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Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. (1999) --> This documentary by filmmaker Errol Morris, who over the past twenty years has established himself as one of best directors in America for this genre, tells of the life of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. Leuchter became famous for traveling to Auschwitz and gathering brick samples from gas chambers used in WWII to see if they contained any residue of cyanide. When a lab brought back negative results he testified in Canada on behalf of Eric Zundel when the latter was charged with publishing hate propaganda.

Leuchter was approached by the Zundel camp because he was an expert on capital punishment (gas chambers, lethal injection machines, gallows construction, and electric chairs). After his testimony, Leuchter lost his business and wife due to pressure from Holocaust families and Jewish groups. Morris takes an even approach to his film by allowing a voice to both Holocaust deniers (like Zundel himself) and those which can show the existence of the death camps. But what you leave with after watching this film is not as much looking at Leuchter as a naive fool, but that you better watch what you say in the public domain. If you don't, your life can be ruined.


Full Spectrum Staff

Kingdom of Heaven (2005) --> Ridley Scott's second foray into the distant past in the last five years (the first being Gladiator (2000)), Kingdom of Heaven brings his imagination back to the Middle Ages and the specific time period between the second and third Crusades. Orlando Bloom stars as Balian, an English blacksmith, who travels to Jerusalem with his new found father (Liam Neeson) to search for forgiveness from a murder he committed.. When his father dies, Balian takes his family's sword and becomes a knight in the service of King Baldwin (Ed Norton). Baldwin has kept the peace between the Muslims and Christians but is dying of leprosy. After Baldwin dies and the main forces of the Christians are wiped out by the Islamic leader Saladin, Balian must defend the city using what is left of the population. Scott does a masterful job mixing drama and action. He also should be congratulated for not demonizing the Muslims (choosing to keep most of his wrath for the Christian clergy) and using actors who are actual members of the faith. What is most astounding about this movie are the sweeping shots of the battlegrounds, and the birds-eye view of the city.


Full Spectrum Staff

Private School (1983) --> The mainstream creation of the teen sex comedy began with Canadian director Bob Clark's movie Porky's back in 1982 and perfected with Amy Heckerling's Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). As a result of their popularity, Hollywood continues to pump out copycats to this day with American Pie and Not another Teen Movie being the latest versions. Each generation had its teen movies (Rebel without a Cause (1955) and American Graffiti (1973) are two examples) but it wasn't until the '80s that the sex, humour, and nudity came to the fore (Animal House (1978) was a precursor but it was a twenty-something college farce).

After the success of Fast Times..., especially the popularity of Phoebe Cates (everyone remembers Judge Reinhold's masturbation sequence), Hollywood put out Private School to capitalize on Cates drawing power. The movie was a flop. Where Porky's was downright hilarious and Fast Times... captured the pulse of teen life, Private School did neither. The movie will continue to stick around, not because of Cates, but because of the horseback riding scene with Betsy Russell. It, along with the masturbation scene from Fast Times... and the shower scene from Porky's will bring back memories of dark rooms and extensive lubricant use for men who grew up during the early '80s.


Full Spectrum Staff

Elephant (2003) --> Gus Van Sant waited four years before showing a movie inspired by the Columbine High School shootings. What makes this movie so great is Van Sant's decision to film it as though it was a clandestine documentary (as if the cameraman was invisible and able to follow all the students anywhere without being noticed). It makes the film emotionally devastating because it doesn't judge, it just progresses through the regular and boring days of some high school students until two students enter the school and begin shooting.

Van Sant does use some devices to occasionally increase the drama or grab the attention of the viewer. Van Sant screws with the timeline as his camera follows different students during their day. You follow the camera as it passes through certain time periods but from a different viewpoint as the camera is following a different student. He also leaves the viewer in the dark about the true nature of the film until twenty minutes into the film. He then gives you a clue when you see two boys in full army regalia carrying heavy canvass bags walking toward the entrance of the school. When another student asks what they are doing, he is told to leave and not come back as hell is going down.

Van Sant then returns to the mundane lives of the students leaving the viewer to wait another 30 minutes before all is revealed at the home of one of the shooters. You are then brought through the whole set up and massacre ending with a freezer scene where, after shooting his comrade in arms, the remaining killer points his gun at the main target of his rampage (the cool guy who picked on him) and his girlfriend. The scene fades out as the killer is choosing who to shoot first using the "enee meanee minee moe" children's poem. The film is a dry, cold, and a sober look at teen violence which will leave you changed by the experience.


Full Spectrum Staff

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