Posted on 04/28/2006 3:15:10 PM PDT by Paddlefish
A documentary that records almost two dozen leaps from the landmark bridge has generated praise and scorn for its maker. For an entire year the cameras rolled, capturing death amid the eerie fog and shifting tides.
One by one, filmmaker Eric Steel documented the final moments of nearly two dozen despondent men and women, and the agonizing, four-second fall after they leaped off the Golden Gate Bridge, drawn by the span's tragic beauty. His intent, he says, was to illuminate "the darkest corner of the human mind." If he watched enough people take their own lives, he thought, he could "spot the outward manifestations of their interior demons."
Steel says he too once considered suicide. "It's that Humpty Dumpty moment when it's all going to fall apart," he said. "For me and many others, it didn't come. For the people in this film, it did."
His documentary, "The Bridge," which opens at a film festival in San Francisco on Sunday after debuting Thursday in New York City, has already provoked outrage. "This is like a newspaper carrying a front-page photo of someone blowing his head off; it's irresponsible, exploitative, voyeuristic, ghastly and immoral," said Mark Chaffee, president of Suicide Prevention Advocacy Network-California, who has not seen the movie. His 16-year-old son took his life in 1998.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
That's enough for me.
Wow. You're either really unlucky, or you work for the Acme Safe Co.
If everyone can use rent-seeking to prevent their particular anguish, real or imaginary to prohibit the dissemination of news, nothing could ever be reported.
I came upon a crowd and heard the mob reaction (yes, college students, who did yell "Jump"), got disgusted and walked away, around a corner of the building - then "heard" it, as I walked on to my class. I, too, hope to never again be in that situation.
The film producer was on GMA yesterday or the day before and they were going to have the one guy who survived his jump on for an interview today, I think, but I missed it. Have no idea what he had to say.
And BTW, they said on GMA that they saved 6 lives. Here's what the story says:
" ... Steel established guidelines on when to intervene, instructing the crew to call emergency officials if a pedestrian set down a bag or briefcase, removed shoes or wallet, or climbed onto the rail. They intervened five times to stop jumpers, he said. ..."
San Francisco is in a stunningly beautiful place. There's nothing quite like driving across the Golden Gate on a sunny afternoon, when the fog comes rolling back in ... whoosh. It's just the most amazing thing for this southern boy. The weather I'm accustomed to is a litte more broadstroke.
But, there is such a large population of profoundly, unapologetically disturbed people in that city. Despite the joy that I've felt from all the natural beauty, I also feel that it's an occult town, as much if not more so than New Orleans. I would not be surprised to learn that statistics on suicide would reflect a very large concentration of people killing themselves there. It's the ultimate narcissistic act of a deranged mind, and what better place is there, to feed ones' ego one last time, than the Golden Gate Bridge?
If the Golden Gate cameras had been rolling in 1970, they'd have captured the suicide leap of Evan Thomas, Valedictorian, Monte Vista High, Class of '69. His death haunts my husband, his classmate, to this day -- don't need to see it on film.
Three weeks and three hours ago today I saw my first
funnel cloud.That was enough to last me my lifetime.
About eight yrs ago I was in Nashville when a girl
jumped off the L&C Tower,that was also enough to do me
my lifetime.
ping
I wonder if they will intervene if a pedestrian sets down a bag with bungie cord, ties off to the bridge...
And most of all, its free speech. If you don't like the film or hate the concept, no one is forcing people to go or watch it. I personally think that seeing something that sobering would make me feel better about being among the living no matter how bad things were. Don't know if I could stomach a whole film on the topic, but then again I have the free will to walk out when it gets too much. Funny how that freedom thing works.
The first jump I witnessed was just plain gory. The second had an intense surreal quality to it. I would tell you more, but then again, why ruin your day.
These things do stick with you though, don't they?
Window washer or a doorman more likely...
Sad, a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
Seeing the jumpers from the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001 nearly did me in.
Another ghoulish exhibition from the Culture of Death.
"And most of all, its free speech"
_____________________________
Yes it is. And it is also "irresponsible, exploitative, voyeuristic, ghastly and immoral."
Just sounds like more "Faces of Death" type stuff.
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