The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, bathed
in sun and surrounded by blue sky, on a clear day in 2005, as seen from Crissy
Field Park.
October 24, 2006
The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California has been called one of the eight wonders of the world. Tragically it is also the most popular landmark in America from which suicides occur. Eric Steel's documentary "The Bridge", which opened in select movie theaters in North America on Friday, October 27, takes a deeply distressing and disturbing look at why people happen to commit suicide, what they are thinking and what propels them to end their lives by jumping from from one of the world's greatest man-made structures.
One of the things rarely discussed in America is mental illness it seems, and Mr. Steel's film promises to explore the subject in detail. The trademark fog of San Francisco is an eerie metaphor for things seen and unseen. For hidden behind the fog are the homeless, those that everyday people would rather ignore. Similarly, those who have mental illness and incapacitation are likewise shunned and ignored. "The Bridge" brings them to light. The film's production notes state that for the entire year of 2004, Mr. Steel and his crew looked with close scrutiny of the Golden Gate Bridge "running cameras for almost every daylight minute, and filming most of the two dozen suicides and a great many of the unrealized attempts." Steel's cameras caught almost 100 hours of footage including some incredibly wrenching interviews with friends and relatives of those who jumped the four-second descent to death, including Kevin Hines, who survived the death plunge. As Hines was descending to certain death he recalls in the documentary, he realized that he had made a mistake and that he did not want to die. He hit the water feet first. Miraculously he survived, and was kept afloat by a school of seals until he was rescued, having broken two vertebrae in his back.
"The Bridge" is a challenge to sit through. Eric Steel faced lots of heat from officials who felt that he exploited the tragedies on the Golden Gate Bridge, accusing him of being a lurid and voyeuristic filmmaker. Mr. Steel simply says that he is merely attempting to uncover and explore what it is that makes a person decide to end their lives, and what they happen to be thinking about just before the fatal plunge. Steel says he wants to open up a dialogue on mental illness and depression, subjects that every American may have experience with but would rather not acknowledge or confront. As recently as last week Steel appeared on American television's ABC News magazine show "20/20", explaining that the taboo subject of suicide needed to be given the proper dialogue and respectful treatment that it has never had in America.
TPR