Suicide

More than 30,000 Americans each year commit suicide--approximately one every 17 minutes--while the rate for children aged 10-14 has increased by 150% over the past 15 years. Originally airing on HBO's acclaimed America Undercover series, filmmaker Eames Yates' Suicide, made after his own brother took his life, is not for the faint-of-heart. In fact, viewers are frequently confronted with crime-scene images that are very messy--the stuff police and paramedics have to dump into body bags every week--but the filmmaker's point is that these bloody remnants are usually discovered by family members or friends…and the effect is devastating. Yates traveled far and wide, talking with police, paramedics, emergency room nurses, mental health professionals, suicide hotline volunteers, and a suicidal woman. Ultimately, Suicide is intended as a jarring wake-up call to raise awareness of rising suicide rates, especially among adolescents, but the people who will really benefit from seeing this are those who actually contemplate suicide, for they're the ones most in need of a broader perspective on the consequences of their actions. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (P. Van Vleck)