MovieChat Forums > The Bridge (2007) Discussion > Kevin Hines

Kevin Hines

posted 8 years ago by DrSleepandMrMercedes
4 replies | jump to latest

I watched this on YouTube, quite good, and all were sad, but this one especially broke my heart. I searched other articles about his incident. He was on the bridge walkway for about forty minutes and though people looked at him, no one cared enough to ask what was wrong or if he was going to jump, and lastly, when a woman comes by, she asked him for a ridiculous photo. What is wrong with people? Why must they be so mean? And if they knew people have jumped from there, you would think at least someone thought he would?

Now I am not trying to justify the sheer amount of harshness expressed towards him, and of course, I was not there, but I do not believe for a moment that with all those people who passed by, and I am sure there were tons, that they flat out just did not care. I actually do not. I am quite sure at least someone thought he would jump and did not want him to, or was hoping he would be alright, probably thought he would be, or probably thought someone else would console him. Granted someone should have consoled him, all it takes sometimes is a warm smile and kind words.

I do have a theory, however, on the woman who asked for a photo. True she was perhaps ignorant towards him, perhaps deep down she had a feeling he would jump and perhaps it was a distraction. I am not trying to excuse her actions just suggesting what if. Now I am not trying to say he is a liar, but once again, with all those people and 'no one' cared, yes we live in a cold, cruel world, but sorry I just do not buy that.

[–] rooprect 8 years ago

It's been a few years since I've seen this movie, so I'm not sure who Kevin was, but in general I think you're right. Speaking of most developed cities/communities in the Western world that is (don't get me started on how cheap life is in certain third world countries), I don't think humans are as cold as they are portrayed. Closer to the truth is probably the idea that we are afraid of offending strangers with personal interactions.

Example: I know a person who is depressed and told me about the time he was in a mall, and a random stranger came up to him and said "smile!" Instead of taking this as a (somewhat awkward) effort to approach a depressed looking individual, my depressed buddy acted like it was an insult, like an order to look happy, otherwise he is spoiling everyone else's fun. I was like, Dude she was just trying to cheer you up. But he didn't take it that way.

I think it's that fear, the fear of accidentally offending someone and making the situation worse, that keeps strangers at bay.

There's also the fact that it is usually very difficult in modern society to approach a stranger to begin with. So we all end up living in our little bubbles, disconnected from each other not because of apathy but because of the opposite, we're too worried at how the other person would interpret our friendly gestures.

Not that this has anything to do with what I just said, but a funny thing happened to me when I was visiting Montreal once. It was late at night and I decided to go for a stroll. I stopped at a bridge, leaned over the rail and was watching a stick get washed in circles below. That's when some guy pulls up in a car on the other side of the bridge and started yelling at me in French. I had no idea what he was saying, but I finally gathered that he was telling me not to jump. I smiled and made some gesture indicating that I'm OK and moseyed along.

[–] DrSleepandMrMercedes 8 years ago

I entirely agree with your comment. I think there is much truth to what you said. I remember going into a store once, smiling at someone and they scowled. This happened before with others, but sometimes they would change and decide to smile. I guess, it is how people are raised. Some do not know how to act. That is why I try not to take things personally, unless they are personal. Thank you for the kind and well thought response.

Mean people suck! Nice people rule!

[–] rooprect 8 years ago

Glad you liked my response! I really like your post, because it presents a complex idea beyond the black and white.

Sort of a tangent subject: I think with the snippy nature of social media (interacting with other humans as anonymous strangers in single phrase communications), we are really shooting ourselves in the foot as far as human unity goes. That plus the headline culture of perceiving the world in single phrases ( which I'm totally guilty of), is accelerating our social unraveling.

I keep reading articles about how social media and reading the news headlines leads to depression. And it makes total sense.

So, back to the point of the thread, it seems impossible to save anyone from jumping. Think of it, you only have one or two sentences you can say to a suicidal person before they either do the deed or tune you out. If you were to pass by a suicidal person on the bridge right now, what would you possibly think to say? "Don't do it", " you have so much to live for" and other clichés that don't really say anything.

So at a certain point I think all would-be rescuers realize the frustrating (impossible?) task of talking someone down with only a few words, and the result is they don't try. I'm not sure what the solution is, if any.

[–] BugisStreetAnnie (1296) 6 years ago

He still makes the rounds because he was on Dr. Oz last week.