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Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.
Lions Gate Films Inc.
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for thematic elements
Starring
Fred A. Leuchter Jr.,
Ernst Zündel,
David Irving,
Shelly Shapiro,
and
James Roth
A tale of ignorance, self-deception, and vanity. Documentarian Errol Morris sews together a patchwork of diverse viewpoints that seek to uncover the central mystery behind Fred Leuchter's motivations. (Lions Gate Films)
| GENRE(S): |
Documentary
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Errol Morris
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: June 6, 2000
Video: June 6, 2000
Theatrical: December 29, 1999
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
91 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
Fred Leuchter is just one deluded figure, but by the end of this great and chilling sick-joke documentary he stands as a living icon of the banality of evil.
100
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
More reverie and meditation than reportage.
100
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Morris's unique blend of realism and surrealism gives the film great resonance as a portrait of one eccentric individual and, more important, a study of the morbid proclivities that run beneath the surface of our supposedly civilized society.
90
TNT RoughCut
Don Kaye
What's fascinating about Morris's riveting portrait is the notion that monsters can be born not just out of overwhelming evil, but pure egotism and stupidity -- much more mundane, yet still dangerous.
90
Chicago Reader
Lisa Alspector
Using archly staged interviews and reconstructions that draw attention to the components of the documentary form, Morris does justice to the complexity of hot-button issues by suggesting several layers of subtext at once, portraying the articulate Leuchter as both rational and prone to rationalize.
89
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
Seems more like a subtle, elegiac tone poem than an indictment of human banality and the evil that men do.
88
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Brings the viewer up close and personal with the face of evil.
88
USA Today
Mike Clark
With his coolly objective moon's-eye view serving a story that's bizarre by even his long-established career standards, the great documentarian Errol Morris examines the perils of vanity - though others will understandably make more sinister interpretations.
88
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Morris' most gripping film since "The Thin Blue Line," is the year's scariest movie.
88
San Francisco Examiner
Wesley Morris
Segues from the merely quirky into the bizarrely unthinkable.
81
Mr. Showbiz
Michael Atkinson
Lacks scope and doesn't resonate grandly as a portrait of an American underbelly like Morris' earlier works do. But it still packs a wallop.
80
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Errol Morris' characteristically distanced documentary is empathetic without being especially sympathetic.
80
Time
Richard Corliss
The fascinating film equivalent of a humane execution.
80
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Extraordinary documentary.
80
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
Morris, instead of evoking the solemnity that surrounds most films that touch on the Holocaust, has directed Mr. Death as the blackest of comedies.
80
Film.com
Ernest Hardy
Morris seduces us into stepping into Leuchter's world of delusion and ego.
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Edward Guthmann
(Morris's) strangest and most disturbing portrait yet.
70
Salon.com
Andrew O'Hehir
A strange piece of work, perhaps closer to an imaginative portrait or an experimental fiction that borrows elements from real life than a traditional documentary.
70
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
Mr. Death, which is shot through with one dark absurdity after another, emerges as a cautionary tale if ever there was one.
70
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
Leuchter is such a riveting, disturbing and finally pathetic character that his story hardly needs embellishing with Morris' fancy visuals and ominous mood music.
70
Newsweek
Andrea C. Basora
At the heart of all Morris's films -- from "The Thin Blue Line" to "Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control" -- is a fundamental belief in the unreliability of truth.
70
Film.com
John Hartl
(Morris) sees Leuchter's story as more personal, more about one individual's self-absorption and folly, than an indictment of a particular system.
60
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
Morris, who more or less invented the ironic documentary, seems to struggle here for an appropriate tone even as he allows Leuchter more than enough rope to hang himself.
50
Slate
David Edelstein
The director's beautiful detachment suggests a kind of cowardice.
50
Dallas Observer
Gregory Weinkauf
An affecting film, but it just may not be everyone's cup of cyanide.
 The average user rating for this movie is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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