A film maker aimed some cameras at the Golden Gate bridge in SF for one year and caught 23 suicides and some attempts. It's being released as a documentary to limited screens next week. I seen clips last night on 20/20 and it was terribly sad could not imagine if that was a family member or a friend. What I want to know from any bay area folks Is that an accurate # per year? I lived in Vallejo when I was a preteen and dont remember hearing of one jumper. Will anyone go see this? There is also a jumper that survived on the film. So sad that such a pretty place has such a bad history.

I want to see the film, especially knowing someone who jumped a few years back...

No idea what the stats are but I think it's so "common" the news doesn't even report on it. Maybe the papers do a blurb but I rarely hear anything about jumpers. I certainly didn't hear/read anything publicly about my friend who jumped

Trippy, difficult film but I'm curious...




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[Edited 10/21/06 11:31am]

It was just on the news...a man who was bugee jumping fell to his death...many people were watching.

That TV show "20/20" had a story on about this last night. There was one guy on the show who jumped off the Golden Gate bridge, and SURVIVED.

CalhounSq said:

You had a friend who committed suicide? Sorry to hear about that.

psychodelicide said:

Thanks

Yea, the dude who survived is so damn lucky since he changed his mind as soon as he jumped I can't believe some airhead tourist didn't even notice the dude crying, so consumed w/ her photo moment I wonder if she's ever seen his story & remembered the incident. But if she didn't notice the tears I guess she wouldn't be able to recognize his face

You're welcome. You're right, you would think the tourist who asked that guy to take her picture would notice that he was crying.

I do not see the value of seeing people plunge to death for entertainment reasons. Even documentaries.

There is so much gruesome material out there already, I do not see the need to add to death, no matter what way it was presented.

It is why I do not watch the news; I do not need to see (fi) the WT towers be hit again and again, or the second plane fly in, or the people jumping.

Everytime I see footage like that my soul is cut in ways too deep to mention. If I ever get children, my television is out of the door.

IrresistibleB1tch said:

HamsterHuey said:

I can't believe that a lot of people tried it last year. Crazy.

I have seen the trailer for the film. I definately have to go see it.


M

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[Edited 10/21/06 21:54pm]

I thought the news were not allowed to report suicides (I think they can with murder/suicide) not because it was not newsworthy, but because it would be adding a certain element of celebrity, which may or may not encourage more folks to jump.

ZombieKitten said:

I'm pretty positive that suicides are not reported in the media. You only see it on the news if it's a celeb.

HamsterHuey said:

I am sick of the 9/11 footage too. Like there is someone out there that would be like "Uh, what happened on 9/11 again?" My 5 year old knows about it for gods sake. I am not sure though if this film shows the actual hitting the water. So hopefully not gruesome but very sad. It makes you wonder if a passerby would of smiled or wished them a good day could things have been changed as they walked across that bridge. The film shows a complete stranger
that actually pulled a woman back that tried to jump.

Depends how it's presented. It might be a darkly beautiful and powerful work of art if these suicides are shown in slow motion, soundtracked to Tsikovsky and without any American-accented alphamale voiceover telling us the blatantly obvious.

irrisistableB said:

They dont have to show them hitting the water. The gruesome part is the jumping off and what it is that's going through their mind just before they jump. Imo. Not the hitting the water. I wouldn't watch people killing themselves.

I've no desire to watch a film like this. The news doesn't report it, but I bet it's because they don't want to encourage it or make bad PR as 23 in one year would definitely do!

But I listened to a story on NPR about a guy who fetched bodies from Niagra falls. Apparently that's a popular place to do it, too.

I also read recently that folks who have survived the jump remember immediately regretting the decision to jump, the moment they did it.

Number23 said:

Weirdly that's how I imagined it. Except to Rachmaninoff.
[Edited 10/22/06 12:23pm]

Spookymuffin said:

Yes, his giddy harmonics do feel like boldly throwing yourself into the empty hands of nothingless.

CalhounSq said:

i understand how ya feel

NDRU said:

oh that is so sad

I wouldn't be able to watch this.

The images of the people who jumped out of the WTC on 9/11 were bad enough to make my eyes tear up and form a knot in my chest.

irrisistableB said:

That sounds about right. I know about 13 years ago some idiot on a local radio station was counting down to the 1,000th suicide from the Golden Gate Bridge.

Jumping off of the Golden Gate Bridge is viewed by many as a very "romantic" way to commit suicide. If I am not mistaken, I think that the Golden Gate Bridge has the most suicide attempts than any other place in the United States.

It is about 500 feet from the part of the bridge where people jump to the water. They say it is like hitting concrete. Then on top of that the water is on 55 degrees with a stong current. Very difficult to survive.

I personally will not be watching this film. I love going to the Golden Ggate Bridge and walking across. I would not want to ruin it with those type of immages.

Sowhat said:

That is correct.

ZombieKitten said:

it is horrible isn't it? It's something I always suspected, though. It's got to be very rare that suicide is actually the best solution.