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

• The Thin Blue Line
• Gates of Heaven
• "Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (Widescreen)"
• Errol Morris' First Person, The Complete Series
• Fog Of War

Leuchter's descriptions are disturbing, with his detached, scientific manner of explaining the mechanics of the devices. But his goal as an engineer is to make electric chairs more humane. There is such innocence about the man, and he is consistent with his stated belief that he is "in favor of capital punishment" but is "not in favor of capital torture." This is how he justifies his work. As his reputation spreads, Leuchter starts getting hired to work on lethal injection machines, then on designing a gallows. Even he admits that this is outside his realm, since his only real area of expertise is electric chairs. However, he takes the jobs on these other killing machines, believing it is all simply engineering. Soon, you can see the humbleness turn to self-worth when Leuchter states that there are no other engineers in the world who know how to do what he does.

Leuchter's reputation soon lands him a job investigating Nazi atrocities in support of a Holocaust denier by the name of Ernst Zündel. Leuchter is hired to take samples of bricks and mortar (illegally) from Poland's concentration camps. Zündel is on trial in Canada for Holocaust-denial publications, and he wishes to use Leuchter's findings, and reputation, in his defense. As you watch Leuchter taking the brick and mortar samples, you see a man getting far beyond his league, a feeling compounded by experts who weigh in on the facts of the Holocaust. But Leuchter goes ahead with his "research," publishes conclusions that are scientifically unsound and politically offensive, conclusions that come to the aid of the Holocaust-denying Zündel. Leuchter's name is in the news. This simple man is suddenly known by millions of people around the world. His conclusions eventually contaminate every part of his professional and personal life.

Viewed from the surface, Mr. Leuchter should offend us, yet we feel sorry for him. As one of the interviewees in the movie says, what he is most guilty of is "criminal simplicity." Leuchter moves through the world trusting in simple details and simple conclusions, unable to imagine how these will be interpreted. He lends support to Holocaust denial, but doesn't see what he has done, stating childishly at one point, "I have a lot of Jewish friends." He is truly bewildered by the reactions people have to his work.

The way Leuchter talks about the gas machines the Nazis used is the same way he talks about his own work on death machines. He wonders why the Nazis would go to such trouble gassing people when they could just shoot them all or blow them all up. Leuchter seems unable to understand that the victims of Nazi concentration camps are not the equivalent of people on death row in America. His mind stays on the technical aspects of delivering death efficiently, not on the wrong or right of the matter.

Your feelings sway between pity, as one interviewee puts it, to anger, as when you see Leuchter doing a speech before an audience of Holocaust deniers, calling it a "myth." An average man suddenly thrust upon a stage where people hang on his every word, he gets caught up in his self-worth, as would many people. This makes it more difficult to judge him. Morris does an amazing job of exploring the gray zones of this story. Is Leuchter a bad guy, or was he just manipulated by more sophisticated and crafty people like Zündel?

The story hints at a subtle, but widespread, reaction to the Holocaust. Even people who accept that it happened are unable to get their minds around six million murders, and it is a predictable human response to feel that it "just doesn't make sense," as Leuchter puts it at one point.

The story is also a great investigation into ignorance and how people can latch onto a hypothesis, a proof, and then cease to question themselves. Leuchter never sways from his belief that chiseling hunks of bricks is an effective way to determine whether or not people were gassed by the Nazis. Once he determines that this is a legitimate test, he bases his entire "study" on the results. This ignorance destroys him, just as ignorance destroys a person or a society when left to grow unchecked.

Errol Morris does an excellent job of putting that ignorance on view for us to see and understand.

I wasn't expecting to be quite as disturbed as I was by the first half of the video -- the discussions of the mechanics of electrocution, the physical reactions that occur, and the merits of one type of execution versus another were more troubling than I would've expected. Also disturbing was the short, grainy film of an elephant being electrocuted in 1903.

The second half of the film, which deals with Leuchter's involvement in a Holocaust trial, is fascinating. Leuchter treats his part of the trial as if it's a fun game, and seems to have no idea what he's getting involved with. I began feeling sorry for him -- it was obvious that he was getting into a situation for which he was completely unprepared. I stopped feeling sorry for him when his ego kicked in. At a point at which it would've become clear to most people that they were in over their heads, and needed to back off, Leuchter began to revel in the applause and notoriety.

This is well worth watching.

Fred then becomes victim to his own ego by only taking HIS research and HIS conclusions of HIS testing into consideration when asked to testify in court of the gas chamber's existence.

This is a great documentary that serves as an example of the extent someone will go when they are filled with true conviction, regardless of how justified it may or may not be.

• Genres > Drama

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