Cirvt1 ") As a boy, he discerned that most people "were all gentiles and that I was Jewish, an outsider." His par- ents, who possessed a strong cultural Jewish identity, also were "careful not to 'act Jewish' in ways that were unattractive, like being too loud or vulgar." By the time Bean was an adult, he no longer attended synagogue on Yom Kippur. "I had this immense con- sciousness of being Jewish, and yet I had no idea what being Jewish was," he recalls. "I was obsessed with who was Jewish, and with the fact that I was Jewish. And at the same time, I felt, `Forget it. I don't want to live it. I'm not even interested in it.'" Enter his wife-to-be, Leora Barish, the screenwriter of Desperately Seeking Susan and the daughter of a Conservative rabbi who'd spent his career as an Army chaplain. Early in their relationship, Bean prompted arguments about religion. "In some way, I was asking her to beat me up and knock out of me the sort of smug, aesthetic or agnostic or indif- ferent or contemptuous stuffing [I had]," he says. Barish helped him to • learn a little Hebrew and to read the Chumash. Some years later, Bean, who now attends a Conservative minyan and keeps a kosher home, envisioned the pivotal scene of The Believer, in which the protagonist is renamed Danny Balint. "The [character] goes into a synagogue as a Nazi and - realizes he's really a rabbi-manque," he says. "He begins to hear the things he's Traditional Passover Dinner and A La Carte Menu kept himself from hearing. And yet he's unwilling to give up his Nazism, so he decides to practice both as if they were contradictory religions. The idea that you could try, however futile- ly and catastrophically to be two things at once, a living contradiction, a thing and its opposite, was a magical moment in my life. I had found the conceit for some deep, visceral thought I had never been able to express before." Bean was so obsessed with the idea that he put up $500,000 of his own money to make the movie, his directo- rial debut. He changed the title to The Believer after he discerned it would be difficult to rent locations for a movie called The Jewish Nazi. When a friend wondered if the film could appear to sympathize with a racist - even be used as ammunition by anti-Semites - Bean was quick to reply. "To sympathize with some- thing, to understand it is not to advo- cate it," he says. "We look at the suffering self-hatred inflicts on [this character]. We see his efforts to escape this. We see his destruction. In one way or another, all his anti-Semitic diatribes turn against himself." Complete Dinners (10 persons or more) $13.99 • ROASTED CHICKEN • BONELESS STUFFED CHICKEN BREAST W/Matzo Farfel Stuffing (Baked in Orange Marmalade Sauce) . . . .$15.99 • ROAST LEAN BEEF BRISKET w/gravy .. Dinners Include: $17.99 • Chicken Soup w/Matzah Balls • Potato Kugel or Potatoes Anna • Beef Chopped Liver • Carrot Tzimmes FREE Matzah w/every dinner FREE Seder Plate A La Carte BEEF LIVER GEFILTE FISH CHICKEN SOUP MATZO BALLS 1/2 ROASTED CHICKEN CHICKEN BREAST BONELESS STUFFED 8.99LE POTATOES ANNA 4. 25E CARROT TZIMMAS TURKEY MEATBALLS 6.99QT 8.99oz IN SWEET & SOUR SAUCE 5.99 MEATBALLS IN SWEET & SOUR SAUCE MATZO KUGEL (SWEET) KISHKA \Y/GRAVY W/ MATZAII STUFFING LN ORANGE MARMALADE SAUCE 6.99EA $ 17.99L8 POTATO KUGEL ROAST BRISKET OF BEEF W/ GRAVY VEGETABLE SOUFFLE COOKED WHOLE TURKEY (14LB.) .. $65.99 FRUIT COMPOTE 7.00 TURKEY CARVING $ 5.99QT CHAROSET CRANBERRY RELISH F 6.99QT SEDER PLATE MATZO FARFEL STUFFING PASSOVER BAGELS BEEF STUFFED CABBAGE (6 PK) . . . 8.99m PLAIN, RAISINS. SALT .EGG TURKEY STUFFED CABBAGE (6 PE) .s 8.99PK PASSOVER BAGELS 8.99m 2.50EA F 2. 9 5E% x 9 .25EA 5.99ET 5.99PT 5.99Fr 4.99 9.99oz .99 Passover Holiday Cakes ❑ 7 LAYER CAKE SERVES 7-8 RASPBERRY ROLL SERVES 7-8 LEMON ROLL SERVES 7-8 '16.99 '15.99 '15.99 248.855.9463 The Believer debuts 8 p.m. Sunday, March 17, on Showtime. It repeats 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 20, and 8 p.m. Monday, March 25. We Only Use Kosher Products In The Preparation Of Our Food SPONGE CAKE (LOAF) SERVES 6-8 . . .n13.99 CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY TORT . 2'27.99 CAPPUCCINO CHOCOLATE TORT '27.99 Fax 248.626.8468 SO J7., 11 . . email: finecatering@hormail.com www.JewishCatering.com AVA.7011NY 32418 Northwestern Hwy. bet. Middlebelt & 14 Mile • Farmington Hills (..) ,A../.0% 1 Year Anniversary Specials to Thank You Obr Customers.... tion of Stone Cold Dead Serious at the American Repertory Theatre and a one-act play by another former Michiganian, Brooke Berman, in New York. She also has completed a pilot for Baseball Wives, a proposed dramatic series. Reaser has heard strong pro and con reactions to the film. "-The Believer is about telling a true story," she says. "It's not about being politically correct." F r te. ily feast includes; /0°.°1-ax • Medium Pizza w/cheese & 1 Item • Salad • 1/2 Broasted Italian Chicken • 8 piece of Bambino Bread • 1 liter of Pop • (feeds 4-6) Expires April 12, 2002. Good at 6688 Orchard Lake Rd. - Suzanne Chessler Not good with any other offer or coupon. I. Elizabeth Reaser portrays Miriam: This film 'delves into places that peo- ple usually don't want to go." • Home & Business Catering 6688 Orchard Lake Rd. (Just South of Maple Rd) (248) 855-4777 • Bar Mitzvah • Bat Mitzvah • Anniversaries • Showers • Weddings Hours: Mon-Thurs 10 am-11 pm Sat 4-11 pm • Sun 4-9 pm 248-853-7344 20116 Crooks • Rochester WIT 3/15 2002 73