DVDs This Week: "The Bridge" (really, LAST week)

(originally posted at the now-defunct www.poweredbymovies.com)

After years of toiling as the runt brother of big budget blockbusters, theatrical documentaries are finally big business in the world of mainstream film. Give it up to Michael Moore and Al Gore (even if you despise them), the feel-good nature of audience-friendly fare such as Mad Hot Ballroom and March of the Penguins and the high-quality stuff coming from cable networks like The History Channel and Discovery for this bright new world.

And now let’s put a big fat cloud over that bright new world.

The Bridge is an emotional documentary, released a few months ago in theatres, that garnered a lot of attention for its bizarre and borderline-offensive but still fascinating central topic: film producer Eric Steel set up cameras on the Golden Gate Bridge for the entirety of 2004 and ended up capturing nearly two dozen suicide attempts from the famous landmark, some succeeding, some prevented by the film crew. Exploring the families of the victims as well as the fact that these suicides are almost never reported in the mainstream media becomes Steel’s central conceit of the film. The bridge itself has, according to sources, seen over 1,250 suicides since its completion in 1937 (they stopped counting a long time ago) with only 26 surviving falls (all feet first). Despite the great impact these deaths could have on a community, they are largely ignored by the population of San Francisco of 3/4 of a million and the surrounding areas.

Why is this the case? Why is the bridge the #1 destination for suicidal people? (This statistic is alleged, as others believe that the most popular spot for such a thing would be England’s Beachy Head in East Sussex.) What drives people to these lengths? And why choose such a public place in which to end your life instead of other, more private means?

The film made an impact when it was released in theatres, including a resurgence of city government talk of perhaps building a barrier. Good documentaries make the most amount of change in the lives of those who saw it, and this one should be no exception. There is controversy over Steel himself, who according to Wikipedia was not forthcoming with the Golden Gate National Recreation Area committee, neither was he with the families, who did not know he had footage of their loved one’s death until far later in the process. Nevertheless, for those like myself who look out their window and see that glorious testament to the city, to the San Francisco Bay and to the sea, there is a story very little of us know.