The Believer Page #4

Synopsis: "The Believer" explores a Jewish student's private journey to understand the meaning of Judaism in his life. Set in New York City, the Plot follows a morally confused young adult struggling with the conflict between his beliefs and his heritage. "The Believer" examines themes of religion, family, and self-loathing. It is a psychological examination into the forces of intolerance, both on the individual and society as a whole.
Genre: Drama
Director(s): Henry Bean
Production: IDP Distribution
  6 wins & 10 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.2
Metacritic:
75
Rotten Tomatoes:
83%
R
Year:
2001
98 min
Website
498 Views


My son was three years old.

He... He held him so that the blood|spurting out of him fell on my face.

The soldiers were laughing.

And when the blood stopped,|the sergeant pushed my son...

..off his bayonet, and said...

..''There. You can have him now.''

What'd you do?

(counsellor) What are you trying to say?

What did you do while the sergeant|was killing your son?

(Mrs Frankel) What could he have done?!

What could he have done(?)

Sergeant's killing his kid!|What could he have done?

He could've jumped the guy,|gouged his eyes out, grabbed his bayonet...

They would've shot him on the spot.|He would've been dead in two seconds.

Who are you to judge?

So he's dead? Big deal. He's worse|than dead now. He's a piece of sh*t!

- That's it. You're going back.|- What should he have done(?)

Danny, don't listen to him.|lt's all a bunch of crap.

What's crap?

The so-called Holocaust.

lt never happened.

Oh, please(!)

lt's true, Danny. There was no six million.

At most 200,000 Jews died in the camps|and the majority of them...

- That's ridiculous.|- Have you seen the deportation figures?

The Nazis themselves kept records.

lf Hitler didn't kill six million Jews,|why in the hell is he a hero?

(hoots with laughter)

He's got concentration camps all over|Europe and he only gets rid of 200,000?

He's a f***in' putz!

Hitler wasn't a putz. Hitler was real.

God created him to punish the Jews|for abandoning the Torah.

- For God's sake, not here.|- Remember who you're talking to.

lt is you who are putzes,...

..you little pishes,...

..with your dreams of hatred and killing.

What would you have done|if you had been there?

Not what he did.

Just stand there and watch?

How do you know?|You've never been tested like he has.

Here, in this rich, safe,...

..stupid country, it is so easy|to imagine oneself a hero.

But you have no idea what it was like.

You can't conceive of it.

Everything, all of Europe,...

..was designed to break one's will.

Millions went to camps,...

..many stronger, braver than you.

They did nothing.

Just as you would have done nothing.

Where do you think you're going?

We have nothing to learn from these people.

- You should be learning from us.|- And what should we learn...

..from you, Daniel?

Kill your enemy.

- What?|- Let me show you something.

What is it?

Black powder, blasting caps,|three-quarter-inch galvanised pipe.

- Enough to blow up a lot of people.|- Good.

Hey, Danny.

- Ah! Sh*t!|- Where's the light?

- Get the f*** off my foot.|- F*** you.

lt's over here.

(switch clicks)

Sh*t.

(grunts)

Jew world!

(whooping, shouting)

- Come on! Bam, bam, f***!|- l'm over here, man.

Over here! Over here!

Whoo!

Yeah, baby, yeah!

(shouting)

Yo!

(shouting)

Come on, Dan!

Yeah! Come on! Yeah!

(wood snaps)

- Hey, Avi.|` `|(loud crash)

(shouting)

(wood snaps)

Shut up? F*** you.

What?

Nothin'. What is it?

Let's take one of these panels off|so we can get under the bima.

(laughter, shouting)

- Man!|- F*** you. Jeez! F***!

(laughs nervously)

(clears throat)

Wow, man. Look at this.

What are you guys doin'?

(laughter)

Hey. Put it back.

Whoo!

- Hey!|- Put it back.

Look at the f***in' thing.

- (laughter)|- Whoo!

Look at this.

(sings) = lf l...

= ..were king of the forest =

(silly voice) Not prince, not duke, not earl.

- All right. lt's set.|- Set?

OK. We should go.

Look at this f***in' thing, man.

- Holy sh*t.|- lt's weird.

- They read right to Ieft.|- (Iaughter)

Looks Iike squashed bugs.

Danny, did they use bIood?

No, they used soy.

Danny, you aII right?

Neat calligraphy.

lt's called the flame alphabet.

They think it's the word of God|written in fire.

How come you know all this sh*t?

How come you don't? How can you hate|Jews if you don't know about them?

