Misanthropy Today Movie Review: The Bridge
This film opens with a guy climbing over the rail and jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge.
My Mom suggested I rent this movie because she knows I like to watch documentaries. Even though most documentaries are lousy, since i’m having a Netflix renaissance it’s easy to get my hands on the really marginal ones and sometimes I just like to learn about things and see other people’s lives without actually having to meet new people. Also, you’d be amazed at how healthy you can stay during the winter months if you limit your group of friends to a mere 3 or 4.
So I rent The Bridge.
Here’s the trailer:
Not that you want to see it, but apparently they were low on budget and hired a cameraman with multiple sclerosis because you miss quite a bit of the fall with all the shaking and poor panning (not sure if its actually called ‘panning’, but since it’s the only camera movement word I know it will do), and then you see the big plop.
Just breathtaking I can almost hear some asshole in a beret at the Roxie Theater say.
I knew going in that it was about a filmmaker (if you will) who set up a couple cameras near the golden gate bridge to capture people jumping off. One of these cameras was a wide view so that you can see this majestic view and then suddenly notice a splash at the bottom of the screen a la the “when you see it you’ll shit bricks” series of internet images. Look for this in the trailer at about 2:03.
The filmmaker claims that they reported any suspicious activity to the authorities, but when you start to consider that they are making a film about people jumping off, you begin to doubt that.
When you see the cameraman with the telephoto lense follow this poor fellow, Gene Sprague (about 1 min 35 secs into the trailer), around for at least the last hour of his life you really start to doubt it. If there was a poster boy for “troubled and suicidal” it’s the appearance and demeanor of Gene.
In many scenes, you see an angry policeman grab one of these people and handcuff them and you’re happy. You can almost hear the crew say:
Ah! Fuck it all. This business is hurry up and wait eh? Break for lunch.
The footage of Gene’s family and friends lamenting his death and him walking around despondently on the bridge are teased throughout the movie, along with 10 or so other jumpers and family/friends of. The filmmakers also tease you with average hooligans, daredevils and the overly curious too— sort of a “i bet you thought…” gag that isn’t funny. Every 5-10 minutes they toss in someone jumping off to satisfy the viewers appetite.
Gene is likeable; he’s the rocker, can’t find a job, perennially lovelorn, hasn’t grown out of wearing all black and he’s too old for all of that stuff dude. But, he’s a hell of a lot more like you and me than these yuppie benders about 15 mins in who are so busy preaching the merits of kite-boarding (and how exhilarating it is) that they almost forget they’re being interviewed to talk about that worthless asshole they saw kill himself.
Whether you will admit it or not, you begin to wonder how and when he will do it, and then you start to hate the film and the filmmaker for manipulating you into thinking about this.
Humans should not think that and they shouldn’t want to watch these kinds of movies. It’s exploitative, uneducational, and practically criminal.
There must be people in this world that need to see this kind of thing, under the guise of education or curiosity, so that they can contrast and feel okay about their lives.
This is schadenfreude porn.
The dozen or so nondescript jumpers are the fluffers.
Gene is the proverbial “money-shot”.
Do not want.
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Tagged with do not want, documentary, exploitative, golden gate bridge, porn, roxie, san francisco, schadenfreude, the-bridge, trailer, video
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Fuck. I just wrote it about this today.
And I love the way you put it. Especially since this part didn’t occur to me:
‘But, he’s a hell of a lot more like you and me than these yuppie benders about 15 mins in who are so busy preaching the merits of kite-boarding (and how exhilarating it is) that they almost forget they’re being interviewed to talk about that worthless asshole they saw kill himself.’
Excellent assessment.
[...] via misanthropytoday [...]
Just saw this film so I was hunting around for some reviews. I have read a number, but I think the one here is about the best I’ve seen.