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The Bridge

Inspired by a New Yorker story, “Jumpers,” written by Tad Friend, director Eric Steel decided to train cameras on the Golden Gate Bridge over the course of 2004 to capture the people who attempted to leap off the famed structure, the site of more suicides than anywhere else in the world. He also tracked down and interviewed the friends, family members, and eyewitnesses to further recreate the events leading up to the incident and to try to explain what led these people to want to kill themselves, especially at this specific site. The documentary’s primary subjects all struggled with mental illness, including severe depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorders, and the documentary struggles to understand their illness while illuminating the anger and hurt of their loved ones.

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  1. this doco is a must for anybody who cares about the human state.such empathy to combat the harrowing subject, a truely inspired film.

  2. Woah this weblog is wonderful i like reading your articles. Stay up the great work! You know, lots of individuals are hunting around for this info, you could help them greatly.

  3. This an extraordinary piece of film making. It is deeply moving, often shocking but always intimate and honest. It moved me to my core and caused me to think about suicide in a whole new way. I cried watching it but I didn’t switch it off. If more people didn’t turn off maybe we really could turn the tide of suicide.

  4. I found this to be a very moving documentary. There is something that you feel when watching that I can’t quite describe and so you will have to watch it yourself. It is very emotional at times, for me, one of the most powerful moments is right at the end with Gene.

  5. I love documentaries and watch them all the time. I also can never be bothered to comment on anything, but I simply had to this time because this has got to be one of the greatest documentaries I have ever seen. Its a subject that we could be forgiven for avoiding for fear of depression, but strangely it didnt have that effect on me. Its shocking, heart wrenching and sad because you fear for these people, but there is something else you feel too.

    Definitely watch this, it is excellent.

  6. Strange to say, but I found this documentary beautiful and I don’t know why.

  7.  Both painful and enlightening to watch. 

  8. It says only available in China!! wtf??

  9. The clip has been broken in my region? I live in USA. Why?

  10. Don’t let the subject put you off as it almost did with me, because this movie handles the subject of suicide with incredible taste & tact. The filmmakers never make you feel like a voyeur & that is quite a feat given the focus of the film.
    It is shocking to see actual footage of “the act” but it is never gratuitous & you don’t feel like you are violating any “code” watching it. I never felt squemish.
    What follows & surrounds the shocks are the interviews & stories of people who either saw the jumps or knew the people who plunged to their deaths. Plus there is 1 big surprise in the movie which I won’t give a way here.
    I saw this doc twice on consecutive nights. The last time I did that with any film was “Apollo 13”