More Reviews of the Fred Leuchter film

http://www.nypost.com/commentary/20682.htm   New York, December 29, 1999 Mr. Death Sums Up Moral History of Century by Rod Dreher   THE Holocaust, in which the most culturally and technologically advanced nation on earth systematically murdered a people in the name of an Idea, is the signal event of the 20th century. Stalin and Mao practiced variations on the theme. How could such a thing happen? The peculiar case of a little man from Malden, Mass., named Fred Leuchter Jr. goes a long way toward explaining it. Leuchter is the title character of "Mr. Death," another riveting nonfiction portrait of an eccentric personality by the great filmmaker Errol Morris. Morris' film, which opens tomorrow, is a tale of how a garrulous, mild-mannered Everyman gave his mind over to pure evil. It offers nothing less than a moral history of mankind in the 20th century. Leuchter, the son of a state prison official, developed early on an obsession with death -- specifically, prison executions. As an adult, the affable egghead taught himself enough engineering to become a much-sought-after expert on electric chairs, gas chambers and the like. In 1987, the neo-Nazi Ernst Zundel was put on trial in Canada for denying the Holocaust, a crime there. He commissioned Leuchter to travel to Auschwitz to evaluate the ruins of the crematoria there. The result was "The Leuchter Report," which concluded that no one could have been gassed at Auschwitz. The report was thrown out of court, but has had a galvanizing effect on the Holocaust-denial movement. "Mr. Death" makes it crystal-clear that Leuchter's analysis is hopelessly faulty, and that Holocaust denial is utter nonsense. And yet, Leuchter, consumed by vanity and pride, still believes he is correct. Morris, who is Jewish, doesn't believe Leuchter is a Jew-hater. Leuchter sees himself as a Galileo figure, a courageous martyr for free speech and scientific inquiry. Here's the rub: He thinks he's a hero. This is what makes Leuchter so fascinating, and disturbing -- and an unlikely metaphor for us all in this century in which much evil has been committed and defended by people who believed they were doing good. Is amiable Fred Leuchter guilty of thoughtlessness, of leading an unexamined life? Yes, but Morris says this blindness comes not from neglecting to think; it comes from turning his mind's eye away from reality to the "truth" one would prefer to see. "That's more disturbing, construing the world to suit your own purposes, despite evidence to the contrary," he says. Morris wants audiences to come away from the film wondering about themselves. How do we know we're not like good old Fred, who looks about as dangerous as Don Knotts? We celebrate freedom of expression, for example, as a virtue. But will our descendants consider us criminally insane for creating a culture where lurid sex and extreme violence were mainstays of popular entertainment? What about abortion, of the killing of 1.6 million unborn American children annually? Will people a hundred years from now think of us as we do about ordinary Germans of the Nazi era: as willing accomplices to mass murder? This next hundred years will tell much. The tragic rise and fall of Fred Leuchter is a timely warning that the unreflective egotism and hysterical optimism of modern man is a blind trap leading to what Robert Conquest, the great historian of the Soviet terror, calls "mindslaughter." The rest follows. Related stories on Fred Leuchter: the Movie ("Mr Death"): Early stories, Boston Herald, etc., Jan 1999 Acclaim for Leuchter film at Sundance Film Festival, Jan 27, 1999 Mark Singer's review article Feb 1, 1999 in The New Yorker George Jonas comments in review that Stalin and Mao killed tens of millions Canada's Lions Gate Entertainment picks up North American rights to the documentary "Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter Jr." NY Daily News, Dec 29, 1999: Irony is good for the blood New York Post, Dec 29, 1999: Mr. Death Sums Up Moral History of Century Los Angeles Jewish Journal, Dec 24, 1999: on Errol Morris and Mr. Death More news about the new movie by Errol Morris "Mr Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr." Erroll Morris admits he had to alter this film on life of Fred Leuchter, after Jewish complaints New York Times Reviews the film Dec 26, 1999 Forensic Chemist Roth comments he would have made different findings if he knew source of fragments was Auschwitz

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