Reply #92: a real-life documentary about a young base-jumper [View All]

It was shown on the TLC program "Human Beings" some time ago. I don't recall the title and haven't been able to find a record of it anywhere. What scared me is that the film showed the guy's friends and even his parents, egging him on to do more dangerous stunts. Even the filmmakers appeared to be sucked into this (perhaps because they thought it would be a more exciting story?). They never show any time when he or anybody around him appear to have doubts. His parents appear to be willing to spend as much money as they've got, helping him in his quest for glory.

In the end, the implication is that he dies ... but they don't explain the context (whether it was related to one of his stunts), and they make it seem as if he's gone on to "a much better place". I started to understand some of the more disturbing aspects of media manipulation and "spin" after seeing this film.


The most frightening book I've read is Wambaugh's "Echoes in the Darkness", about an actual murder case in Pennsylvania. They did make a film out of it, but they understated what for me was the scariest part ... that several people knew about the plot but did nothing to intervene. What it seemed to come down to was that the victim wasn't popular -- and even afterwards, when people did express remorse for not having acted, it was mainly because her kids had also disappeared -- not because she was dead.