, often preferring to cut scenes before any of the brutality gets underway. Still, this is not to suggest that this anything less than a powerful and morally complex work.