The Laramie Project
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Movie Reviews of The Laramie Project
Movie Review: a shattering, unforgettable experience
Summary: 5 Stars
Matthew Shepard's murder affected me very strongly and still does. I could have seen the stage version of this piece, as I was in New York when it was playing, but was too afraid (for the same reason, I haven't seen Boys Don't Cry). And this apparently truncated HBO version is a very tough film to watch.It's excellent despite limitations imposed, we may assume, by the complex finances of TV. The cast is uniformly fine - I especially loved Margo Martindale, Terry Kinney (who would have given a shattering reading of Mr. Dennis Shepard's complete courtroom speech), Dylan Baker, Laura Linney, Amy Madigan and Frances Sternhagen, but everyone just GAVE so much! (I know other reviewers have carped about some of the performances, and I think it's worth pointing out that these actors donated their services to this project.)
The people of Wyoming are not treated patronizingly - the film contains, in fact, a thinly veiled indictment of the 1998 media which did sometimes treat these people as hicks. And the script, of course, is based on transcripts from interviews with these people, and like interviews with anyone, there are idiosyncracies and lapses in grammar. Of course there are rednecks - as there are in Los Angeles or even Manhattan. But the citizens of Laramie overwhelmingly recoil from this senseless tragedy, and the most horrifying character - aside from the killers, and maybe even more than them - is "Reverend" Fred Phelps, as he was at the time - and he's an outsider.
One person is conspicuously absent from this film, and that is Matthew Shepard. The Laramie Project is about the reaction of citizens to the brutality of his murder and the response of that city to the influx of international media attention.
During the past five years, Dennis and Judy Shepard have done incredible work to help stamp out hate crimes everywhere, and we all owe them immeasurable respect and compassion. But I bet they'd give it up in a fraction of a second to have their son back for even one hour.
As a member of the so-called gay community, I have always felt uneasy with this tendency - and the movie contributes to it - to treat Matthew Shepard primarily as a symbol and a martyr. He was a human being, and he deserved to go on being one.
Matthew Shepard was not even 22 years old when he died.
Movie Review: Terrifyingly Real
Summary: 5 Stars
I?m not a ?cryer;? before I watched this movie I couldn?t possibly tell you the last time I cried. ?The Laramie Project? terrified me to the point of tears and kept me crying with the stark contrast of several beautiful gestures. The reality of the movie is shocking in its effect. The filmmakers, obviously, made every effort to truthfully portray both peoples? words and the manner in which they were spoken. To sit and listen to one person describe Matthew Shepard?s tragic death as deserved and in the next breath describe Laramie as a ?live and let live? sort of place is shocking. The casual, ingrained, encouraged heterosexism that ?The Laramie Project? depicts is in sharp contrast to the heartwarming acceptance and love that some of the townspeople portrayed through their actions and their interviews. For someone who grew up aware of the GLBTA community?s struggles and grew up in an extraordinarily liberal University town, Laramie was a slap in the face. The world is not Ann Arbor, MI and there are people out there who really truly believe that all homosexuals are perverts and that to live as a homosexual is to incite violence. Even in the shadow of a community were there was so much hate there were a few really moving moments of ? something markedly stronger than acceptance. Please watch this movie; it is truth, both heartwarming and terrifying. As a white, middle class, protestant, Aryan American I could only appreciate the fear that so many minorities live with after watching this movie. This movie is a masterpiece that words simply can?t convey. Watch this movie regardless of your relationship to the LGBTA community, or lack there of, it hits home.
PLEASE WATCH THIS MOVIE
Movie Review: Educational And Moving Film About the Hate Crime Aftermath
Summary: 5 Stars
The Emmy and Golden Globe nominated "The Laramie Project" is a powerful film that originally aired in October, 2001. Its deep words and theme have the intensity to keep audiences watching every scene closely. This true story educates people on why hate is not a human virtue and what society can do to stop it. The story of what happened to Matthew Shephard on October 7, 1998 is slowly told by people in the town of Laramie, where the murder happened. Five people from New York City interview 200 town citizens searching for the truth. However, the film isn't about his murder; this is about Laramie, Wyoming. The writers brilliantly distinguish the plot. Every character interviewed has their own view of homosexuality and homophobia. Their words, especially the homophobic ones, are shocking. Meanwhile, their stories take audiences to the events as they were occurring between October 7-12, 1998, Shephard's funeral, and the court dates for his killers. Every raw emotion has the realisms that asides this film from many others. The unique camera effects wonderfully desplict the ugliness and fear of the horrifying events. The real news clips are great necessities that prove how real it is. Every member of the large acting cast performed their role beautifully: Oscar nominees Peter Fonda and Laura Linney, Camryn Manheim, Christina Ricci, Clea DuVall, Joshua Jackson, Ben Foster, Steve Buscemi, Janeane Garofalo, and more. Every actor added their own sense of theme into the film, enlightening or discouraging. Such film quality makes "The Laramie Project" worth watching many times. This is great to show to families to teach them why hate crutially needs to stop today.Movie Review: Powerful, sad, tragic. Matthew we miss you!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
The 1998 gay hate crime murder of, Matthew Shepard, really hurt many people around the world, including myself. The very fact that this sweet young man, so slight in height and weight, with an angelic face could be kidnapped by two idiot kids, tied to a spit rail wooden fence and pistol whipped and tortured until his skull was literally bashed with fractures, and then left there to die, tied to that fence for 18 hours in the near freezing temperatures until a bicyclist came upon him. Matthew was at this time, in a coma, and for 4 days the world watched, waited, and hoped he would recover. Matthew did not. He died October 12th, 1998 in the hospital.This film, through a series of massive interviews with the residents of this town, is done in a documentary style, with the actors repeating the words collected in those interviews.It is very well made, very powerful and also very very sad. They filmed this in the actual town. You get to see the inside of the bar Matt was in before his abduction, as well as the college he attended, the rail fence he was tied to (THANK GOD NO MURDER IS RE-CREATED HERE), as well as the actual courtroom the trial took place at.Hopefully, people who are homophobic can see by watching this film, people are people--no matter if they are of a different race or sexual orientation.We all need to stand UNITED, encourage state laws to include zero tolerance of gay hate crimes.Matthew Shepard did not deserve to die. If anything good can come from such an evil thing that happened, let's hope this movie can open some eyes and we can stop the hate and innocent people being murdered.Movie Review: Tragically Beautiful
Summary: 5 Stars
A film that captures the sentiments of the play exquisitely, "The Laramie Project" is another collage-like indictment of emotion by Moises Kaufman. All of the actors give impeccable performances of a truly well-conceived and written script. As with "Gross Indecency," in "The Laramie Project" Kaufman juxtaposes numerous dialogues and discourses one on top of the other. It is incredibly well done, and compliments his documentary-esque writing style, providing a biting and personal critique of not only the inhabitants of Laramie, but, through the lens of Laramie as a microcosm for America as a whole, the entire society that America has constructed and turned a blind eye to that would allow such a senseless death. The film, as the play, captures the raw, uncontrollable anguish that hasnt truly been provoked in queer cinema since "Boys Don't Cry." A wonderful piece of art and an even more beautiful exploration of human nature, and a fitting tribute to the life of Matthew Shepard, this film is incredible. The only true shame is that the people that NEED to learn a lesson from it will never watch it... those who do watch it are going to almost always consist of those who already agree with the sentiments it shares. Therefore, it is preaching to the choir and isnt, in reality, an effective "tool" in the fight against homophobia and what some deem "homo-hysteria" in America. So everyone reading this should first watch it for themselves, and after you finish wiping your eyes, invite someone else to watch it with you.