• news
  • TUESDAY OCTOBER 24 2006 10:00 AM

Movie Preview : An Unflinching Look at Suicide from "The Bridge"

Submitted by SteveIsaacs

Edited by SteveIsaacs

Tags: The Bridge, Suicide, Golden Gate Bridge



Opening this Friday in select theaters is a controversial new documentary, The Bridge - a film showing 23 of the 24 suicides that took place at San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge in the year 2004. Director Eric Steel assembled a dedicated crew who set up a camera every day for a year and caught video of everyday people coolly stepping over the railing and jumping to their deaths. The footage is possessed of an eerie calm, a profound stillness, and is ultimately a stunning portrayal of some lonely souls' final seconds on Earth.

Not surprisingly, The Bridge has been drawing the fire of suicide prevention groups who see the film as glorifying the allure of this already alarmingly popular suicide site. Since the bridge's construction in 1937, over 1,300 suicides have taken place. One about every two weeks.

Steel has been accused of serving up suicide as entertainment, misleading the city about his project to gain filming access and callously using the lives of the jumpers for his own gain.

Steel says:

(the goal is to)
..."allow us to see into the most impenetrable corners of the human mind and challenge us to think and talk about suicide in profoundly different ways."

"It is a movie about the human spirit in crisis. It is a movie about people,"


The Bridge opens in select theaters Friday October 27th.
Hi Quality Quicktime Trailer

  • PERMALINK
  • PRINT
  • Digg This
  • Email To A Friend
 

Previous

PAGE: 

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Next

Comments
Isobel_

Isobel_

Finland
February 2005

OCT 25, 2006 08:46 AM

What was the site called where there was the most repulsive photo evidence of rotten things?

Isobel_

Isobel_

Finland
February 2005

OCT 25, 2006 09:18 AM

PRockGhoulScout said:

MisterLinguist said:

Flux said:
I wonder what Seneca would think.



Explain.



+1

What I've read about Seneca is limited but I haven't seen anything that indicates that he was a proponent of suicide or a philosopher of suicide, just that he was sentenced to commit suicide, and had trouble doing so. confused



My own therapist told me suicide was a sin. That really made me feel a lot better.
whatever

Flux

Flux

SUICIDEGIRL

Georgia, USA

OCT 25, 2006 11:04 AM

oyaji said:

Flux said:
I wonder what Seneca would think.



I am firmly under the impression that suicide in the ancient Mediterranean occupied a much different cultural and social position than suicide in North America at the turn of the second millennium, c.e.



I don't know, watching the trailer made me wonder if there might be in the film a sense of respect and honor given to the suicides because of the way the shots were approached. That sort of Stoic peace.

:shrug: I'm sure he would see it as tasteless, but I'm always very interested to see less-condemning approaches to the subject.


This is the part where you mutter under your breath, "fucking classicist."

cmjfoxfyre

cmjfoxfyre

Cupertino, CA
February 2006

OCT 25, 2006 03:34 PM

SuzieFNSunshine said:

cmjfoxfyre said:
i didn't think that it was that Easy to jump off the bridge. especially after 9/11. wow. i'm oddly drawn and greatly disturbed. this reminds me of a crimescenes photo collection, of the 30's and 40's, that i keep seeing at the bookstore. skull



Don't suppose you know the name of the book? Right up my ally...



CrimeScenes...? it was in the "True Crime" section at a Borders Express. not sure, honestly...sorry.

cmjfoxfyre

cmjfoxfyre

Cupertino, CA
February 2006

OCT 25, 2006 03:38 PM

Flux said:
[Don't suppose you know the name of the book? Right up my ally...



It sounds like Death Scenes.

that's similar...the cover was different...but maybe it's a different edition...
that one looks fun!! biggrin

cmjfoxfyre

cmjfoxfyre

Cupertino, CA
February 2006

OCT 25, 2006 03:43 PM

Isobel_ said:
What was the site called where there was the most repulsive photo evidence of rotten things?



rotten.com

mamet

mamet

Charleston, SC
March 2005

OCT 25, 2006 06:53 PM

PointBlanksGhost said:
Seems interesting, but I could never watch it.




That pretty much sums up my thoughts.

Isobel_

Isobel_

Finland
February 2005

OCT 26, 2006 04:20 AM

Can' t thank Britney enough for bringing the subject of suicide up in 2003. Although that wasn' t her mission in the first place.
I wonder if the movie makes it to Finland ( Conan O' Brien did ). I used to be a movie critic and have some connections but I' m not that powerful anymore.

TheWhale

TheWhale

Troy, MI
August 2004

OCT 28, 2006 11:51 AM

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061026/REVIEWS/610260301

Here's a really good review of The Bridge by Jim Emerson.

MrGinger

MrGinger

San Rafael, CA
November 2003

OCT 28, 2006 11:57 AM

Who were those people?

Cigarette

Cigarette

Cleveland, OH
April 2004

OCT 28, 2006 12:02 PM

KUNGFOO said:


Not surprisingly, The Bridge has been drawing the fire of suicide prevention groups who see the film as glorifying the allure of this already alarmingly popular suicide site.



Should this not be explored then? Should we just cover our eyes and pretend this doesn't happen?



I suppose it depends on if the film seems like a glorification or not.

Andvari

Andvari

Calgary, AB
April 2005

OCT 28, 2006 09:05 PM

The baot at 43 seconds looks fake.

Just saying.

Previous

PAGE: 

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Next

featured interviews