"The Bridge"

[Ringer]

It's been a few months now but I had one of my friends with whom I went to high school and college with commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. I now understand what many people say when they experience these types of situations. "I don't understand how or why he/she did it. They seemed like they were doing just fine."

My friend was one of those guys that was always cheery, always laughing, and constantly joking around. You can imagine my shock when I got a call from work telling me that he had committed suicide. The strange thing is, he left a note to his therapist tell her that it wasn't her fault, sent a text message to his wife, called 9-1-1 to tell them his intentions, and then jump. Apparently he had been seeing a therapist for a few months for reasons I don't know. He never took to pressure very well and I can tell he got flustered and upset pretty easily if he was in a situation he couldn't control.

After searching around various topics on suicide, I found a documentary called "The Bridge". The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is where more people then anywhere in the world go to commit suicide. Through a bit of manipulation, a camera crew was scanning the bridge for a full year and caught 23 of the 24 suicides. The intention of the documentary is to show things from the perspective of the family of those that made the jump, as well those that maybe considered and even the story of botched attempt.

I have yet to see it because I don't think it's widely available in most retail stores or the local Blockbuster. It looks like a powerful movie and wonder if anybody has seen it and would like to give their opinion on it. I can't keep thinking of what must have been going through my friend's head and how he could have done it with such a calculated itinerary. It's a bit eerie to think about and watching the trailer gives me the same feeling. I'll provide the link for the official site.

THE BRIDGE ::: The Movie

 

[Ringer]

Not one person has the seen the movie or does nobody check the Movie section anymore?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I saw it at the Hot Docs festival the year it came out. Very powerful.

It was done very well - he approached the subject matter with sensitivity, rather than with a more gratuitous approach that I suppose could've been taken with this subject matter.

But you know, I think I've seen it at my local Blockbuster. It's got a tiny rack of film festival award winners and I'm pretty sure it was in there. Don't know if you'll have similar luck.

BTW, in case you're curious: they had an audience Q & A session with the filmmaker after the screening. One of the questions was whether he tried to do anything to stop the people from jumping.

He said that the location he filmed from was 5 or 10 miles (can't remember the exact number) away from the bridge by road, but he had the phone number for the patrol station at the end of the bridge on speed dial in his cell phone, and any time he saw someone who looked like they might be getting ready to jump, he'd call them and report it.

Unfortunately, he could typically only spot a jumper right before they jumped, which didn't usually leave enough time for them to get from the end of the bridge to the middle.

 

[Weddy]

It's been a few months now but I had one of my friends with whom I went to high school and college with commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. I now understand what many people say when they experience these types of situations. "I don't understand how or why he/she did it. They seemed like they were doing just fine."

My friend was one of those guys that was always cheery, always laughing, and constantly joking around. You can imagine my shock when I got a call from work telling me that he had committed suicide. The strange thing is, he left a note to his therapist tell her that it wasn't her fault, sent a text message to his wife, called 9-1-1 to tell them his intentions, and then jump. Apparently he had been seeing a therapist for a few months for reasons I don't know. He never took to pressure very well and I can tell he got flustered and upset pretty easily if he was in a situation he couldn't control.

After searching around various topics on suicide, I found a documentary called "The Bridge". The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is where more people then anywhere in the world go to commit suicide. Through a bit of manipulation, a camera crew was scanning the bridge for a full year and caught 23 of the 24 suicides. The intention of the documentary is to show things from the perspective of the family of those that made the jump, as well those that maybe considered and even the story of botched attempt.

I have yet to see it because I don't think it's widely available in most retail stores or the local Blockbuster. It looks like a powerful movie and wonder if anybody has seen it and would like to give their opinion on it. I can't keep thinking of what must have been going through my friend's head and how he could have done it with such a calculated itinerary. It's a bit eerie to think about and watching the trailer gives me the same feeling. I'll provide the link for the official site.

THE BRIDGE ::: The Movie

My cousin was the same way. He was always laughing and joking when he was around me, but I found out that other people saw a depressed side of him. He shot himself in the building behind his house right before Thanksgiving a few years ago. He left a note, and called 911 before he did it. His wife and kids were in the house about 20-30 feet away. I was so mad at him that I didn't even go through a grieving period. It's a very selfish thing to do, and I guess we'll never know what really goes through their minds when they do that.

I have gotten over a lot of my anger through prayer. I don't think I could watch that movie though. If it shows the families in it, then maybe it would be good for people thinking of suicide to watch.

 

[Nanda]

I haven't seen this film yet, but it's in my Netflix queue.