Arts
The Bridge at Doc Soup
It's hard to believe Hollywood's feel good movies most of the time, since real life isn't always about happy endings. I have a hard time buying it. For this reason the majority of media I watch and read is non-fiction, documenting real life with all its highs and lows. Thankfully, documentary is flourishing and Toronto is a major hub.
The Hot Docs festival has grown amazingly and has become one of the top doc forums in the world. It's not limited to 10 days in April however. Doc Soup, their monthly film series, takes place tomorrow at the Bloor Cinema.
I was at the same Cinema a couple weeks ago for the One Minute Film and Video Festival and picked up some flyers in the lobby, one was for the Doc Soup screening of The Bridge - an assembly of stories of people at San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge - those who witness the unthinkable, but also the stories of those who decide to take fate into their own hands. Director Eric Steel filmed over 20 of those stories over the course of one year - and was able to stop many too.
The friend I was with that night had heard of The Bridge and told me we should go see it. Apparently, in all its heart-wrenching reality it's a beautiful and touching documentary. Sadly, the stories will be so much more poignant now because of recent events in this city. I'm not sure I'll be able to leave stories like these behind me - I suppose that's the beauty of dramas - but I'm still intrigued why? Suppose it's honesty I seek. Knowing life isn't about happy endings, but more about the choices we make along the way.
(Image: bwslau)
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A woman in the audience was so visibly angry and during the Q & A, she asked if the film maker called the cops (in context of when he was filming this guy walking back and forth on the bridge for 90 minutes, who eventually jumps). She implied that he filmed this guy knowing he was going to jump and did nothing about it. I dont get it - dont people read or find shit out before they jump down peoples throats? The filmakers decided that if there was anything they could ever do to help someone, that came 1st (they ended up stopping six people from jumping, some of which is captured in the doc).
My feeling is that in documentary, we are watching something in progress that is happening in our world. Filmakers often strive to be as "invisible" as possible in order to bring the truth. This was such the case with The Bridge. Eric Steele was intrigued, haunted, curious (like many of us no doubt are) by the facts of this story, and he (bravely) decided to bring this haunting, brutal slice of the human experience to the screen, creating a discussion, etc. and he was successful. Someone else in the audience asked him if he gave any profits from the doc to a suicide hot line or anything - again, someone missing the point.
Oh well, I am ranting. Check out the film if you get a chance.