Film captures suicides on Golden Gate Bridge: Angry officials say moviemaker misled them
This is an intriguing idea and perhaps even a worthy project, but what does it say about a filmmaker that he feels it necessry to intentionally deceive authorities in order to film suicide leaps that he knows will occur? Is this the work of a sick, twisted intellect? Or of someone looking for insight into the forces that would drive someone to end their life in a very public and dramatic fashion by leaping off the Golden Gate Bridge?
Golden Gate Bridge officials are seething that a moviemaker who told them he was working on a “day in the life” project about the landmark was, in fact, capturing people on film as they jumped to their deaths.
Eric Steel initially told officials he planned to spend a year filming the “powerful and spectacular interaction between the monument and nature” and that his work was to be the first in a series of documentaries about national monuments such as the St. Louis Arch and the Statue of Liberty. That’s how he got the Golden Gate National Recreation Area’s permission to set up cameras on parkland overlooking Fort Point.
Of course, Steel recognized that he would never obtain permission for his project were he to disclose his true intent. On the surface, it seems a pretty sick and ghoulish project.
Now that he has admitted to the real purpose of his project, officials are incensed. I wonder, though, are they upset because they feel they were deceived and have a moral argument against Steel’s project? Or are they simply embarrassed to be caught with the pants down- metaphorically speaking?
Now, however, Steel has revealed in an e-mail to bridge officials that the cameras — which were operating almost continuously during daylight hours for all of 2004 — filmed most of the 19 jumpers who went off the bridge last year plus a number of attempted suicides.
Apparently, that was the point all along. Steel says his goal is to “allow us to see into the most impenetrable corners of the human mind and challenge us to think and talk about suicide in profoundly different ways.”
“Are we angry? Absolutely,” said bridge district spokeswoman Mary Currie.
“A guy this duplicitous — there must be a way to yank that stuff away from him,” said Marin County Supervisor Hal Brown, a member of the bridge district’s board. “It’s just a horrible thing to be taking pictures of.”
“It’s creepy,” agreed San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano, also a member of the district board. “Whatever the intention of the film, you can’t help but think of a snuff film.”
Speaking only for myself, I think it would be wise to withhold judgement until we see Steel’s finished project. Will it be an attempt to increase the understanding of suicide and the forces that drive people who take their own lives? Or will it merely be a glorified snuff film, in which we get to see people dramatically and publicly kill themselves? My opinion on this matter will depend in large part on the content of Steel’s movie. If it is what he is portraying it as, I think this movie might be something that has some value, that could help those who see it achieve a greater understanding of the issue.
That this subject is something that makes many uncomfortable is understanding. The way Steel accomplished his goal is not something that most of us would condone. Nonetheless, no reasonable public official would have approved Steel’s project had they known the real purpose. Does this render what Steel was hoping to accomplish less worthy? I suppose each of us will have to make up our own mind on this point. As for myself, I’m looking forward to being able to see Steel’s movie. If it is as advertised, I think it could be a powerful learning experience…unless, of course, it’s someone you know and love being shown leaping off the bridge.
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