The Laramie Project

The Laramie Project Review

"The Laramie Project"

Remembering Matthew Shephard

Amos Lassen

I doubt that any of us will forget the terrible murder of Matthew Shephard. But one good thing came out of it and that was that it united out community much like the AIDS epidemic did. After Shephard was murdered, members of the New York Tectonic Theater Project went to Laramie, Wyoming and they wrote a play there that later became this movie (which was shown on HBO television). They based their play on the 200 interviews they conducted and then they re-enacted the chronology of the event--from Shephard's visit to the bar, his kidnapping and bearing, his hospitalization, vigil, death, funeral and trial. The play takes real news reports and mixes them with actors portraying all of the people who were somehow involved in the entire event.
What we get is an emotional, moving and touching look of the crime and its aftermath. But we get something else as well. We learn that it is not good to sit silent, that we have a responsibility to live honestly and visibly. We realize that Matthew Shephard was no more special than anyone else and that is what makes his story so important. It could have been any of us. "The Laramie Project" reminds us that freedom is precious and important and that we live in a country that is basically Puritan.
The entire Shephard affair was a horrible, horrendous stain on America. "The Laramie Project" is a strange film that boasts a wonderful cast. It is at times gut-wrenching and it is very real. There is a good deal said about the nature of intolerance and this is so important. It is a movie that must be seen and heeded so that something like this can never happen again.

The Laramie Project Feature

• BUSCEMI/DUVALL/FONDA/GAROFALO/

The Laramie Project Overview

In October 1998, 21 year-old Mathew Shepard was found savagely beaten, tied to a fence and left to die in Laramie, Wyoming. "The Laramie Project" is the portrait of a town painfully forced to confront itself in the reflective glare of the national spotlight, responding with love, anger, sympathy, support and defiance.

The Laramie Project Specifications

Even though The Laramie Project has been edited down from almost three hours (the original length of the play) to a lean 96 minutes, the harrowing nature of the subject matter--the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard--and the clarity of the voices of the inhabitants of Laramie, Wyoming, give this film a remarkable emotional power. The Laramie Project was created from over 200 interviews conducted with Laramie residents before, during, and after the trials of the two boys who killed Shepard; the interviews create an amazing cross-section of American views on homosexuality, religion, class, privacy, and so much more besides. Even though it features an all-star cast--Steve Buscemi, Janeane Garofalo, Christina Ricci, Peter Fonda, and Laura Linney are only a few of the recognizable faces--the material has not been glamorized and the performances are both honest and intimate. Even abbreviated, it's a remarkable piece of work. --Bret Fetzer

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