The Bridge Documentary

Suicide and the Golden Gate on Film

The Golden Gate Bridge is the top suicide destination in the world. I made the documentary The Bridge in 2004, by putting cameras on the bridge capturing two dozen suicides and many attempts. By looking at one of society's gravest taboos, I hoped to shine light on the darkest moments in a person's life. In 2001, I saw people make the choice to jump from the World Trade Centre towers rather than perish in the flames. I had seen people leap to their death, but one can't ever prepare to see the end of a human life. The film asks why the Golden Gate Bridge is the top suicide destination in the world because of its beauty, it's easy-to-climb-over 4ft rail, its lack of safeguards, it's high foot traffic, and its guaranteed death.

We see our lives as a narrative and there is no more powerful metaphor than stepping over the ledge, looking into the abyss and having someone reach out and embrace you, pull you back. In almost every act of suicide there's always a voice that says, "I don't want to go." There's always conflict. Some may argue that control over one's death is the ultimate freedom. To jump from the bridge, one has to make the walk to the bridge's middle, in broad daylight, and in front of people. Those footsteps must have been the darkest of a human life, but because it occurred in public, the act was meant to be seen and understood.

Suicide is something we choose not to see despite its staggering numbers. There are some people working in suicide prevention who felt this film should not have been made lest it infect people with a desire to end their lives. But the majority of suicides are not copycat suicides, and none of the people we spoke with were doing it for this reason - mental or psychological illnesses compelled them. People who watch the film see that the jumpers did not surface, convincing some to choose life.

When the bridge suicide toll had reached almost 1,000, radio stations held contests to see who would be #1,000. If word got out I was filming, people who weren't thinking clearly, or who were seeking attention in all the wrong ways, would see The Bridge as their opportunity to be immortalized on film. The bridge and park officials, the coast guard, the highway patrol, the National Guard - almost every agency that had any connection to the bridge - were very aware of what we were seeing because we were the first people to call when someone jumped. We called before if we saw someone acting suspiciously and let officials see our footage.

I had a crew of 10 and I told them that the minute we saw someone make a move and step over the railing, we'd call for help; getting the shot was secondary. Because there were always two people working, we had a buddy system. A suicide prevention team spoke to us as well. Though those who jumped were initially strangers, we came to learn about their families and histories - they became real. It helped to know what we were doing might save others.

I was not going to exploit the footage we had or the generosity of the families that opened their doors to us, but I wanted to tell families I had footage of their loved once only once we completed the filming and interviews. When the Bridge District sent my request for participation to the San Francisco Chronicle many families were stunned, but those who saw it prior to the San Francisco Film Festival, realized we intended to spare other families their pain.

Suicide is about the line between manageable and unmanageable despair. It's not whether the "choice" was right or wrong. The people we saw didn't seem to be making a choice - their lives were hurtling toward this moment. There's no suicide barrier on the bridge because the District believes people who are ending their lives don't deserve to be saved. Pedestrians walking on the bridge deserve to be protected from traffic, though there has never been a pedestrian-vehicular casualty. The Bridge District also invested in a movable median divider, though there has never been a head-on collision.

The stories of the people who jumped end at the moment of impact, but the ripple goes on forever in the lives they leave behind. People resist what they're afraid of, but once they do, things change. In San Francisco, the fight for a suicide barrier is stronger now stronger and suicide prevention might have another ally in the fight.