From its long and rocky road since the Sundance Film Festival of 2001, the venomous “Believer” has finally blitzkrieged its way into our video stores. Rent it at your own risk. It’s the white bad-ass film of all-time and the Jewish “Clockwork Orange.” Ex-Mouseketeer Ryan Gosling, in a sizzling performance as Danny Balint, a Jewish Skinhead Nazi and leader-of-the-pack, is boiling mad at his people for not fighting back. The only thing they’re good at, says he, is fellatio and “being afraid.” The story of Abraham, for him, is not about faith, but power – the power of a god who’s a bully. And Isaiah is a traumatized “putz” for the rest of his life. We’re into dangerous MIDROSH here! “You can’t see Him, you can’t hear Him, you can’t even think about Him.” To which Danny’s weird and sultry goyim girlfriend replies, “Christianity is silly, but at least you have something to believe in!” And I should reveal right here that your humble reviewer is a devout Christian who has nothing but respect for his Jewish brothers. And director Henry Bean, I’m informed, is married to the daughter of a rabbi. Thus liberal assholes everywhere should give us the benefit of good intentions (at the very least) and read on.

“The Believer” is based on an actual news event which appeared in the New York Times circa 1970 concerning the suicide of a KKK/Nazi party member who was exposed as a Jew. With chills I can still remember reading this dark story over bagel and Sunday paper some 35 years ago. The film is dripping with all the barbed language and anti-Semitic filth that makes us wince and look the other way. It makes any rational discussion impossible because it smashes into the twin towers of our core beliefs – and shouting replaces dialogue. But what makes “The Believer” an astonishing film is that it shows with blinding clarity the sheer genius of the Jewish mind in religious thought. Nothing can match it – even as seen through the twisted viewpoint of our young Jewish/Nazi, doomed from the start, and bound to a paradox that defies existence. But “The Believer” is a film that transcends itself. It delivers much more than you expect or care to handle – as in the transcendental ending scene when Danny-in-death climbs the staircase without end – returning to his faith - such as it is, his rabbi of schooldays stumbling after him calling out, “Danny, I’ve been thinking about it and maybe you were right!”

What does it mean?

“Nothingness without end, the purest form of spirit.” All you Zen kids, does this sound familiar?”

After seeing “The Believer,” I can say I’ve not been so turned on by a work of art since reading Siddhartha. And I’ve not felt closer to God since I was given a new life in the Gospels of Jesus Christ.

Christians and Jews of good will should sit down and watch this film together, and when it’s over, talk about it without our defenses up and realize that despite our major disagreement, we’re not each other’s worst enemy by a long shot – if you catch my meaning. Or is that too tough for you?

For extra perks catch nasty lady Theresa Russell as the fascist den mother, and the Phantom himself, Billy Zane, as Herr von Goebbels of the New World Order.

Or have I been hanging out with Victor Thorn too much?