Falling Man
Friday September 1, 2006
I’m watching 9/11: The Falling Man right now.
“This is how it affected people’s lives at that time, and I think that is why it’s an important picture. I didn’t capture this person’s death. I captured part of his life. This is what he decided to do, and I think I preserved that.” – Richard Drew (the photographer of Falling Man)
This is a documentary well worth watching, if only because it encourages us not be be ashamed for (or of) the people that had chosen to jump. I think that the public outcry against this particular photo wasn’t fair… but maybe the timing really was all wrong.
The Falling Man – Wikipedia
The Falling Man, by Tom Junod
I can’t do justice to the message that I believe the documentary is trying to convey, but I guess I wanted to share probably the most poignant message that I got from watching it…
“I never thought of the falling man as Jonathan, I thought of him as a man that just took his life in his hands for just a second. Did that person have so much faith that he knew that God would catch him or was he afraid to experience the end up there? I hope we’re not trying to figure out who he is and more to figure out who we are through watching it.” – Jonathan Briley’s sister Gwendolyn
1.09.06 - ami - #
the public reaction to that was ridiculous. Everyone has the right to die how they would like, and i think it is so out of order that people who didnt experience it could judge them like that. I saw that show too it was good
1.09.06 - Ashley - #
I have never seen or heard of this.. Maybe because I am Canadian or because I rarely watch or pay attention to the news. But I think it’s kind of interesting. Photography like that, it intrigues me. It’s like, in a picture of death you can see all sorts of beauty even though it’s actually a huge horrible thing… Like this doc I saw on war photographers.
2.09.06 - Matt - #
I think if someone wants to die- they can do it.
But i don’t see why they need to do it all over the pavement…
2.09.06 - Belinda - #
Wow, I can’t believe the “public” actually has the decency to be outrage at something as tragic as that. In such a terrible, desperate moment, this person chose to do what he felt he had to do between two certain deaths. Such a chilling decision to make, I can’t believe the public can pass judgment on such a horrific thing.
It’s always terrible to see remanents of people moments before death. It feels like there’s so much that could be said about it, but the only thing appropriate seems to be hopeless silence.
2.09.06 - N. - #
that’s one powerful picture. i’ve seen videos and other pictures of people falling from the world trade center to be it’s both sensitive but remarkable.
2.09.06 - Maryland - #
I’m pretty sure that if you were in that situation, jumping would be logical to you. It’s very outrageous how people are reacting to something like this. It was his decision alone, leave him be.
3.09.06 - Fran - #
Wow, i really don’t know what to say, i just read all that. I was only small when it happened, and i didn’t quite know what was going on. I never knew that so many people jumped. It’s shocking!
5.09.06 - lil-eminem300 - #
That a pretty bold person who decided to do this film, because he knows people are gonna get all sensitive.
6.09.06 - scraggot - #
Yeh it was quite a documentary wasn’t it.
What stuck in my head was that it wasn’t about the identity of the falling man anymore but the fact that we didn’t know who he was. As we didn’t know who most of the victims of 911 were. People dying in masses, falling to their deaths and there were just too many deaths that they couldn’t just bring significance to any particular one. That was the real sad part to me.