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''The Bridge'' is a 2006
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
-
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
by
Eric Steel Eric Steel is an American filmmaker and producer, best known for his controversial 2006 documentary '' The Bridge''. Career ''The Bridge'' Steel's directorial debut was the 2006 documentary '' The Bridge''. After reading about efforts to place ...
spanning one year of filming at the
Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...
which crosses the
Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by t ...
entrance to
San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...
, connecting the city of
San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
to the
Marin Headlands The Marin Headlands is a hilly peninsula at the southernmost end of Marin County, California, United States, located just north of San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge, which connects the two counties and peninsulas. The entire area is pa ...
of Marin County, in 2004. The film shows a number of
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
s, and features interviews with family and friends of some of the identified people who had thrown themselves from the bridge that year and one person who had jumped previously and survived. The film was inspired by a 2003 article titled "Jumpers", written by
Tad Friend Theodore Porter "Tad" Friend (born September 25, 1962) is a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' who writes the magazine's "Letter from California". Life Born in Buffalo, New York, Friend was raised there and in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, where ...
for ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' magazine. The film crew shot almost 10,000 hours of footage, recording 23 of the known 24 suicides off the bridge in 2004.


Background

The Golden Gate Bridge, which first opened in May 1937, was the most popular suicide site in the world during the documentary's filming, with approximately 1,200 deaths by 2003. Its death toll has since been surpassed only by the
Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge (), previously called the First Nanjing Yangtze Bridge, is a double-decked road-rail truss bridge across the Yangtze River in Nanjing, Jiangsu, connecting the city's Pukou and Gulou districts. Its upper deck i ...
in China. The four-second fall from the Golden Gate Bridge sends a person plunging at to hit the waters of the
San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...
"with the force of a speeding truck meeting a concrete building." Jumping off the bridge holds a 98 percent fatality rate; some die instantly from internal injuries, while others drown or die of
hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe ...
. In his article for ''The New Yorker'', Tad Friend wrote, "Survivors often regret their decision in midair, if not before", supported by survivor Ken Baldwin explaining, "I instantly realized that everything in my life that I'd thought was unfixable was totally fixable—except for having just jumped." In the 1970s, the city's newspapers sparked "countdowns" as the death toll closed in on 500 recorded fatalities. Television crews covered the scene as bridge officials managed to stop 14 prospective jumpers, among them a man with a sign reading "500" pinned to his T-shirt. The media frenzy was even more intense in 1995 as the total drew close to 1,000. The body of the 1,000th victim, a 25-year-old who was seen jumping, remains unrecovered. Steel said he was shocked that, despite the Golden Gate Bridge's notoriety and history, nothing had been done to prevent people from attempting suicide there. "Most bridges where, or high places, if it's high enough that it would be a fatal fall, have put up suicide barriers precisely for this reason."


Production and film

Steel steered clear of publicity about the project to avoid a situation where someone would "get it into his or her head to go to the bridge and immortalize him or herself on film." The camera crew consisted of 10 to 12 people who filmed the bridge day and night in 2004, using telephoto and wide-angle cameras. In the first few months of filming, the crew captured only splashes in the water and only knew someone had jumped when the Coast Guard arrived. The first jumper caught with the telephoto lens was not behaving as filmmakers expected—crying and weeping—but, rather, was jogging, talking on his cellphone and laughing; he then suddenly put his things away and leaped to his death. During filming, on average, one person jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge every 15 days. The film also shows many people being saved from jumping. In one case a woman traversed the upper railing to the lower railing only to be pulled by her collar back to safety by an unrelated photographer. Filmmakers tried in each case to intercede when they could, succeeding in preventing six jumps. The crew members were trained in suicide prevention prior to filming, and had their phones programmed to call the bridge authority if they suspected someone was about to jump. "All of us came to the same conclusion that we were human beings first and filmmakers second", Steel said. However, in most cases there was either no warning or no time to prevent the jump. The documentary also features an interview with
Kevin Hines John Kevin Hines (born August 30, 1981) is an American suicide prevention speaker who attempted suicide by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California. His story gained major media coverage and he has since become a motivatio ...
, who survived his suicide attempt at the bridge in 2000. As he fell toward the water, he decided that he wanted to live after all and positioned himself so he hit the water feet first. He suffered serious injuries to his spine, but his life was saved by a black seal swimming below him. He later attributed the seal's presence as a sign from God. Steel interviewed relatives and friends of the suicide victims, but did not inform them that he had footage of their loved ones' deaths. He claimed that, "All the family members now, at this point, have seen the film, nd areglad that they had participated in it." He filmed 120 hours of interviews. Jumper Gene Sprague's life is shown throughout the film, ending with his jump into the water, shown as the last jump of the film from two opposite points. While the film crew was filming on May 11, 2004, Sprague appeared at the Golden Gate Bridge and walked back and forth over the bridge for 93 minutes. Eventually, he climbed the railing, sat for a few seconds, then stood with his back to the water and fell motionless into the water below. According to Steel, Sprague "walked across the bridge from the south to the north side and then from north to south, which are typically tourists. I did not think he would jump, but it must have been something about him that caught my attention."


