The Believer (2001) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)

The Believer is a very similar movie to American History X. Ryan Gosling looks very much like Edward Norton did in a similar role. There is a major difference, expressed in the official plot summary: "A young Jewish man develops a fiercely anti-Semitic worldview. Based on the true story of an American Nazi Party leader in the 1960s who was revealed to be Jewish."

Roger Ebert cited this article in the Jerusalem Report:

The film has its roots in a true story. Daniel Burros was a nice Jewish boy from Queens who somehow went from being his rabbi's star pupil to a hotheaded proponent of the long-defunct Third Reich. After a stint in the Army, he became involved with the American Nazi Party and the Ku Klux Klan. In 1965, following Burros' arrest at a KKK event in New York City, the New York Times disclosed that he was Jewish. Hours after the paper hit the stands, Burros took his own life

It's a very serious movie, with one central theme being that bigotry is essentially self-loathing. Of course, that principle is obvious enough to be a truism, but Daniel Balint carried it to an extreme. He was a brilliant young Jewish student who became a notorious Nazi skinhead. Obviously, he is a much more complex and layered person than the average skinhead hatemonger, since he is both Jewish and a genius.

One point that the film makes, which I had never thought of before, is that the world of bigotry is filled with sado-masochism, both in public social mores and in sexual practices. We're not talking harmless sexual titillation here, like spankings, domination fantasies, or leather B&D costumes, but genuinely psychopathic behavior. It makes a lot of sense. If hard-core bigotry has a root in self-loathing, then that very same root must also produce many masochists.

I suppose that the title sums it the other central theme quite well. Daniel is a believer in the same sense in which Eric Hoffer defined a "true believer". Just as the most rabid right-wing Goldwaterites became the most rabid left-wing student radicals of the late 60s, the most fanatical student of Judiasm could easily turn into the most fanatical enemy of Judaism. True believers need an absolute belief system, and the actual beliefs involved are a secondary matter. Daniel was a believer looking for a belief system.

Many people, including Roger Ebert, voiced the concern that Daniel's anti-semitism was so articulate and thought-provoking that it was actually providing ammunition for real Nazis. I don't know if that is true or not, but I don't see how one could make a movie about an articulate, brilliant Jewish skinhead and not show him to be articulate and brilliant. The only other alternative would be not to make the movie at all, and I've never believed that certain topics should be declared off-limits to art. The filmmakers obviously agree, and they share my belief that the best way to deal with aberrations like Daniel is to understand them, and the factors that create them.

However, that makes this film very unpleasant. It's a good movie, but a difficult one to watch.