| THE BRIDGE |
 2006 - UK / USADirector: Eric Steel
- Reviewed by Linda
So, understandably, I was leery of watching The Bridge, a documentary about jumpers who leap to their deaths the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Some critics have called it a snuff film, other have called it irresponsible. I found it to be haunting, yes, but surprisingly sensitive and respectful. The image from which I can't escape is one that is used repeatedly in the film—different jumpers, different days, but the same angle. The Golden Gate's stunning red span stretches across the water, with glorious blue sky and puffy white clouds. The image is quiet, and you find yourself looking, your eyes nervously taking in the scene... until suddenly, there it is: a distinctive and large white splash in the water below the span. The splash disappears as abruptly as it appeared; if you blinked you would have missed it. Eric Steel and a dozen camera people set up to watch the bridge every day for a year, through telephoto lenses and wide angles, studying the folks that walked across the span. With only a 4-foot barrier to step over, and a 220-foot drop to the water below, the bridge has become a top destination for people wanting to die, and they come from all over the country (and probably the world) to do so. In 2004, the year of filming, 24 people leapt to their deaths. Apparently, 23 of these were caught on film, and many of them make it into the documentary. But what makes the film interesting are the interviews with friends and family of the suicides, as well as passers-by that may have witnessed seeing someone "just disappear". People discuss the mental illness, depression, and feelings of failure of those who jumped. Those that the suicides left behind speak of their reactions, everything from betrayal, to anger, to sadness, to surprising (in many cases) empathy and acceptance. The Bridge ends up being a surprisingly effective portrayal of society's difficulty in helping people that are reaching out. One young man (who is one of the few to survive the jump) tells of how he stood weeping at the railing, making his decision to end his life. A woman tapped him on the shoulder, not to ask if he was alright, but to ask him to take her photo. He obliged, she turned to walk away, and he flung himself over the railing. One of the final images in the film is of a man named Gene, a rocker wearing black leather, with his long hair blowing in the wind. As they filmed, the camera people would choose among the many bystanders to watch, phoning the bridge authorities when someone looked suspicious (thus intercepting six people from jumping). Gene didn't show any of the signs: weeping, nervousness, avoiding others. The cameras apparently followed him for 93 minutes, when suddenly he stood up on the railing and gracefully fell backwards, arms outstretched. If you hadn't just heard testimonials of the hurt that he'd left behind with his many friends, you may find the image to be in a way a strangely beautiful. But it is this emotional wreckage that these people leave behind that makes suicide so deeply tragic. |
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Viewing images of real death caught on film is enough to traumatize anyone. There are media images burned in my head that I wish I had never seen: people, holding hands, falling from the Twin Towers after jumping from their offices; a Japanese butoh performer plummeting silently to his death when a rope broke during his performance in Pioneer Square in Seattle.
