The Bridge

Since i'm home and hungry.. i thought i'd post a review...
The Documentary is called "the BRIDGE"

Plot Synopsis: People suffer largely unnoticed while the rest of the world goes about its business. This is a documentary exploration of the mythic beauty of the Golden Gate Bridge, the most popular suicide destination in the world, and those drawn by its call. Steel and his crew filmed the bridge during daylight hours from two separate locations for all of 2004, recording most of the two dozen deaths in that year (and preventing several others). They also taped interviews with friends, families and witnesses, who recount in sorrowful detail stories of struggles with depression, substance abuse and mental illness. Raises questions about suicide, mental illness and civic responsibility as well as the filmmaker's relationship to his fraught and complicated material.



-I inadvertently ran across mention of this film while surfing for information on the Golden Gate Bridge and quickly became intrigued by it's theme. There is some interesting information on various websites that is worth reviewing.

At first thought, the theme of the film is a bit morbid but it should be kept in mind by the viewer that it is a very important and prevalent human condition that has touched the lives of a great portion of our society in one way or another. My guess is that a significant portion of our population has dealt with uncontrollable depression and contemplated suicide at some point in their lives. If they haven't, then they have likelly had a close family member or friend who has.

One of the things that I appreciate about the film is that is remains neutral on the topic and simply tells the story of those who've decided to take this fateful path. I'm not sure if this fact is brought out in the film or if I caught it on an associated website, but I think that it is profound that a number of individuals who've survived their jump from the bridge had thoughts along the lines of "What did I just do? I wish that I hadn't done that!"



-Check The TEchnique