The Bridge (2006 documentary film)

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 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 "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. 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. Suicide deterrent barriers have since been installed on the bridge. Construction of these barriers began in 2018. ==Production and filming==

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 throughout 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. , 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, like a cat. He suffered serious injuries to his spine, but a sea lion helped push him up out of the water to avoid drowning. He later attributed the sea lion'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, [and are] glad 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." ==Controversies==

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, 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." In 2015, the New Zealand Film and Video Labeling Body requested Netflix 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 and reception==

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, 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, 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 bromides", calling it "one of the most moving and brutally honest films about suicide ever made." Josh Rosenblatt of The Austin Chronicle 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 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." Andrew Pulver of The Guardian gave it one out of five stars, saying it "could be the most morally loathsome film ever made." ==See also==