IMDb RATING
7.5/10
5.8K
YOUR RATING
A cinematic portrait of the life and career of the infamous American execution device designer and holocaust denier.A cinematic portrait of the life and career of the infamous American execution device designer and holocaust denier.A cinematic portrait of the life and career of the infamous American execution device designer and holocaust denier.
- Awards
- 1 win & 8 nominations
Fred A. Leuchter Jr.
- Self
- (as Fred Leuchter)
Caroline Leuchter
- Self
- (voice)
Adolf Hitler
- Self - Leaves Plane
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
Errol Morris
- Self - Interviewer
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAll 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 easy to take a life humanely and painlessly without doing a great deal of damage to the individual's body.
Featured review
Triumphant as a film, if not an 'objective' documentary
Errol Morris has certainly 'injected' (pardon my contextural
pun) a bit of energy into the documentary form, even if the
films he makes lie somewhere outside its confines. Mr Death,
with its characteristic visual flourishes and tangents, is no
exception to this, though it does contain excerpts of a 'true'
documentary of Leuchter pilfering 'evidence' from Auschwitz.
Morris' film refutes Leuchter's findings to the point that the
only viewer who would give tham any credence would have to be as
biased as Ernst Zündel, the revisionist publisher whom
Leuchter's testimony defended. One detail of the film sticks out
in my mind... the home movies of young Leuchter accompanying his
father to work at the local prison, where he pals around with
the convicts, and explains how he learned at this tender age to
pick locks, pockets and safes... and with audible smugness
relates that these skills have actually aided him later in life.
The image of this boy nebbish, undoubtedly an outcast and loner
at school and socially, gaining acceptance amongst the convicts
helps to explain why such an intelligent and resourceful person
could be duped by the likes of the pinheaded, hateful Neo-Nazi
Revisionists. Here's a group of 'bad guys' accepting, applauding, listening and agreeing to Leuchter. Of course this
is because his undeniably faulted research supports their own
misguided conclusions. But it mirrors his experiences as a boy
among the convicts and provides a strong psychological
foundation for Leuchter's downfall into his delusional world. I'd recommend this film to anyone who enjoys thought-provoking
cinema, realizing that they are sadly in a minority amongst
filmgoers.
pun) a bit of energy into the documentary form, even if the
films he makes lie somewhere outside its confines. Mr Death,
with its characteristic visual flourishes and tangents, is no
exception to this, though it does contain excerpts of a 'true'
documentary of Leuchter pilfering 'evidence' from Auschwitz.
Morris' film refutes Leuchter's findings to the point that the
only viewer who would give tham any credence would have to be as
biased as Ernst Zündel, the revisionist publisher whom
Leuchter's testimony defended. One detail of the film sticks out
in my mind... the home movies of young Leuchter accompanying his
father to work at the local prison, where he pals around with
the convicts, and explains how he learned at this tender age to
pick locks, pockets and safes... and with audible smugness
relates that these skills have actually aided him later in life.
The image of this boy nebbish, undoubtedly an outcast and loner
at school and socially, gaining acceptance amongst the convicts
helps to explain why such an intelligent and resourceful person
could be duped by the likes of the pinheaded, hateful Neo-Nazi
Revisionists. Here's a group of 'bad guys' accepting, applauding, listening and agreeing to Leuchter. Of course this
is because his undeniably faulted research supports their own
misguided conclusions. But it mirrors his experiences as a boy
among the convicts and provides a strong psychological
foundation for Leuchter's downfall into his delusional world. I'd recommend this film to anyone who enjoys thought-provoking
cinema, realizing that they are sadly in a minority amongst
filmgoers.
helpful•64
- ah`Pook
- Jul 16, 2000
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Mr. Death
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $507,941
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $24,125
- Jan 2, 2000
- Gross worldwide
- $507,941
- Runtime1 hour 31 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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Top Gap
By what name was Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. (1999) officially released in Canada in English?
Answer