Sunday, September 27, 2009
Kelly Larkin
I would not begin to call "the Bridge" a 'snuff film.' It is not grotesque for entertainment purposes, it is not bloody and gory for the sake of being so, and it is not Hollywood-ized at all. That being said, however, I do think the film is disturbing, and I left class Tuesday feeling surprisingly and outrageously shaken up. All I could think about was why we were allowed to watch these people literally ending their lives - real footage of real suicide victims jumping off the bridge. I understand it may have been legal for the filmmakers to continually film the bridge and thus the suicide victims, but I don't get how the people behind the camera could zoom in so far and watch these people without doing anything about it, or at least turning the camera off for the split second that they jump. I understand that they might say that those people would have committed suicide with or without their cameras, and so turning them off or calling for help wouldn't've helped the situation, but I just have a hard time grasping the idea in the first place. The movie was definitely powerful, and I think even more powerful because there wasn't a blatant argument being made, and all the viewer saw was actual footage and testimony of victims and survivors and their families. It's just really hard to realize and grasp that we just watched death occuring, for real, people's lives ending, and someone had planned it out to catch it on film....
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I agree, Kelly -- I find it powerfully affecting. Is it possible to think more about why we're so disturbed in this particular way by filming these deaths? Obviously, most of us are disturbed generally by death, but, as you say, even if we trust that the film was made legally and even with good intentions, something about seeing it filmed like this is even more unnerving.
ReplyDeleteA related news story has arisen this weekend in Chicago -- the 'Tribune' is carrying a story entitled 'Video shows teen's fatal beating', with a link to a YouTube video of the event. The video itself and the publication of it is bound to spur passionate debate about various aspects of the story, including journalistic ones.
I agree with you Kelly on your post. Its so weird and hard to think that they just stayed there and filmed it all happening, without going to help the people in need. It was a very powerful movie, and very disturbing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of that. I did not understand why it was legal to video tape this. Suicide is taking a life. It may not be someone elses, but it is still a life. I just see it as someone getting a murder on tape. I found it really disturbing and I was kind of.. blank? after class on Tuesday. It hit my much harder at the end when they showed the list of names. These were real people. I just find it very troubling.
ReplyDeleteI watched the video for that Tribune story. The police are using it to help "identify" the killers. I think it was wrong to make this video public, but it did offer a shocking view into some of the areas of Chicago I make great pains to avoid. I can't imagine something like this taking place so close to my home, my city.
ReplyDeleteI have been struggling with whether I think "the Bridge" took it too far. After giving it some thought... I believe by filming these people without censoring it is making a statement on the recurring theme of inevitability and acceptance of suicide in the documentary. It was only after interviewing family members when I discovered there was little they could do to stop their loved ones. The audience is forced to come to this realization as well. If there is to be any dialogue on this topic at all I would rather it be sincere than skirted around what makes us uncomfortable. I don't think they treated the issue in a cheap manner and if you look at the reviews you will see the filmmakers alerted bridge patrol every time they suspected a potential jumper. They potentially saved six lives that year.
I too found this film difficult to watch at first. But the more I think and read about the film and the way it was made, I am beginning see it in a different way. The footage is a powerful message that doesn't seem to be replaceable in the film.
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