The Bridge (2006)

	Directed by: Eric Steel	COUNTRY UK/USA GENRE Documentary NORWEGIAN TITLE The Bridge RUNNING TIME 93 minutes
	Produced by: Eric Steel

Review

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is infamous for being the one place on earth where the largest number of people choose to end their lives. This phenomenon is what Eric Steel decided to study with this film, setting up a number of cameras at strategic positions around the bridge and shooting non-stop footage for large parts of 2004, thus capturing some astonishing images of suicidal people. Steel was courageous in setting up his project, framing San Francisco executives into thinking he was making a film about the bridge's position in the landscape, and withholding information about the footage he had shot when subsequently approaching the grieving families for interviews about the people he had filmed on the bridge. That kind of courage is the basis for many really good documentaries. Unfortunately, Steel cannot quite follow up when it comes to the execution. He is too absorbed with the sentimental, often awkward stories of bereaved friends and family, lacking both vision and the ability to ask truly investigative questions. There is enormous power in some of Steel's footage, but his end product is disappointingly feeble.