So, I am somewhat fascinated with this movie. The Bridge is a documentary about the Golden Gate Bridge and why it is such a magnet for suicide. It was spawned from a New Yorker article by Tad Friend, which chronicled the stories of some people who had jumped and perished, and the movement to erect a "suicide barrier" to protect others from jumping. Eric Steele's film actually captures people jumping from the bridge and then delves into some their lives with interviews from their families and friends.

Having crossed the bridge a few times myself, I remember pondering how people would jump from there. The view is stunning and one you would want as your last if that was your thing, but the drive to end your life would have to be so unbearably strong. Dr. Lanny Berman, the executive director of the American Association of Suicidology says, "Jumpers are drawn to the Golden Gate because they believe it's a gateway to another place." Back in my metaphysical book shop days, I remember a woman talking to me about the nexus of spiritual energy also that flowed into the city of San Francisco. Something about the energy grid and how it was very concentrated in that town. It caused those who lived there to be more sensitive to the supernatural and more in touch with our connection to the other side. Those that lived in San Francisco were drawn to it for reasons of their soul's needs.

So do some souls feel the need to bring an end to their lives? And if so, what drives them? Is it something out of one's control? It all brings me back to the one friend I had in junior high who committed suicide on my block. I understood why he did what he did based on what I knew of him. But I also felt guilt, and I felt anger. At the time, I wished that I could have helped him see the light through his pain.

I don't completely know how I feel about this film, and how it captures these people's deaths forever on celluloid for their loved ones to see. Obviously, they approved it all, but still, is it wrong? I guess not if it delves into the why of it all and perhaps helps heal another from taking such a decisive route. I guess that is what I am mostly drawn to. As a storyteller by artistic trade, I wonder what it is that compels people to act as they do. We are all so inherently motivated in our actions, that I feel the more varied expressions of emotion we become aware of, the better we will be to understand everyone.

Including ourselves.

In a world where men and women are strapping bombs to their bodies as vehicles of homicide, there has never been a more important time to understand who we are at a basic human level. With hope, that understanding can someday lead us to a place of peace.

That is my hope.

What about it?