The Bridge
Monday, June 18, 2007
A scene from Eric Steel's "The Bridge." Copyright Rich Waters, courtesy of First Stripe Productions. via: indieWIRE
"One of the most moving and brutally honest films about suicide ever made... remarkably free of religious cant and of cozy New Age bromides. Eerie and indelible." Stephen Holden, New York Times
"a haunting work of unquestionable power, full of moments that are bound to linger in the memory, whether we want them to or not."****Financial Times
THE BRIDGE
THE BRIDGE offers glimpses into the darkest, and possibly most impenetrable corners of the human mind. The fates of the 24 people who died at the Golden Gate Bridge in 2004 are linked together by a 4 second fall, but their lives had been moving on parallel tracks and similar arcs all along.
Looming behind these stories is the Golden Gate Bridge itself, a monument that mirrors our highest aspirations and our lowest natures. We are uncomfortable with the grim realities suicide forces us to confront. We'd rather not see the mentally ill; we'd prefer suicides to be invisible -- or at least to take place quietly in hotel bathrooms, barns, dorm rooms and closets.
Available this week on DVD. link
2 comments:
*sigh*
now i'm sad
Dr. Richard Seiden, a professor emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Public Health and the leading researcher on suicide at the bridge, has written that studies reveal “a commonly held attitude that romanticizes suicide from the Golden Gate Bridge in such terms as aesthetically pleasing and beautiful, while regarding a Bay Bridge suicide as tacky.”"
It is too bad that Dr. Seiden spent so much time in the class room and so little time in the practical realities of life.
People jump from the Golden Gate not because of romance - but because of desperation. They choose the Golden Gate Bridge not because it is less tacky but because it has easy access and pedestrian walkways.
No other Bridge in the Bay Area has pedestrian walkways. No access no deaths.
The Directorate of the Golden Gate has managed to keep the public in the dark for over 70 years ! Only now because of the internet can the story get out -
Not only that but the GG Bridge is bankrupt - the real reason that nothing is being done to end the deaths.
People open your eyes - and do just a little research before you opine as to the deaths at the Golden Gate Bridge which by the way have now climbed to one a week - yes one a week and over 2,000 to date that we know of...the research and studies are unanimous - if a person is prevented from suicide 98% yes 98% never try again.
I wish the Doctor and the rest of those that spend their time talking about death on the Bridge would do less talking and more action.
While they are talking and philosophizing one person leaps off the Bridge every week.
I am a native of San Francisco and I am horrified at the inability of citizens to understand that this one mile stretch of road is killing one person and devastating their families forever while people like the good doctor write about romance others advance their sophomoric take on death at the Golden Gate.
Open your eyes and look - this is a real tragedy and if you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.
Just imagine the uproar if someone were to throw a poodle off the Golden Gate once a week ...
RAISE THE RAILS END THE DEATHS
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