The Bridge
October 12th, 2006
Eric Steel aimed two cameras at the Golden Gate Bridge and filmed every daylight hour for an entire year. You see, the bridge isn’t just the most-photographed man-made structure in North America, it’s also a deadly magnet for suicide. About two dozen people jump to their death there every year, and Steel figured that he’d catch at least a few of them on tape–and he did. The resulting movie, which delivers awful footage from the bridge and interviews with witnesses, family members, and one survivor, is disturbing and probably a little exploitative (Steel saves the “best” jump for last.) I haven’t entirely gotten my head around this thing, so hang on for a proper About.com review. My sense of it right now is that it’s slightly overlong, but missing too much context. The director was there for a post-screening Q&A, and there were a lot of questions that the movie didn’t address at all (the non-existent barrier, the question of helping the people he filmed etc.). The Bridge opens on October 27.
The Bridge. Eric Steel, 2006. ***
[tags]film, 3 stars, documentary, suicide, san francisco, golden gate bridge, death[/tags]
