| 'the bridge' - a documentary about golden gate bridge suicide jumpers. | |
 watch the full length movie
here. 1h34m
thanks to
youtube. |
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a synopsis from the independent film channel: Inspired by a New Yorker story, "Jumpers", written by Tad Friend, director Eric Steel decided to train cameras on the Golden Gate Bridge over the course of 2004 to capture the people who attempted to leap off the famed structure, the site of more suicides than anywhere else in the world. He also tracked down and interviewed the friends, family members, and eyewitnesses to further recreate the events leading up to the incident and to try to explain what led these people to want to kill themselves, especially at this specific site. The documentary's primary subjects all struggled with mental illness, including severe depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorders, and the documentary struggles to understand their illness while illuminating the anger and hurt of their loved ones. Most questions remain unanswered, turning on the darker recesses of the mind. The shots of the bridge wreathed in fog turn the Golden Gate into a metaphor for a bridge between life and death, sanity and mental disturbance, and extreme isolation and connection with society. Though the camera crew worked with a set of guidelines, including that they would call in someone they thought was going to jump, the documentary still includes lengthy footage of the moments leading up to and including the suicides, so discretion is advised for sensitive viewers. description from hulu.com: The Golden Gate Bridge is an iconic structure; a symbol of San Francisco, the West, freedom – and something more, something spiritual, something words cannot describe. The director and crew spent an entire year focusing on the Bridge. Running cameras for almost every daylight minute, they documented nearly two dozen suicides and a great many unrealized attempts. In addition, the director captured nearly 100 hours of incredibly frank, deeply personal, often heart-wrenching interviews with the families and friends of the departed, as well as with several of the attempters themselves. THE BRIDGE is a visual and visceral journey into one of life’s gravest taboos, offering glimpses into the darkest and possibly most impenetrable corners of the human mind. more: 'the bridge' movie website • 'internet movie database' • buy from 'amazon.com'
'the bridge' - director eric steel interview, part 1. 6 minutes.
'the bridge' - director eric steel interview, part 2. just under 6 minutes.
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08.24.08, Kate, A close family friend of mine committed suicide almost four
years ago now jumping off the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. This was a brilliant,
talented, beautiful person who lived in our home for a time, who was like a
member of our family, and who struggled for her entire life with crippling
depression. I have heard about this movie, and I don't think I'll be able to see
it; I have to drive over that bridge every few months, and I still am overcome
with grief and anxiety every time I cross it. But I applaud your critique of the
reviews. Because even though I probably won't see the movie, I think it's
thought-provoking and important. Even if the filmmaker's thesis is flawed, if he
is coming at it from a good place then it has some worth.
(comment lifted from
tomatonation.com, a worthy read about 'the bridge' movie.)
02.05.08, jess, what an amazing documentary last night... made my stomach cringe a few times... especially the last guy to go over... he didnt seem like he really WANTED to do it... he was up there for quite a while contemplating... you could even see him getting angry with himself a few times and stepping back... he couldnt even face toward the water when he finally did do it... then there was the old guy who was having so much trouble just getting over the rail, and he kinda just rolled over the edge... so sad... and the interview with the kid that survived.. WOW... could you imagine how many MORE suicides we would have off the skyway if they allowed you to walk across like they do the goldengate?! (comment lifted from myspace.) |
| the suicide barrier debate. | |
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suicide barrier plans. 1½ minutes. |
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10.10.08,
