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

Errol Morris should've played this documentary entirely straight. Instead, he added 5 - 10 unnecessary minutes and some slanted editing to make it clear that the film's agenda does not support holocaust revisionism or Fred Leuchter. The rest is so exceptional that I cannot help but be a bit disappointed.

The depth of Leuchter's delusions about his 'discovery' at Auschwitz is pretty astonishing, and Morris effectively zeroes in on his morbid preoccupations in a manner that is both disarming and blacky comic. He is clearly disconnected emotionally from common human feeling, and that's why it's hard to believe that his trip to Poland was driven by hate. Ultimately, we get the impression of a thoroughly misguided and pathetic individual whose 'talents' would have been better served elsewhere.

The object of this documentary is a brainy, but totally socially and morally clueless, annoyingly ignorant person. Interesting docu.

Really incredible. Does a great job of introducing the man, and allowing you to see how his mind works (or doesn't). And then follows him into the rabbit hole. Leuchter probably isn't a bad person. But man, does he get in deep.

Arendt may have been wrong in ascribing "the banality of evil" to Eichmann who was directly in charge of murdering half a million people, but it may apply to Morris' anti-hero Fred Leuchter. This beautifully devised, shot and edited documentary seeks to understand and relate to him, we even sympathize with him, but at no point is it unclear that he is horribly misguided. We do get the picture that he is driven by no hate whatsoever. He is clever and coolheaded but stubbornly ignorant and vain.

Saw this years ago and remember being thoroughly spooked by the level of delusion this guy employs to justify his existence to himself... or something. Errol Morris is the reliable workhorse of documentarians.

Essay on self-delusion.

Proof that some nerds NEED to be suppressed. With ALL the documentation about the Nazi death camps (including a CHILLING courtroom testimonial from Adolf Eichmann), our "hero" chooses to ignore the lot and then fuck up the samples he sends to the states... AND he's an influence on David Irving! Dumb, just dumb.

Portrait of a fascinating man. Passing him on the street, you'd never guess that this nerdy, middle-aged guy has engineered equipment for executing people for a living

Leuchter is interesting character because he's so normal in so many ways, yet finds himself in this kafkaesque position of his own making. The world around him is strange and he feeds on it and becomes warped himself. Both his rise and his downfall are created by the same mix of luck and dogged single minded determination which makes this a film as much about his character traits and process as the man himself.

Hate this freak

Fred Leuchter is a little nerdy creep.

About an expert on execution devices who fixed up and made equipment for death row and who would eventually be called on by a Holocaust denier to go to Auschwitz and try and prove that gas chambers were never used for mass executions there. A fascinating documentary about a deeply deluded and pitiable individual and his life story makes for some engaging watching. Occasionally Morris' stylistic choices rubbed me the wrong way (the flashy intro, the coffee montage, some odd bits of editing).

1/3rd of the way through you get the feeling they've run out of material and are scratching the bottom of the barrel when they start delving into his coffee habit, things pick up again in a strange twist when the holocaust denying gets involved. I had two thoughts. One, he lied consistently to the camera and harbours some misguided views. Or two, a normal guy got caught up in the wave of interest in his work & preached what he thought were facts. Either way, don't mess with the Jewish lobby.

A fascinating portrait of an utterly broken man that is so desperate for approval that he's willing to get it from Holocaust Deniers.

His prickish naiveté - like the assumption that they were only executing 50 at a time - is so despicable this is hard to watch. It's important viewing, but a hard slog.

A chilling documentary that shows why you should never question popular history.

Oh Freddie, you're such a charmer.

Never quite as riveting as the title leads you to believe. The guy is a complete douche and it's hard to center a movie around someone you care so little about.

Another great Errol Morris movie!

It feels a bit bias in the editing of the movie for sure but in the end it doesn't condemn Fred Leuchter so much as it pities him as we find out why he feels what he did was necessary.