Mr Death:The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter Jr.

Cast :

Director: Errol Morris

The diagram for telling a story is so simplistic; it is fascinating how easily it gets messed up.  Basic English 101 teaches that a story consists of three main elements.  The introduction, the body, and the conclusion, basically, establish the story, tell the story then finish the story. Problems arise when any one of these three components is not done, or is incompletely done.  Filmmaker Errol Morris has figured out the right way and, pardon my expression, executed it to near perfection in Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall Mr. Fred A Leuchter.

Act 1 shows us who he is, and how he how he came to be an expert in the field of execution machines, through circumstance and association.  Leuchter garners his nickname from the fact that he makes a living killing people, so to speak.  He’s an engineer who parlayed an idea on how to improve an electric chair, into suddenly being an expert on all types of death devices. 

Using this information, we are then taken to Act 2.  In 1987, Canadian revisionist named Ernst Wendel makes public claims that the Holocaust never happened.   By an obscure Canadian law, Wendel is charged with a crime and hires Leuchter to investigate the gas chambers and substantiate these claims.  This sends Fred to concentration camps and gas chambers to gather evidence in a field that he only loosely understands.  Since he is a so-called expert, he is considered qualified for the job.  This is a perfect example of the saying “Only in America” A man, who has no formal training on the subject, suddenly becomes an expert through circumstance.  Needless to say, this was not a popular opinion, especially amongst Jewish groups, and some German historians.  . 

Finally in Act 3, we are shown the results of participating in this case, and what it has done to his life.  He is shunned, banished, and exiled within his own country for being a part of the investigation. 

The details of what happened, and how it happens shall be left for the viewing, but the strength of this film is in the way it is told.  The greatest storytellers in the world can make the step-by-step instructions of folding laundry sound compelling.  Morris combines his methods of story telling, with his creative visual style, including a very ironic opening sequence involving electricity and Fred in a cage, to turn an average slice of Americana, into a compelling character study.

Unlike his masterful Thin Blue Line, Morris never forces an opinion on viewers, but rather presents the evidence in a sensible clear manner and lets these facts speak for themselves.  He never tries to make us sympathize with Leuchter, but rather just to tell us the story of how a simple man got involved in a complex situation. 

The scariest part of all of this is that it is a true story.  There is a saying that truth is stranger than fiction.  In the opening passage of Magnolia, there is a line about things that supposedly only happen in movies.  The idea of the dialogue is that things that seem only to happen in movies actually had to have happened in real life in order for them to be introduced onscreen.  In Mr. Death, we are shown one of those instances.  If this story were regaled to someone off the street, it would seem unreal, or even fabricated.  The fact that its real is the most haunting part of all, and Morris way of telling the story drives that home even more.   He uses unique visual shots, such as the gripping opening sequence, to enlighten an otherwise dry storyline.  This aids in the communication of the message by enlightening the aspects of the story with visions to accompany the words and story, and hammer the point home.  Morris portrays Leuchter as the faceless bogeyman, the grim reaper with a pocket protector who walks through life unnoticed, then makes one wrong turn and goes from being barely a somebody, to a complete and invisible nobody. 

Ultimately, Mr. Death is another notch in the filmography of Errol Morris.  He, the trumpeter for the unnoticed, gives life to those stories that lie just beneath the surface of reality.  Whether it is pet cemetery operators, innocent overlooked criminals, or circus oddities, Morris shows us that these people, and their stories deserve to have the spotlight turned in their direction.  This movie may slip under the notice of most, but sit up and pay attention, because the truth is out there, and Morris is the messenger. ($$$ out of $$$$)

Agree? Disagree, Questions? Comments?

Tell Me Here

Also see my reviews at:

Cast information and links courtesy of

Go To Reel Rambling Page