It won the 2001 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, but "The Believer," starring Ryan Gosling as a violently anti-semitic New York City skinhead, is one of the most difficult films to hit the big screen in a long time.

While some will be watching the light sabers locked in battle, others will try to get inside this painful and confusing film, directed by Henry Bean, screenwriter of "Murder by Numbers," "Enemy of the State," "Desperate Measures" and other films, making his directorial debut.

Inspired by real-life events, "The Believer" follows Danny Balint (Ryan Gosling), who beats up Jewish kids on the street and runs with a violent gang of racist skinheads. Not long after he hooks up with a fascist organization run by upper class intellectuals Lina Moebius (Theresa Russell) and Curtis Zampf (Billy Zane) -- and Moebius' sultry daughter Carla (Summer Phoenix) -- and proposes killing prominent Jews, we find out that Danny himself is Jewish and was an outspoken 12-year-old dissident in his Yeshiva.

How the critical eye he casts on Judaic texts and beliefs as a Hebrew school student escalates into virulent anti-semitism and acts of violence is never clearly explained, sadly.

Instead, we follow Danny as he meets more racist skins and plants bombs and attempts assassinations and gets involved with Carla, who is determined to learn about Judaism and has figured out that Danny can teach her Hebrew; she's guessed that he's Jewish.

Danny runs into old friends from Hebrew school and his seemingly hardcore beliefs begin to waiver; especially in one scene which finds him and his gang desecrating a synagogue. Danny can't bring himself to damage the Torah scrolls or even to allow the others to harm them.

There are plenty of disconcerting scenes, especially in the first half of the film, when the violence is often graphic and there is a tragic confrontation between Danny's pals and a group of Holocaust survivors. When Danny asks them why the Jews didn't fight back, they explain that things were so terrible that Danny can't even imagine it. And they're right, it is the distance that allows younger generations to forget or dismiss the unspeakable acts of a mere 60 years ago.

Despite powerful conflict, some moving scenes and the importance of any film that so passionately explores racism and hatred, the story has gaps that are much too large and the result is a film that feels half-baked.

Had Bean delved deeper into Danny's transformation, "The Believer" would have been infinitely more interesting. In a "director's statement" Bean says this was deliberate. The fact that his entire statement deals with this story deficit suggests he realized he needed to do some advance damage control.

Whether he didn't know how to tackle the change or didn't care to, he's left with half a picture.

"The Believer" makes its Milwaukee premiere at UWM's Union Theatre, 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd., this weekend. Showtimes are 7 and 9 p.m., with 5 p.m. shows added on Saturday and Sunday.