F*** you! l hate the Jews|just as much as you.

Really? What's Shatnez?

Tsitsis?

- Titties!|- What?

- Tefillin?|- Who cares?

You know the Kaddish from the Kiddush?

lf you really hate something,|you study it so you know why you hate it.

Eichmann - he studied the Torah,|the Talmud, the Mishnah,...

..the whole thing.

He hated Jews.

- Who's Eichmann?|- Who's Eichmann(?)

Eichmann was head of the Gestapo's Jewish|sector. He deported people to the camps.

(blows raspberry)

Hey, don't touch it. Don't touch the letters.

Why the f*** not?

Just don't!

- A**hole!|- Didn't you see Raiders Of The Lost Ark?

What?

That was an Ark, man, that was a Torah.

They f***ed around with it|and melted their faces.

- That was a movie, a**hole.|- Go ahead, touch the letters.

- Touch the letters.|- Let me see.

Let me see.

Hey!

Hey!

What do you think of that?

l told...

F*** them!

F*** them!

F*** you!

Let's go.

Come on, man. Let's get the f*** outta here.

Hey! Let's go!

(TV) Everyone's a IittIe wary|about what's gonna happen.

Sh*t, guys, this is it.

- Hi. I'm Cindy Pomerantz, ChanneI 8 News.|- Guys! Guys!

Guys! Get in here. This is it.

How is it today that tragedy and disaster|were averted in the tempIe?

The power ceII in the timer gave out|1 3 minutes before it was set to go off.

Sh*t!

Once again, God intervened|to save the Jewish peopIe.

Cindy, as you know,|1 3 is a mysticaI number in the Jewish faith.

We beIieve God that has 1 3 attributes,...

..of which the highest is ein sof...

..which means ''without end''...

..or sometimes it means|''nothingness without end. ''

(Cindy) Nothingness without end.

Interesting.

It's the purest form of spirit.

- F***.|- Somebody turn on cartoons.

I'm Cindy Pomerantz, ChanneI 8 News,|in front of TempIe Ahavat Torah.

(breathes heavily)

= Vezot ha Torah

= Vezot ha Torah

Danny!

What?

Phone.

- Hello.|- Hey. DanieI BaIint.

How you doin'?

Who's this?

Guy DanieIson.

Whatever happened to your article?

I couIdn't get an editor to run it.

But I bet I can now that|you put a bomb in the synagogue.

That was you, wasn't it, Danny?

Hey.

You wanna kill a Jew?

lt's right up there.

We'll just park around the corner|and we'll walk back.

(crickets chirrup)

Take care.

There's the applause.|(c*cks trigger) Must be over.

Lie on your stomach|and come up on your elbows.

Why me?

Cos you wanna kill a Jew. l already did.

Really?

- Who'd you kill?|- Four of them.

But no-one this important.

How'd you know they were Jews?

l can tell.

How?

l was a Jew in a previous life.

- (Manzetti) l thank you all very much.|- Here they come.

Thank you again.

Shoot him in the head.

Always shoot a Jew in the head.

- l'm a bad shot.|- Just keep him in the cross hairs.

(Manzetti) You can call my office.

Right there.

Squeeze the trigger, slowly.

Do it.

Oh, my God!

- Damn it!|- You missed on purpose.

No, l didn't. l had him in the cross hairs.

- lt's just l'm a bad shot.|- What's this?

What?

F***in' kike. l knew it.

- (blade swishes)|- (gunshot)

(cries out)

lt came from over there.

Ah!

Sh*t.

(siren)

(Danny) The whoIe Jewish peopIe|were permanentIy scarred...

..by what happened at Mount Moriah.|And we stiII Iive in terror.

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Henry Bean

Henry Bean (born 1945) is an American screenwriter, film director, film producer, novelist, and actor. Most famous as a screenwriter, Bean wrote the screenplays for Internal Affairs, Deep Cover, Venus Rising, The Believer, Basic Instinct 2 and Noise. The Believer was awarded the dramatic Grand Jury Prize at the 2001 Sundance Festival and the Golden St. George at the 23rd Moscow International Film Festival.Bean, who is Jewish, also acted in The Believer, and was a producer on Deep Cover and Noise. He was the director for The Believer and Noise. Bean is also the inspiration for the protagonist of Noise. He was so tired of constant noise around him and his home in New York that he decided to take the law into his own hands. If a car alarm was going off and the owner of the vehicle didn't rectify the situation, Bean would break into the car to disable the offending car alarm. Bean was eventually arrested and jailed. He admits to doing it a few more times since. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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