Golden Gate Bridge Gets Suicide Net Approval (psychcentral.com) After decades worth of engineering studies and heated debate, Golden Gate Bridge officials have voted to erect a suicide barrier on the bridge. The winning design is a stainless steel net that will be hung beneath the iconic bridge span. The net will not obstruct the existing views from the bridge. It works by catching any would-be individuals who are feeling suicidal that try to jump. The Golden Gate Transportation District’s board of directors voted 14-1 for the net option today. They considered several methods to stop people from jumping off the world-famous bridge, including fences. The board settled on the prevention net, which has an estimated cost between $40 to $50 million. The net still requires additional permits, including an environmental review, before installation will begin. It is estimated that it will still be another 2 to 3 years before the net is installed. Bridge official estimate that, on average, 20 people jump from the span every year. Thirty eight jumped last year and 19 have jumped so far this year. Once installed, it is expected that the net will prevent virtually all suicide attempts from the world-famous bridge. (thanks to bill for sending this.) now, try the whine: 10.10.08, Golden Gate Bridge To Get a Suicide Net, by John M. Grohol (psychcentral.com) The Bridge’s board of directors has been under increasing pressure in recent years to do something more to prevent the numerous suicides that take place on the iconic span. Thirty eight people plummeted to their death last year from the bridge. We’ve previously documented how a film was made capturing some of the suicides that take place on the Golden Gate Bridge. We expressed our frustration in July with the slow progress being made in erecting the barrier. We didn’t make any fans of some San Franciscans when we first blogged about this issue over two years ago in an entry entitled, What do San Franciscans Value? The View or Human Life?. With the use of the net, the hope is that the existing view can be maintained, while still saving lives. But it’s still got a ways to go. The district has no money to pay for the net (apparently no one thought to begin looking at ways to fund the barrier two years ago when it was first considered). It will likely be at least two more years before the barrier is in place, assuming funds are found, environmental permits are received, and engineering studies are completed. It’s taken two years and over 60 deaths to get to an approved suicide barrier plan for the bridge. Sadly, it’ll probably cost another 60 or so more human lives before the net actually is approved and constructed. (this barrier net has an "estimated cost between $40 to $50 million" and like most every other government construction job, will no doubt be much closer to $100 million in delays, cost over runs, and corruption. tag on many thousands a year in maintenance the net will demand. the net will stop many suicides from the bridge, but it will never stop everyone that wants to end their life by jumping from the golden gate bridge. a net may catch the jumpers, but they will finger out a way around a net. then there is the very likelihood that anyone caught in the net and injured in any way, will sue and win large sums of money for having created a structure that injures people that jump into it. anyone caught in the net will also need to be rescued from it. the rescuers will also likely get injured doing their job and that too will result in lawsuits and disability issues. sorry, john, but your cute little net will not save everyone. those that are stopped may well find another way to check themselves out. you will never stop suicide and you should stop worrying so much about it. people have the right to die by their own hand and you need to let them make up their own minds. your bridge has about 20 suicides a year. it would take 50 years of bridge jumpers to equal the suicide rate of one single day of cigarette smokers. in this country alone, one thousand people a day extinguish their lives through all fault of their own with cigarettes. perhaps you should order up a barrier around a pack of smokes.) mr. grohol replies: 10.12.08, John M. Grohol, @phil - Nobody’s looking to stop suicides completely as that’s an unreasonable goal. Just to make it less easy to do so for people who make the decision “in the moment,” as many bridge jumpers have been shown to do in research on this phenomenon. Fences and barriers of this nature simply work and the research proves it. As for gov’t corruption, I guess we shouldn’t do any program that enhances social good for that very same reason. Heck, let’s stop building roads too, since those are the biggest death traps in the U.S., killing 40,000+ Americans each and every year. There are many causes of preventable deaths in the U.S., including 100,000+ from medical mistakes in hospitals. But every neighborhood and community has to look at what makes sense for them. And for the Golden Gate Bridge, this is a no-brainer, easy way to prevent the vast majority of deaths each from the bridge. (we contend that it's not feasible to expend such a large sum for so few. there are many causes of preventable deaths in the u.s. and of course we should take all logical and concerted efforts to prevent them, but not so many millions for the so few that want to end their lives anyway, regardless if it's on impulse or not. the real no-brainer is to use the 'net' money for the greater good. you have an agenda and we applaud your effort, we just think it's misguided. here's an idea, use the 'net' money to buy nicotine gum for those that wish to quit smoking. the 'lives saved' return would be better then bridge jumpers saved. see, we too have an agenda and feel ours will save more for the dollar then yours will. you can reply if you wish, but we have made our points and will not bother you any more. good luck with your net.) more about suicide bridge nets and barriers: 01.30.09: efforts increase to deter bridge jumpers. 10.13.08: how does a bridge suicide net work? 10.11.08: a forum discussion. 10.11.08: latimes.com 07.29.08: steel net preferred for halting bridge jumpers. 2005: golden gate bridge barrier debate. parts: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 |
