The believer (2001).

A modern day tale that deals with the complex question of anti-semitism.

The protagonist grows up in an age that has to deal with the residue of Hatred that dates back to an earlier and more unfortunate time. He is a strong advocate for faith but has clearly grown up in a tough neighborhood. He finds it hard to reconcile his emotions to the challenges of the day and has to learn how to be strong and weak at the same time. We walk back and forth from his early years at the Jewish school where he begins to question everything to the point of being thrown out of his class. He then continues to bounce back across two extremes where he learns to balance his hatred for his foes with his loathing towards himself and his community for not 'resisting' enough. 

There is a memorable scene when he is sent for 'rehabilitation' and has to confront a group of survivors for not fighting hard enough for their children. He develops a live interest while exploring the limits of his truth and learns gradually to separate between his obvious love for the written law and the innocent questionings of his attractive young suitor. I am certain that I have had plenty of opportunities to watch Mr. Goslin work but that in my view is a representation do some of his best work. 

The believer is really anyone including the oppressor that stands by and does not say a word even If his conviction tell him what he is doing is right. The believer is also the oppressed that does nothing to oppose what he sees as wrong. 

It is an exposition of fear and the attempts to deal with it in all it's forms. 

And in its transformative nature wins a thumbs up from me! 

The Fan (1996)

It is essentially about an aging man (played by Robert De Niro) with an obsession for the game of baseball. Strictly speaking this is every American...at least a very large proportion of  the population. It is after all America's favorite pass time. All this takes place around a very busy life in the East Coast. 

You watch him relax for a game at the Stadium and are drawn into his family life. As fate would have it, the busy father has a young adorable son and a struggling marriage. Payments to take care of, custody issues and all the drama that goes with the struggle to make ends meet. 

His love for the game draws him into an equal 'affection' for the star player (Wesley Snipes). 

You are almost certain that there is some insulation that protects the star from the crowd and the possibility that outsiders might at some point perceive him to have sold the game. So you watch the emotional outburst and the arm chair coaching-or in this case the side line coaching and cringe with despair as the older man squeezed at home for his failures attempts to make up for these loses with the one thing he shares a passion for with his ailing son. 

With all the tension that follows and the challenges that are presented to the players and the rest of the team, there is one scene that stands out for its particular peculiarity. 

The aging struggling father (who just happens to also be a sales person for cooking Knives) is sitting in his hotel room waiting for calls or just really passing time. Outside his room, a man dressed in black with characteristic locks in his hair and a beard passes by the motel. He for some reason is also carrying a dog (pooch). The sales man and protagonist notices a cockroach in his wall. He grabs one of his sharpened knives and throws it nailing the brown winged creature to the wall. 

Not certain what the writer or director was trying to say but so I will just leave that there. 

The person we admire lives in a divine place in our hearts and when they fail at being 'god' the effects on us can be devastating. When everything seems to go wrong the only refuge he has is in his team and his star. His encyclopedic knowledge of the game, his sense of feeling and the hurt he has to go through as his home life collapses. His sense of ownership of the game. His continue belief that his faith in his team is his new life. The feeling that he cannot be ignored by people that he has invested in and watched all his life. 

Plenty to think about and reflect on and yes a big thumbs up from this side of criticism. Transformative and eye opening.