Discussion The Bridge - A Documentary about the Golden Gate Bridge Suicides

[Your Own Ghost]

I found myself thinking of the bridge in my town and how one or two people used to jump from it every year. Then they put up fences, not to make life better but to trap people in. Then I remembered they're doing the same thing to the Golden Gate Bridge. There, they're spending over 200 million to build a barrier off the side of the bridge, and so if people still want to jump, they'll have to jump and get injured first and then jump again. It reminded me that this documentary exists and I want to share it with you.



[From IMDB] "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."

"Maybe he just wanted to fly one time."

 

[elizabeth.luck]

This documentary is so sad. I feel like a lot of the loved ones still don't really "get it".

 

[Frostypigeon]

My most recent attempt was last year in summer. The Golden Gate bridge is beautiful. They didn't have any netting up, but I chickened out came back home and got sent to a ward.

 

[Walilamdzi]

I watched that a while ago. Jumping seems terrifying, I think it's instinct to regret doing something involving free fall because it's kind of a strange sensation. So when I've listened to Golden Gate survivors saying they regret it, I wonder if it's mainly the terrifying nature of falling that they regret rather than their overall decision. I think two people CTB from a bridge around 40m high in my town, with water below. I thought that was too low from other posts I've read but apparently not?

 

[Your Own Ghost]

This documentary is so sad. I feel like a lot of the loved ones still don't really "get it".

I'm not sure if most people can "get it." We're our own meta-universes, seeing each other from afar. I think it's this view that has narrowed my suicide note down recently to just "I love you, Mom," and that's it.

But I appreciated how the documentary restrained from creating a voiceover with some kind of hackneyed overarching moral lesson. It just let things be, and as equally as people jumped from the bridge, so did their families and friends respond in their own ways. It's all a part of it.

And @Walilamdzi I love your profile pic.

 

[Walilamdzi]

@Your Own Ghost Thanks! It's a still from "Wristcutters: A Love Story", one of my fave movies.

 

[Tragoedia Vitae]

Yes, I watched that documentary a few years ago, and if I recall correctly, there was one part when a woman (a friend of Gene Sprague, one of the jumpers) said that she only wanted him to say goodbye before he went. I thought that was wonderfully decent of her. Too many people become upset and angry whenever someone wants to commit suicide---even though they aren't the one who has to die.

 

[LastFlowers]

Just watched this again. It's been a few years.
Some of the family and friends really rubbed me the wrong way. Especially the self-important female friend of the Gene guy, who was always sitting with the other male friend (I think they were married, not sure.)
I think the other woman, who was also friends with Gene, and just wanted her friend to say goodbye to her, seemed the most respectful of his decision.

I cringed when that little kid said that one jumper was acting like a guerilla.
I thought that was disrespectful to keep in the documentary.
God I hope no child witnesses me go over the edge.
It's bad enough when they open their mouths around me while I'm still existing. The brutal mouths of babes.
The sister of that same woman, seemed a little off too. She was almost excitable about the whole subject.

 

[Mljonzy]

I loved that older women which was gene's friend what a wonderful person she was.

 

[not_a_robot]

I just watched it a few weeks ago, I have a LOT of opinions on it. Overall pretty good. The saddest parts were the interviews with Gene's sister about how the family constantly minimized his suicidal feelings. And the parents of the veteran guy, I loved them so much, they really sympathized with their son but they couldn't help.
It was all sad but pretty well done. I felt so bad for the girl who got pulled up.

Just watched this again. It's been a few years.
Some of the family and friends really rubbed me the wrong way. Especially the self-important female friend of the Gene guy, who was always sitting with the other male friend (I think they were married, not sure.)
I think the other woman, who was also friends with Gene, and just wanted her friend to say goodbye to her, seemed the most respectful of his decision.

I cringed when that little kid said that one jumper was acting like a guerilla.
I thought that was disrespectful to keep in the documentary.
God I hope no child witnesses me go over the edge.
It's bad enough when they open their mouths around me while I'm still existing. The brutal mouths of babes.
The sister of that same woman, seemed a little off too. She was almost excitable about the whole subject.

It was Gene's sister and brother in law and aunt I'm pretty sure. I thought he was giving the camera a lot of side-eye like "Well... I married her. What can I say?" but maybe I misread him.

And the mom of the kid said he was lying.

 

[LastFlowers]

I loved that older women which was gene's friend what a wonderful person she was.

Sure was