The
Bridge (2006)
Directed
by Eric Steel
Produced
by Eric Steel
I wanted to ensure that I dealt with this topic
in the correct manner so took my time making and writing it.
In
2004, Eric Steel and his team went to the Golden Gate Bridge in San
Francisco every morning and watched the bridge. Any time they saw
someone acting suspicious they filmed the person. The whole point of
the film was to bring awareness to the fact that the Golden Gate
Bridge is the second highest place in the world for suicides.
This
film is actually the reason I started making reviews. I wanted to
generate discussion on this film but none of my friends were willing
to watch a film about suicide. But due to the nature of the film I
didn't want to make it my first review until I had written a couple
others.
I'm
not actually writing a review, I'll instead be discussing how it was
made.
There
are a lot of rumours that surround this film. They appear where ever
there is discussion on the morals. They appear on sites such as IMDB
and Wikipedia and I am yet to see any evidence to contradict the
rumours. The first one is the way that Steel gained permission to
film the bridge every day for a whole year. Apparently he said the
film was to be a "Day in the Life" style film showing the
average day on the bridge; with tourists, commuters and people
exercising. I have no problem with this lie seeing as the outcome of
the film is that it brought more awareness to the situation of
suicide on the bridge and if Steel said that was his intention from
the beginning they probably wouldn't of granted him permission.
Another reason for Steel lying about the purpose of the film was that
he was worried that people would find out about the project and then
jump, hoping to be recorded and included in the film.
The
second rumour that surrounds the film is the fact that they didn't
tell the families/friends of the deceased that they had footage of
their loved ones killing themselves. The film is interspersed with
footage of people talking about their relative or friend who had
jumped off the bridge. They ususally have a story about how upset the
person was at the time and all the different things they had wrong
with their life that led to their final act. I'm not sure how I feel
about this rumour. There is a quote from Steel where he says that
everyone involved has seen the final film and are happy with it, but
I can't help but wonder if they would have ever agreed in the first
place if they had known that Steel had watched their friend die. Does
the end justify the means? Steel presumably thinks so, but I imagine
when the family's found out the truth they couldn't help but feel a
bit hurt...
Also,
there is a lady who is interviewed. Her sister had jumped. I found
her interviews very awkward. I would hate to think that she was
enjoying the attention she received after her sisters death but that
is how she came across. She seemed to be trying to guarantee screen
time by repeating everything her mother says and by interupting and
disagreeing with her. Nothing she says adds to the discussion and yet
she insists on doing it. I don't know, maybe she is just naturally
really rude – but it came across like she was loving her attention.
The
third rumour to surround the film is the fact that every time Steel
and his team saw someone suspicious they phoned the police, and
started to film them. Apparently the result of this was that they
saved six people from jumping. That's great isn't it?! Well I find
this one hard to believe actually. The main person that the film
concentrates on is a man called Gene. Throughout the whole film there
are clips of him walking up and down the bridge and there are
interviews with a few of his friends. In one of these interviews it
is revealed that he was there for 90 minutes. I'm not suggesting that
Steel and his team were suspicious of him for the whole 90 minutes,
but they certainly got a lot of footage of him. How is it that they
claim to have phoned the police each time and yet Gene wasn't
rescued?
My
favourite interviews are with Kevin Hines. He attempted suicide from
the bridge in 2000. He has an attitude that comes across as “I
instantly realised that everything in my life that I'd thought was
unfixable was totally fixable – except for having just jumped”.
He talks a lot about his motivations for attempting suicide and then
how his life changed after his attempt. Yes, he does attribute the
fact he survived to being a message from God, which means he suffers
a fair amount of ridicule on the internet, but at least he found
meaning in his life. Part of his interview that really disturbed me
was when he was talking about the run up to him jumping. He got a bus
to the bridge and was bawling his eyes out the entire journey. He
then stood on the bridge for 40 minutes, still crying and shaking and
no-one spoke to him apart from one German lady who asked if he could
take a photo for her. This was in effect, the final straw for Kevin –
proof that no one cared about him.
Whatever
you think about Steel's motives for making the film and the way in
which he made it, I'm sure you can't deny the outcome of the film is
that it has done a lot of good in highlighting the issue of suicide
in a totally new and honest way.
I'm
not going to give this film a mark out of ten, but instead I will
just finish by saying that everyone should watch this film. I don't
think you should watch it when depressed though, as it certainly wont
help. Instead, watch it because Kevin's story and attitude will
hopefully make people be more aware of the man stood next to them on
a bus or bridge crying. It doesn't matter if someone is your best
friend, or a stranger you have never seen before. If someone needs to
talk to someone maybe you could be the starting point that makes all
the difference.
