'The Bridge'

I didn't see the 20/20 episode but I've seen the trailer and it played here in Chicago last week as part of the Chicago International Film Festival. I think it's exploitive. It seems that the filmmakers must have watched people suspiciously pacing and pondering their fate and did nothing about it. Also, it seems the filmmaker(s) must have been hanging out everyday thinking, "c'mon, somebody jump! I have a film to make here."

I can't decide if I find this film simply amoral or downright immoral. Either way, I have no interest in supporting it.
 
dustino said:
It seems that the filmmakers must have watched people suspiciously pacing and pondering their fate and did nothing about it..
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According to the ABC News article, the filmmakers called the authorities any time they thought someone was going to jump, and ended up preventing quite a few suicides. That may not change anyone's opinion on the film, but at least they didn't sit quietly and just watch.
 
Thanks for that clarification, Owen. I just read the ABC article. I still wouldn't feel comfortable championing the film (not to say that you are or aren't championing it). The article says that when he interviewed friends and family, he didn't tell them he had captured the suicides on film. It then goes on to say:

"All the family members now, at this point, have seen the film," Steel said. "Every one of them was glad that they had participated in it. So in the end, I think, you know, I made the right choice."

I hope that's true about "all" the family members, but I can't help feel that interviewing them without knowledge of his prior filming of their loved ones' deaths seems manipulative. If they're truly happy to have participated, then great. I find it very surprising, though, that no one was upset by his withholding this information.
 
You have to wonder if the impact of viewing the ACTUAL suicides is truly necessary, or could the power of filmmaking have been used to convey the same emotion while refraining from showing actual deaths. Would interviews with experts and details on what happens when a body falls that far, even into water, get the message across? Would interviews with the famlies have enough impact to not require footage of the suicide to be shown? It could be that showing the people jump is the easy way out, or maybe it's simply the fastest way to get the point across. It's definitely a topic worthy of debate, especially since it has potential to effect the content and course of future documentary work.

The article mentions a man who survived his jump from the bridge and talks about his story and this film being used to support the idea of higher railings on the bridge. You could argue the other way round also -- if the railings were higher and the man couldn't jump maybe he would have found a more guaranteed method of killing himself. In that case, anti-suicide railings would have meant this man might NOT be alive today.

It would be an interesting panel discussion to say the least!
 
kjcdude said:
I'm looking forward to this film.

It looks like an amazing documentry.
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ditto!

There's a real fine line that the maker of this film is flirting with, between being exploitative & shedding light on a serious social problem.

I am VERY interested in where he goes with this film!
 
Just saw this yesterday, i must have been the only young person in there (im 22). the film focused a lot on the people who committed suicide off the GG bridge. The give light to the suicidal behavior they exhibited before they jumped, and instead of telling you about the mysticism of the bridge itself, they show it to you through much footage of the GG from many different angles. I lived near the GG bridge for years, and it still looks great. I think they were trying to hit a certain emotional cord with the audience, but i didn't feel it. Then again i've been getting de sensitized for years. In terms of being exploitative, i don't think it was. They showed some samaritans getting people from off the ledge, the cops came and helped too. And plus, you never know when a person is going to jump, and they show that in the film. A guy is on the phone, he gets off the phone and jumps off. And this all happens in less than 5 seconds... you'd think he was on a business call by his body language.

I think the structure of the film could have used some tuning up, but other than that, it wasn't crap...

jA
 
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