Believer, The (UK)

There are certain things you don`t want to know about, such as neo-Nazi fascist hatred. Henry Bean`s film, based on the true story of a Jewish boy who became an anti-Semitic urban terrorist, is anything but exploitative. The intelligence of the writing and the intensity of Ryan Gosling`s performance takes it out of the shock horror budget bin. This is a serious study of a disturbing phenomenon.

The acting is superb, with the little-known Ryan Gosling taking on a complex and difficult role with ease. But the real plaudits belong to Bean`s script, which trawls through philosophical questions about the nature of binary oppositions - good and evil, love and hate, Semitic and anti-Semitic - without once losing its dynamic momentum.

Reportedly, director Henry Bean was in New York when the planes struck the World Trade Centre, and his stunned reactions lead to second thoughts about the subtle irony of this film, which ends with the stark tragedy of a suicide bombing. Despite delays and anxieties about how audiences may receive its message, The Believer is nonetheless a fascinating portrait of one man`s acute self-loathing, a racial shame that generates brutal aggression, and of a troubled soul achieving self-destruction. It`s a gripping thriller, a study of an extremist character and, a very fine debut for this screenwriter turned director.

IN SHORT: It`s amazing that a story so packed with hate can be such a compelling sit.