Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. (1999)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Errol Morris

Release Date:

14 January 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Plot:

A cinematic portrait of the life and career of the infamous American execution device designer and holocaust denier.

Plot Keywords:

Execution | Auschwitz | Gas Chamber | Holocaust Denier | Revisionist

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Fred A. Leuchter Jr.	...	Himself (as Fred Leuchter)
Robert Jan Van Pelt	...	Himself
David Irving	...	Himself
Caroline Leuchter	...	Herself (voice)
James Roth	...	Himself (analytical chemist)
Shelly Shapiro	...	Herself
Suzanne Tabasky	...	Herself
Ernst Zündel	...	Himself
David Collins	...	Re-enactment cast
Daniel Polsby	...	Re-enactment cast
Jeff Brown	...	Re-enactment cast
Robert Duerr	...	Re-enactment cast

Also Known As:

Mr. Death (USA) (short title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements.

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | France:U | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Auschwitz, Poland

Company:

Channel Four Films

Trivia:

All of the states which bought one of Leuchter's lethal injection machines have subsequently stopped using them because they were too difficult to operate and maintain.

Quotes:

Fred A. Leuchter Jr.: The human body is not easy to destroy and it's not east to take a life humanely and painlessly without doing a great deal of damage to the individual's body.

Movie Connections:

Features Triumph des Willens (1935)

Reluctant revisionist

In Errol Morris's film, "Mr. Death", Fred Leuchter Jr. comes across as a passionless, mechanical robot, fitting the engineering profession that he devoted his life to. Leuchter, the innovator of many death penalty devices and subsequently the only scientist willing to testify favorably in a celebrated Canadian trial that questioned the existence of the Holocaust, is either a hero to some or a villain to many. Morris, except for a Frankenstein-inspired opening and closing set in the film, prefers to let Leuchter be Leuchter rather than adding more contempt to a decidedly pitiful figure. The one time Morris does appear to interfere is when he asked Leuchter point blank if he could have been mistaken in any of his analysis. There are also camera tricks which render what Leuchter did as malicious, such as the split screen between what was Auschwitz and now, the slow-motion as Leuchter is chipping away at sites many Jews consider holy ground, and the phasing in and out of color and black and white film as we see Leuchter demonstrate his electric chair. The motivation behind what he did lies at the heart of "Mr. Death". He aspired to perfect the most humane killing machine because he said he believed in capital punishment, not capital torture. He cared that prison guards who knew the death-row inmates well would not have to suffer cleaning up the morbid residuals of those electrocuted. Yet he tried to carry this same mind-set in understanding the gas chambers at Auschwitz. In his mechanical mind, he asked how he could have done a better job of extermination. "Mr. Death" is an unpleasant but needed lesson about the mosaic people who live and work with each of us everyday - a people who seem anti-social yet amoral and who seem to be guided by that inner light that we can barely know or understand.