short note on:

Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.
[1999 / Regie: Errol Morris]

Errol Morris‘ film is a lot from different from the documentaries reviewed below. Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. is as one comment on imdb puts it „on of the best examinations of a person’s life committed to film“. I think that’s true. From the 2 movies i know Morris appears to be kinda maniac. The Fog of War (2003) is crazier than this one, but even in this earlier film (1999) one can literally feel the hours and hours Morris put into creating the film, including all the different ideas he had. In Mr. Death music is very important, important in accentuating the themes. One can hear real empathic music, ringing the bell. Then you have the fancy pictures. Lots of noirish (Film Noir) ones, some real stylish ones when Leuchter is interviewed (it took me half the film to get rid of idea that this is a fake documentary and the person questioned is no one else but Morris himself!), manipulation of color, slow-motion etc. It works very well at times! For instance the shots on the highway. The combination of b/w pictures with cross-fade is just perfect for this metaphorical scene. One can pretty much feel the situation this man is in.
For a summary of the plot just go to the imdb page.

IMDB