To me, there is no greater tragedy than a person who feels so lost, and has such a complete lack of hope, that they decide to end their own lives. That their lives come to such a place that the idea of living is more horrible than the idea of dying. It is a profound sadness.
But suicide is one of those things I’ve never understood. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not here saying there are no reasons for suicide, I’m just saying I don’t comprehend it.
Near the end of “Castaway”, Tom Hanks is sitting with his friend, he was just rejected by the love of his life after the thought of her kept him alive for so long on a deserted island. The conversation turns to suicide and how he lasted on the island without killing himself. At that point, the character says something profound that has always stuck with me. He said everyday something new would wash up on shore that would help him.. so he decided to just keep breathing, keep breathing… because you never know what the tide will bring in tomorrow. Brilliant.
Some people just can’t grasp that hope for one reason or another, and I don’t judge or condemn them… I’m not walking in their shoes… and at some point make the decision to end their own lives.
The new documentary “The Bridge” looks at the lives of 7 people who took their own lives by jumping from The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The director set up his camera to film the bridge for a year and caught 19 people jumping.
The director decided to talk to and interview friends and family members of those who he filmed killing themselves to try to understand what drove them to that point. One critic said this:
The movie records seven jumps from the bridge: six deaths and one incredible survival. But more important are the interviews of the family and friends of the seven. It is these interviews that make the film much more about life than death.
Some people find the idea of filming the people actually jumping as sick and morbid… and I can understand where they’re coming from. But I think the actual images of these poor people, doing the unthinkable, will do more to grip us with the profound sadness, the shock and the tragedy of the situation than any amount of interviews… which will then in turn make the interviews themselves much more understandable and relatable.
I can’t wait to see The Bridge, and I hope a lot of people do. As M&C put it:
it is hard not to believe that if potential suicide victims saw this film they would think twice before ending their lives. Few of us completely understand the impact of self-inflicted death on those close to the deceased. There is something about the cultural taboo of suicide that leaves no one connected to the victim unchanged.
You can see the haunting trailer to “The Bridge” by clicking here. Leave your thoughts.
