'The Bridge': Things to consider

•  Richard Waters, featured in the film as the photographer who helped pull a potential suicide from the ledge of the Golden Gate Bridge, said: ‘When I was behind the camera, it was almost like it wasn’t real ’cause I was looking through the lens.’  He added, ‘I had to break out of it to help her.’  What do you think he meant?  Have you ever noticed such an effect being behind a (film or still) camera, and if so, why does it occur?  And why should we be aware of this tendency as photographers or viewers – how might it influence our understanding of ‘reality’?

•  Roger Ebert writes in his review: ‘the grandeur of the bridge, as the iconographic setting for a final dramatic gesture, has an allure for some that's as strong as the currents in the waters below. The bridge “has a false romantic promise to it,” observes the friend of a man who jumped. “But so what if his story has that at the end? He's gone.”’  It is both taken for granted that the bridge is a ‘romantic’ place to end one’s life, and a mysterious fact, given that one will presumably be dying there (the woman continues in the film: ‘He doesn’t get to benefit from the romance’ of the bridge).  What does this say about how we conceive of our lives – lifespans, what makes a life, and so on?

•  Michael Phillips writes that The Bridge is ‘morally dubious’, and that ‘after a while you may feel you’re watching a particularly scenic snuff film.’  Ebert concedes some ‘element’ of this, but writes: ‘“The Bridge” is neither a well-intentioned humanitarian project, nor a voyeuristic snuff film. It succeeds because it is honest about exhibiting undeniable elements of both.’  What do you think?  Is it a ‘snuff film’ – i.e., a filming of deaths for the entertainment (at root, this is usually meant in a sexual sense) of viewers?  Even if you don’t think this, do you feel that the film is exploitative – either of those featured in the film, or of the viewer?  Do you think it is morally ok for the director to have set up cameras around the Golden Gate Bridge with the express purpose of observing suicides?

•  Is it ever ok to let someone commit suicide if you have the power to stop it?  If so, when and why?