The Bridge (2006)
Average Rating: 6.3/10
Reviews Counted: 56
Fresh: 37 | Rotten: 19
Tactlessly morbid or remarkably sensitive? Deeply disturbing or viscerally fascinating? Critics are divided on Eric Steele's unique documentary on the Golden Gate Bridge, wonder of the modern world and notorious suicide destination.
Average Rating: 7.1/10
Critic Reviews: 16
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 2
Tactlessly morbid or remarkably sensitive? Deeply disturbing or viscerally fascinating? Critics are divided on Eric Steele's unique documentary on the Golden Gate Bridge, wonder of the modern world and notorious suicide destination.
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Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 7,574
My Rating
Movie Info
The Golden Gate Bridge Is An Iconic Structure; A Symbol Of San Francisco, The West, Freedom - And Something More, Something Spiritual, Something Words Cannot Describe.
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Cast
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Kevin Hines
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Patrick Hines
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Rachel Marker
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Tara Harrell
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Carolyn Presley
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Wally Manikow
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Mary Manikow
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Matt Rossi
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Jenn Rossi
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Rich Waters
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Ginny Matthews
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Shelley Albar
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Eric Geleynse
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Chris Brown
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Susan Ginwalla
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Lyle Smith
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Dave Williams
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Christina Koelling
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The Figueroa Family
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Steve Meronek
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Keith Glenn
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Hezekiah Leroy Gordon "St...
Interviewee
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The Bridge Trailer & Photos
All Critics (58) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (40) | Rotten (19) | DVD (9)
Tales are dramatic; the interviewees poignant, and the images -- often following bodies all the way down to the water -- are startling and discomfiting.
Top CriticThe Bridge avoids reducing its subjects to types, and if the portraits painted are often recognizable -- the person who talks so much about suicide that those around him fail to take him seriously -- they are not repetitive.
The whole thing invokes the bodies falling from that other architectural icon on 9/11 - but it's not clear what is achieved beyond disturbance.
By his use of interviews of friends and family of jumpers, Steel reminds us that no matter how alone some of these people felt, they weren't without people who loved them. It is a tender, powerful work.
Though well-meaning, hauntingly scored and artfully photographed, this strange documentary marks the bridge as a mecca for self-inflicted death, while making us helpless observers of such horrific acts.
It may be the first poetic snuff film.
None of the insights justifies the queasiness of the project
You will never look fondly at the Golden Gate Bridge again after seeing this disturbing documentary by a filmmaker ignorant of the volatile narrative water that he dishonors.
An eerie, haunting immersion in the near-incomprehensibility, darkness and grief rippling around suicide. With a fascinating making-of featurette.
Little more than a snuff film clumsily dressed up as an art house flick.
Two dozen souls, linked by suicide as a seductive, and very visible alternative to unrelenting torment and suffering.
There are harrowing moments: who could not be moved by a parent talking about a son's suicide? But you do not leave the cinema with a better understanding of suicide.
While these interviews are affecting, and the movie talks about suicide in a refreshingly straightforward manner, it's the images of these actual deaths that induce horrified gasps.
It's 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.
This will get flack for being a "snuff" film - but the real tragedy is how suicide is often hidden away. This film brings it out in the open.
This could be the most morally loathsome film ever made.
The filmmakers' methods are questionable, but the power of the resulting documentary and the importance of the issues it raises are not.
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It must have been a tremendously difficult decision, but Steel decided to build a project around suicide and use the actual footage. He and his team tracked down the family members of some of those who jumped and gently and compassionately interviewed them, hearing the terrible stories of how their family members' lives fell apart. Most jumpers had issues with mental illness; that is the overriding theme. But not all of them.
As an artist, you can't get more meaningful material than this. This project pierces to the heart of the human experience.
Unfortunately though, "The Bridge" isn't a great work of art. It's very good, but something's missing. After about an hour of hearing the stories of broken lives, I didn't feel that I was growing substantially from the experience. I commend Steel for his bravery and compassion. I'm just not sure if he found his way to lessons that were meaningful enough to build a film around.
If you can handle looking into the face of complete despair, "The Bridge" is recommended. In some ways, I felt it was a way of honoring those who suffered so much. But it's also interesting to think about how this subject matter could have been treated in some better ways.