| stupidity. |
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03.10.11,
sfgate.com, 03.11.11, 20:25 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- A 17-year-old boy on a
field trip with his Sonoma County high school class leaped from the Golden Gate
Bridge on Thursday, but survived and was able to swim to shore with a surfer who
went out to rescue him, authorities said. The boy is a junior at Windsor High School whom officials did not identify because of his age. Some students said he might have leaped to impress his classmates, but for now the California Highway Patrol is investigating the matter as an attempted suicide, said CHP Officer Chris Rardin. The boy jumped at 11:15 a.m. from the east sidewalk near the south tower, the CHP said. He was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was expected to survive. Some witnesses said he broke his tailbone and damaged his lungs in the fall, but a Windsor Unified School District press release said he suffered no severe injuries beyond bruising and tenderness. Hospital officials said they cannot release specific information. Frederic Lecouturier, 55, said he was surfing under the bridge when he saw the boy drop into the waves. "I thought, 'Well, he's going to die,' and then it was a miracle when he popped up alive," said Lecouturier, of San Rafael. "I paddled out there, and he told me he jumped 'for kicks.' "That's when I lost it and told him what he did was wrong, that life is precious, and he should not take risks like that. I mean, he's a kid, he's got his whole life ahead of him." Lecouturier said the boy was about 5 feet tall, "built like a wrestler" and had a brown ponytail. "There was a stiff wind coming out of the south, and I think that broke his fall and helped save him," he said. Surviving the drop was remarkable considering the spot the student leaped from is more than 200 feet off the water - and 99 percent of the estimated 1,500-plus people who have jumped from the bridge since it opened in 1937 died from the fall. Seven people have jumped to their deaths from the bridge this year, officials estimate. Last year, the count was 32. Golden Gate Bridge District spokeswoman Mary Currie said the number of people attempting suicide off the span has grown from about 20 a year in the early 2000s to about 30 annually in the past few years. The district has plans to install safety nets on the bridge, but the final design is not complete and the installation is a couple of years away at best, Currie said. Rumors tore through the student body and the common thread was that it appeared the boy jumped of his own accord and that onlookers were upset by the experience. The boy recently transferred from another school, many said. "He did it to try to look cool," said one classmate, who did not want to be identified. "He said he'd jumped off bridges before." Another student who said he was on the scene tweeted that students tried to stop the boy before he leaped. Rardin said the boy jumped as he was walking on the bridge with about 45 other students on a school field trip. "I've heard a bunch of things about how this happened, but we haven't come to a conclusion yet," he said. "I do know he's very lucky to be alive." (there are several hundred comments following the story. being as the story originates in san fran, you get comments such as this: motocat3 says, "I know we all like to critique such acts of 17 year old boys. But remember, it is just these fearless types who fight for real change when it is needed -- 17 years olds are at the forefront of the fights against dictators in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya. So while we mostly see it as stupid, perhaps it is built in part of the human race to ensure change and growth despite all danger. Few men have anything over this boy when it comes to defiance and fearlessness". you just can't make this kind of crap up.) |
| input. |
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11.13.09, Dreamer, Las Vegas, NV., (12.1982, male, died, body never found), My
uncle jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge. Body was never recovered, but he DID
jump. It was late at night, December of 1982, I think. He was coming home from
playing cards. The Bridge was not on his way home....he made a detour. He car
was recovered from the north side of the bridge, in the parking lot. 09.08.08, tee, phili, pa., (09.02.08, 9pm, female), dahlia jumped off the golden gate bridge in san francisco, ca last tues nite sept 2, 2008...they have not found her body yet and had a memorial svc today. can anybody help me find info in any newspapers re: her jump? she was in her 30's and single. my heart has been broken. |
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