Mr. Death

The Fall and Fall and Fall
Review by Nonia Bidness

A strange little movie about a strange little man, indeed. This documentary was done in a striking and engaging way, the photography a real visual accomplishment, and well put together.

It seems to me that this film was quite biased against Mr. Leuchter, though I, of course, am in no position to give any kind of impartial view of the man, since I never even heard of him prior to this movie. But I certainly don't think this film did anything to help “Mr. Death” out of his troubles, more like kicking him while he was down. Not that I think the man had no responsibility for what became of him; I do think he was caught up in the attention and admiration he got from the Revisionists, who I never knew about before seeing this movie either (okay, so I lead a sheltered life). But it would have seemed that he was filling a niche before and adequately so, at least, before being hired to do a job for which he did not have proper qualifications and expertise. Mr. Leuchter was concerned that executions be performed in a humane way; how many of us have even thought about that fact? And his works and "inventions" did contribute to that happening. He did create a lethal injection machine that dispensed the chemicals at the proper rate and ratio for the individual's body. He made a drip pan on the electric chair. He seemed to have investigated certain matters involved in executions and improved existing techniques. Perhaps other people just think that it doesn't matter what happens to the person who was sentenced to die, whether they suffer or not, whether they die rapidly or the process is an ordeal for everyone involved. I admit I had never thought much about this before.

Mr. Leuchter had confidence in himself and trusted his knowledge. I do not believe he proved that there were no gas chambers in the concentration camps he visited in Poland. I think he was not qualified to research this and the testing of his sample was improperly done. I think German engineering was superior, and they could have designed and used a system that we could not have even imagined how to do, and it certainly would be changed by the passage of such a long period of time.

I enjoy a good documentary, and this one kept my attention from the opening credits. We saw this at our local art house theater and the entire audience seemed captivated from the beginning, in a sort of horrified but enthralled state. I think this one went a little farther than just showing us the facts, but hey, it was not my movie. Certainly gave us something to think and talk about for hours and days afterward.

I don't think doing one thing wrong in one's life, even a major error, should invalidate all of the rest of that person's life and cause him/her to be ruined. What about a humane way to let someone fade away?

Pros: good photography, well edited, intriguing story
Cons: seemed to be biased against Mr. Leuchter
Video Occasion: Better than watching TV
Recommend to friends? Yes

Nonia Bidness April 27^th, 2000