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The Bridge (DVD, 2007)
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This has been called suicide pornography and that may be a fair assessment, but it is also much more: an examination of the people who go over the edge and their reasons for doing so along with the effects of their choice on the loved ones left behind and a reflection on the fatal lure of the Golden Gate Bridge, until recently the number one suicide spot in the world. Using Gene as a framing device was a good choice, providing the beginning and the end.
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The DVD is much like the book that I purchased from Barns & Noble to write a report. The DVD brings to life what is in the book and lets you see it is Real! It makes you see the San Francisco Golden Gate bridge in a different way. There are barriers that are probably going to be installed within the next 5-8 years to make suicide jumpers think twice about jumping. I have a large painting by a famous artist from San Francisco of the Golden Gate bridge in my home. I used to love this huge gallery painting more than any painting I own, but there is such sadness when I study it now after seeing this DVD. Director Eric Steel did succeed in making one of the most morbid documentaries you may see for a while. It touches your heart as you listen to the people on the DVD talk about their loved ones and how much pain it was for the ones left behind. Some of their loved ones just disappear and were never found, the tide took them out. They talk about not being able to have closure. Jumping seems to be the choice for suicide because it was their last "good-bye" and that they would be remembered because of the Golden Gate bridge. In fact long before they jumped, they told people close to them why they would choose the Golden Gate Bridge. I did enjoy hearing the ones who did not die, talk about the experience and how it changed their lives. Some had a new look out on life and would not want to go down that road again. There is a circle of people of people that do not want the barriers to be install on the bridge because they say it will spoil the view. It doesn't seem to hurt the view on the New York Empire State Building which has the suicide barriers and many world famous other bridges opted to install them. It would make the extra steps harder for a person thinking of ending their life by jumping. Some other bridges that installed barriers are: George Washington Memorial bridge in Seattle, Washington; San Diego - Coronado Bridge in San Diego, California; Sunshine Skyway bridge in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was a chilling DVD and it stayed in my mind for a long time. I couldn't stop wondering about the families left behind, especially of the young jumpers in high school and the heartbreak of getting a phone call about your spouse from the bridge officials. It was a heavy documentary. It is certainly not a DVD for everyone - it is chilling.Read full review
The Bridge had been out in theaters for awhile and I didn't really notice. Then I learned of the (then recent) suicide of an old friend who jumped of the GG bridge. So I felt compelled to see this movie in the hope of finding some answers. Of course for a situation like this, there are none, just questions that will forever be unanswered. After I saw the movie, I went to the bridge to leave some roses in the bay for my old friend. This movie is not easy to watch, it does show people jumping off the bridge, but it spares the gory details about what happens when they hit water. SFgate.com has a feature called "Lethal Beauty" which goes into more graphic detail about what physically happens when you land in the water. I wish there had been interviews with more survivors of more victims, only a handfull of the over 20 recorded deaths are presented on this movie. The movie centers around Gene Sprague, his story popping up inbetween the stories of others, with the end being his dramatic death. Some of the people being interviewed struck me as insincere at times, but maybe it was just shock or emotional blockage. Other interviews are so sad you want to cry, especially about "Ruby" (who I think is the first death in the movie). There is also footage of a dramatic rescue of a young woman by a photographer who was snapping away at her about to take her final steps before common sense kicked in. Also featured is Kevin Hines, one of the few to survive the jump into the bridge, his story struck me most of all because he lived to tell about it, so you hear it first hand. For all the controversy surrounding ethics of this movie, it really needed to be done. Now this problem can no longer be ignored and swept away. I believe because of this movie and some high-profile features in the SF Chronicle, those are the only reasons a study has finally been conducted for a barrier. Why this bridge never had a barrier makes no sense to me, the railing is so short that someone like a kid climbing around could accidentally fall in. Any other pedestrian bridge with this problem would have a barrier erected, but in SF, people seem to value aesthetics over life.Read full review
I bought this DVD because I had seen the film in a theater and was impressed enough to want my own copy. This documentary is a very thoughtful and tasteful account of the personalities and conflicts of the people who are driven to take their own lives. It is NOT a movie just about people jumping off a bridge. In fact, if you are looking for the sensational aspects of a person committing suicide you will not find them. The actual impact of the person striking the water is shown only a few times during the movie and at a very long focal distance. What you see is a small, unexpected splash, then, the sea returns to normal as if nothing had happened. To me this added to the loneliness and despair of the act of taking one's life. This is a documentary about the mindset of several people who are in such despair that, for them, suicide is the only solution. The documentary also features a segment on a recent jumper who survived his suicide jump from the bridge and he describes what lead up to his decision to jump, what he was thinking as he was about to jump, what he was thinking during his fall and after he struck the water. His comments echo those by other people who have jumped from the Golden Gate bridge and survived - they each realized that jumping was the wrong decision and they regretted making it. How scary that must be for the person who jumped and didn't survive. This film is not sensational, it is not voyeuristic; rather it is a sensitive look into the lives of average people who feel such desperation that they no longer can see what life holds for them. If you want to know why people take their own lives, this is an excellent film to watch.Read full review
This film should be required viewing for all in the mental health field, especially here in the San Francisco Bay Area. It gets behind the statistics to the lives destroyed and torn apart by a loved one's suicide on this famous picturesque span. The photography is gorgeous. There is unbelievable footage of rescues, mind-changers, and those sad and inevitable souls who complete their dark mission from this height. Includes an in-depth look at the changed life of one of the few lucky survivors. This film could only have been made by an outsider - we SF Bay Area residents are too inured to the sight and news of the suicides, to see the issues clearly. Neither do we see anymore, or appreciate the structure's stark and terrible beauty. Don't expect to be reassured by viewing this documentary - expect to be troubled. Expect to be very troubled... One gains the understanding of just how ridiculously easy it is to make an impulsive decision that is, in the great major of cases, utterly irreversible... Whatever your view on the "suicide barrier" issue, you may find it changes after this documentary.Read full review
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