Controversy

The documentary caused significant controversy when bridge officials charged Steel with misleading them about his intentions. In his permit application to the
Golden Gate National Recreation Area The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is a U.S. National Recreation Area protecting of ecologically and historically significant landscapes surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. Much of the park is land formerly used by the United ...
, a government agency that does not have any jurisdiction over the bridge but that does manage nearby park areas, Steel wrote he intended "to capture the powerful, spectacular intersection of monument and nature that takes place every day at the Golden Gate Bridge." Steel says he lied on his permit application because he believed he would be instantly rejected if the true scope of his project was known. He also wanted to keep the nature of the project secret in order to prevent anyone from jumping to have their deaths recorded in the documentary: "To me, the worst-case scenario was if word got out that we were filming around the clock." Celia Kupersmith, CEO and general manager of the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District, said there was an increase in suicide attempts at the bridge when the documentary began appearing at film festivals and attracting publicity. District spokeswoman Mary Currie called the film an "invasion of privacy." Kyle Gamboa, a high school student from
Fair Oaks, California Fair Oaks is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento, California, Sacramento–Arden-Arcade, California, Arden-Arcade–Roseville, Calif ...
, skipped school in September 2013 to jump off the bridge, yelling "Yahoo!" as he leaped to his death. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported he had watched the trailer for ''The Bridge'' repeatedly. His suicide note read, "I'm happy. I thought this was a good place to end." In 2015, the New Zealand Film and Video Labeling Body requested
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
to remove the documentary from its streaming service for being classified as "objectionable". Netflix complied with their request and removed the documentary from their library. New Zealand has the highest rate of youth suicides in the OECD.


Release

''The Bridge'' was a box office success; from an estimated budget of $25,000, the film grossed $179,780 domestically and $25,944 overseas for a worldwide total of $205,724.


Critical reception

The film received a 68% rating from 59 reviews on
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, where the critical consensus states: "Tactlessly morbid or remarkably sensitive? Deeply disturbing or viscerally fascinating? Critics are divided on Eric Steel's unique documentary on the Golden Gate Bridge, wonder of the modern world and notorious suicide destination." On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a 58/100 rating, signifying "mixed or average reviews". Critic Stephen Holden of ''The New York Times'' said the film "juxtaposes transcendent beauty and personal tragedy." He praised its simple documentary approach, noting it was "remarkably free of religious cant and of cozy
New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...
bromides", calling it "one of the most moving and brutally honest films about suicide ever made." Josh Rosenblatt of ''
The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...
'' gave the film three out of five stars and wrote: "The results are striking: an emotional and aesthetic whirlpool of horror, fascination, beauty, and resignation that would probably drown lesser movies but that gives 'The Bridge' an eerie power." Other critics condemned the film for its subject matter. ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' called it "gripping viewing but you feel like a voyeur of somebody else's pain. After a while you may feel that you're watching a particularly scenic
snuff film A snuff film, or snuff movie, or snuff video, is a type of film that shows, or purports to show, scenes of actual homicide. The concept of snuff films became known to the general public during the 1970s, when an urban legend alleged that a cland ...
." Andrew Pulver of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' gave it one out of five stars, saying it "could be the most morally loathsome film ever made."


See also

*
Suicides at the Golden Gate Bridge Between 1937 and 2012, an estimated 1,400 bodies were recovered of people who had jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge, located in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States. In 2013, 118 potential jumpers were talked down from their attemp ...
*
Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...
*
List of suicide sites The following is a list of current and historic sites frequently chosen to attempt suicide, usually by jumping. Some of the sites listed have installed suicide barriers, signs advising potential suicides to take other actions, and other prec ...
*
Jumper Jumper or Jumpers may refer to: Clothing *Jumper (sweater), a long-sleeve article of clothing; also called a top, pullover, or sweater **A waist-length top garment of dense wool, part of the Royal Navy uniform and the uniform of the United State ...


References


External links

* * * * *
Unofficial list of jumpers 1937 - 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bridge, The 2006 films 2006 documentary films 2006 controversies 2007 controversies 2006 controversies in the United States 2007 controversies in the United States British documentary films American documentary films 2000s English-language films Documentary films about San Francisco Documentary films about suicide Filmed suicides Filmed deaths from falls Filmed deaths in the United States Film controversies Film controversies in the United States Film controversies in the United Kingdom Film controversies in New Zealand Obscenity controversies in film Political controversies in film Golden Gate Bridge Suicides by jumping in California Films about bridges Films scored by Alex Heffes 2000s American films 2000s British films