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The Bridge

Written by Nobuhiro Hosoki

 

On a bright sunny day in San Francisco bay, the seagulls are lined up, flying through a clear sky. They pass under the glowing horizon framed by the behemoth Golden Gate Bridge, teeming with tourists who see the span as a towering landmark. Yet this bridge has a different and grim persona, one anchored in the foggy mists of the human mind and the icy coldness of harsh reality. It has been a jumping-off point for many suicide leaps over the years.

For director Eric Steel, the filming of "Bridge" was conceived after reading "Jumper," Tad Friend's New Yorker article.  On the surface, it seems as if Steel has been drawn into a rather perverse challenge that evokes a raw emotional response, but he is simply seeking the answer to the question of what drives people over the rail to a self-inflicted death.

In the year 2004, Steel set up two fixed cameras on the bridge to capture every daylight hour, which included haunting images of some last leaps. One of them, equipped with a  telephoto lens, showed from a distance a man who was standing alone by the guardrail.  The shots provide enough detail to show facial features, and also clearly as well as tell-tale signs of discarding a backpack or tossing a wallet.  A second, wide-angle lens takes in the majestic, mile-long bridge with a constant stream of people passing by.

The haunting images of Steel's bridge shots are combined with a series of interviews of surviving family members and friends who slowly reveal the psychological demons that plagued their loved one. Some of the suicides were paranoiad schizophrenics who suffered from bipolar disorder, a state of perpetual walking on eggshells.  Throughout the film, Steel dispenses with any narrative explanation by any experts on psychology, taking a stance of a neutral observer, an objective approach that affects the viewer.

As we all know, that fatal leap is taken into icy water, which just as may well be solid concrete based on its impact.  Some might accuse Steel of creating a snuff film, but it's a brutally honest presentation. Yes, seeing someone jump into a watery grave 220 feet down is a disturbing and distressing image, but there is a transcendent eloquence in hearing the voice of those who lived much of their lives in agony. One survivor described his fragile state in a note using these words:  "I just want to be normal again, but I never will."

Steel's quest reveals more than just morbid curiosity. His film opens with a view of the construction of a suicide barrier, but what we obviously need is a construction for the human soul.

Produced and directed by Eric Steel
Inspired by “Jumpers,” an article in The New Yorker by Tad Friend
Director of photography:Peter McCandless
Edited by Sabine Krayenbuhl
Music by Alex Heffes
Released by First Stripe Productions, the Independent Film Channel
,and Easy There Tiger Productions.
Running time: 93 minutes.