ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

tomgillespie2002 Never a director to focus on anything but the utterly fascinating, Errol Morris' documentaries over the past few years lay a foundation for a consistently excellent body of work. His love of the eccentric and the condemned prove fascinating viewing, but what makes his films so utterly gripping is his objectivity. Don't get me wrong, it's more often than not very clear as to where Morris' opinions lie, but he allows his subject a fair crack, a chance to give their side of the story, no matter how outrageous it happens to be. Here, with Mr. Death, about the highs and lows of Fred Leuchter, expert manufacturer of execution devices and Holocaust denier, Morris lets his subject seal his own fate with his own words.With his father a prison warden, Fred Leuchter spent a lot of his youth around criminals, many of whom were facing imminent execution. Having heard about the flaws in the execution facilities - many of which were built by non-professionals with only a photograph to work from - Leuchter took it upon himself to design an electric chair that was not only more reliable, but more 'humane', both for the prisoner and the wardens. Soon enough, without any engineering qualifications, Leuchter was being employed by other states to design gallows and machines to administer lethal injection. Meanwhile in Canada, renowned neo-Nazi Ernst Zundel published a paper that denied the existence of the Holocaust. Leuchter was brought in as an 'expert' to investigate the gas chambers of Auschwitz, only to discover no trace of cyanide. This led to Leuchter's paper The Leuchter Report, and the downfall of the man's life and reputation.Similar to Morris' The Fog of War (2003), which allowed former Secretary of Defence Robert S. McNamara to be viewed as a human being and not the monster it was so easy to label him as, Leuchter does not come across as an anti-Semite, or even someone that believes half the things he says. This mouse of a man - short, ugly, addicted to coffee and cigarettes - is entirely non-threatening. But as we witness him getting swept up in the neo-Nazi rallies he's invited to speak at, he comes across as a man that simply has a need to feel a purpose and place in the world. What he did is unspeakable - illegally gathering samples by chipping off stone from the walls of a place many hold sacred, to use his self-labelled expertise to deny the most shocking genocide in history - but it is nevertheless hard not to feel some sort of pity for him.Being a former detective, Morris doesn't need to try very hard to disprove Leuchter's findings, and rubbishes with them with a few swift strokes. But those of us with working brains in our heads don't need to be told the Holocaust was real, so Morris doesn't spend too much time on it. This is very much about the man behind the uproar, using archive footage of his time at Auschwitz to portray a man that doesn't seem to grasp the true gravity of the situation. Why did he do it? Can he comprehend the possible repercussions of the words that come out of his mouth? Whatever the answers, this is a fantastic documentary - gripping, shocking, informative and objective, everything you would expect from Errol Morris.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

MartinHafer In recent months, I've really grown to love documentaries--having seen some truly exceptional ones. As a psychology teacher, these sort of films make great fodder for discussions with my students. I haven't shown them MR. DEATH, but might consider doing so in the future since the main character is so bizarre and difficult to comprehend.The film is unusual in that the first third of the film is amazingly different than the rest of the film. It seemed as if the man who was the focus of the film (Fred Leuchter) was an entirely different person in the final 2/3 of the movie. This was very clever film making--throwing the audience a curve-ball, so to speak. As a result, the audience which initially probably felt somewhat sympathetic towards this very odd man, are now transformed into charter members of the "I hate Fred Club"! As the film begins, you'll notice that there is no traditional voice-over narration--instead, Fred and a variety of others talk on camera as narration. It seems that Fred has become a bit of an authority on how to humanely execute criminals (an interesting oxymoron). Oddly, while he has some advanced training and is obviously very bright, he seems way overconfident in himself and his abilities. He also seemed quite ghoulish in his excitement about his trade (building and remodeling all types of death equipment), but on the other he also seems pretty decent as he talks about how its wrong to make people feel pain or make the executions too grisly. He felt his job was a positive thing in order to make the execution as easy on the recipient as possible. While this may or may not have been the purpose of the film, the overall message did a lot to make me think twice about the death penalty--especially when he talked about how messy and disgusting the process actually was. Television and movie portrayals are WAY too sanitized and hearing Fred talk about the process is very disturbing.Then, almost completely out of the blue, the film discusses Fred's involvement in a court battle in Canada concerning "hate speech". A holocaust denier was going on trial for publishing booklets saying that there wasn't any widespread killing of Jews by the Nazis. Fred was hired as an "expert witness" to testify for the defense even though he really didn't have formal training in executions or mass exterminations (it was more a hobby or he was a semi-pro in the field). The film then follows him to Auschwitz as he illegally takes samples to prove that no gassings occurred there. While Fred seems very confident of his methodology, the film makers later reveal that in many ways he had no idea what he was talking about nor did he know how to take proper samples.The sad part about the film is not just how he was used by the neo-Nazis but how Fred was so dogmatic and narcissistic that he could not allow himself to question his methodology or objectivity. As a result, Fred's life was destroyed and at the same time, he became a celebrity, of sorts, on the neo-Nazi talk circuit. So on one hand, he's lost his job,wife and home, he's hated by practically everyone---and on the other, he's the darling of pinheads all over the world! By the end of the film, Fred is as dogmatic as ever--even as his life goes down in flames! As far as how the film was constructed, it was excellent. Fortunately for the film maker (Errol Morris), there was film of a young Fred cavorting about prisons with his father (who worked there) and when sampling the death camp for evidence of cyanide, there was also a film crew of his own documenting the process. Morris was able to integrate these into present day video to produce an intriguing but highly confusing and disturbing film. While this film is definitely not for everyone, those who have a high tolerance for the weird and a desire to learn about odd personalities are strongly encouraged to give this one a try. Just be prepared to feel that Fred is quite the enigma and answers won't be very easy to find. Also be prepared to both hate the man and yet feel a tad sorry for him at the same time--a truly odd and jarring experience for me.For more information about Fred, try the following link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_A._Leuchter). Unlike some Wikipedia articles, this one seems rather sound--with decent documentation. I particularly was surprised to see that Fred was not even an engineer but had a BA in history and he was definitely practicing as a trained engineer!! Even the Errol Morris documentary didn't catch that!

George Parker "Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr." is a 1.5 hour biopic which tells the story of Fred Leuchter who was a self made engineer and a nobody until he naively took on the task of trying to prove or disprove the existence of gas chambers at Auschwicz. Not qualified as a forensic scientist, Leuchter testified in a Canadian court that there was no evidence of such gas chambers thereby throwing the matter of six million Jewish deaths during WWII into question resulting in his own persecution and the loss of everything from his wife to his career as an engineer who designed execution machines for prisons. The film is a solid documentary of Leuchter's life, nicely done with good music and cinematography. However, it trudges slowly through the biography with Leuchter doing most of the talking while mixing in bits of commentary from other people and never really getting into the meat of the Auschwicz death camp matter. Personally, I would have preferred less ambiance and more facts, background info, and testimony from friends, associates, and experts. When all is said and done you'll know nothing more about Auschwicz, a little bit about his controversial testimony in 1988, a bit more about execution machinery, and a whole lot about a small man of little consequence. Recommended only for those interested in Fred A. Leuchter jr. (C+)

joe robertson like i'm sure other people have said this guy isn't a very worthwhile subject. sure, our society has a morbid fascination with death, and it's funny hearing him talk about how much he smokes and how much coffee he drinks, but he's into giving himself an unworthy mystique. anyway, the bottom line is that he's a moron racist using feeble methods to try to disprove the mountain of evidence of the holocaust, and as such he should be forgotten by time. but Morris is in love with any kind of curiosities, which normally i wouldn't fault him for.