30 Second Bottom Line: Fred Leuchter becomes the leading prison consultant in the US on how to make the death penalty "humane". His notoriety results in consulting contract from a person who denies there was a Holocaust. This assignment results in a failed marriage and his prison consulting becoming per sona non grata.

Story Line: This documentary is high on the "open your eyes" scales and low on the "drama" scale but that is as it's meant to be. The film begins with us seeing what appears to be a nice guy that if they lived next door to you it would be OK as long as you did not know he was a killer. That is, he makes things that kill people as compared to killing them himself.

The film has two parts; one about capital punishment and the second speaks to the reality of the Holocaust..that is, did it happen? Leuchter looks into the camera with a boyish smile and tells us that his interest in the death penalty, other than that he does believe in it (I would hope so if this was your job), is that people should not be tortured to death just because they should die. He gives us some background on the 4 ways capital punishment is carried out: 1) electrocution; 2) gas chamber; 3) hanging and 4) lethal injection. For some reason he left out by rifle fire. Oh well, with the rifle, it's quick and efficient.

He points out for example that in 1/240 second, an electrical charge will make the person unconscious. But after the heart stops in a minute, it's possible for a person's heart to start beating in 20 minutes and fully recover. Now the person is very much brain dead, but they are alive and breathing on it's own. It's interesting to note that the execution system is the opposite of a life support system, as both require considerable expertise to be carried out as planned. If you are thinking this is crazy, you are starting to get the picture.

We see that even the electric chair can have history like a museum. The oak came from a hanging gallows and the paint that is used is the same as on the Space Shuttle nose and body so it won't burn up with the intense heat.

The insight on the relationship of the warden with inmates on death row allows you to see this hidden society that dehumanizes the guards as well as the inmates. The very design considerations of the killing devices and how the guards interact with them is or should be something that no person should have to deal with. These things are not shown on the film but discussed and that's enough to make you think.

His like takes on a bizarre direction when Ernst Zundel, a seemingly nice man on film, contacts Leucther to help him in his trial. Zundel lives in Canada and is on trial for the felony charge of spreading false rumors. It is OK to write your version of history as long as you know that it is not false. In his case, he has printed books, which say that the Holocaust did not happen. He does not speak to where the people disappeared; just that they were not gassed. So if they were all shot to death, then the Holocaust did not happen? This film allows you to see what on the surface can appear as sane and rational to be everything but that.

Leuchter is hired to go to Auschwitz, and take rock samples that are then tested by a lab in Massachusetts, for traces of cyanide. The lab crushes the rock and comes up with a negative test. But we learn that at best the cyanide would be in the 1st 10 microns of stone at the surface level and when ground up, would show nothing. That is what was found so the simple absence of proof becomes the basis of proving that cyanide had never been there. He alleges the chambers were air raid shelters rather gas chambers. Other proof was the lack of proving the chambers were sealed tight to prevent leakage; not seeing a place to heat the pellets or an escape mechanism for the gas so the bodies could be removed without harm to the soldiers. This is after many many years and a site that for the most part is in ruins. Much of the brick is missing and assumed to have been used in the construction of local housing. And besides, since the Jews were to be slave labor, why would you want to execute them?

Leuchter presents his findings in sworn court testimony and he then becomes less than the wonderful guy he had been to prison officials and he sort of drifts off into the sunset trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life.

Tell Me More About It: It would appear that the process of being so involved in the thinking and planning of killing in itself makes you a criminal. For sure, it changes the fundamental relationships you have with the living.

Leuchter started going to prison at the age of 4 years old as his father was a warden and he would "take him to work". We learn that an early experiment of Thomas Edison was to electrocute an elephant. The SPCA would have crucified Edison if they had been around then. It does make you wonder why humans have such a fascination with learning how to kill.

Looking at this made me think of the concept of reparations when great harm is done on such a mass scale. We know what the Germans did but is not what the Swiss banks did with stealing money an onerous companion activity that merits correction? In this country, just because slavery was 100 years ago merit only a few years of affirmative action? Or for that matter, just because African-Americans are likely better off than if they had stayed in Africa make any difference, count for anything? The reason why the USA is what it is because where the immigrants came from countries that equated to a lack of freedom, opportunity to grow, poverty or a combination of the three. Just because you have a history somewhere does not mean that is where you need to be or go back to.

Fred Leuchter Jr. could be the textbook definition of an Uncle Tom. But he could also be a racist or Anti-Semite. Or possibly he just wanted to be famous and respected or maybe he is just a fool. And he may be all of those things. But if there is any doubt, for sure, he lacks common sense. He was influenced by his upbringing; was an intelligent man with a warped morale grounding.

We often hear that if we don't understand our history, we are bound to repeat it. I don't know if this is suitable for a senior high school history course, but this film should be something that every college graduate has the opportunity to see. Mr. Death is profound in how it makes us think about death in much the same way that Sister Teresa said "I am sure that all people know deep down inside that the little child in the mother's womb is a human being from the moment of conception, created in the image of God to love and to be loved….Jesus said…if you receive a little child in my name, you receive me".