- 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.Running Time: 100 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR
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.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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March 16, 2008
#1
You would think that watching this movie, that the murder of Matthew Shepard was the single greatest act of evil ever committed in human history.
Don’t get me wrong: the murder of anyone is an act of evil. But the preening, face-twisting rage of one actor after another kept knocking me out of the story. Was there this much histrionics at Nuremberg?
I don’t think I’m speaking ill of the dead by pointing out that a drunken gay guy hitting on Wyoming barflies may not be the brightest way to spend an evening. And I’m not saying he deserved what he got, but it was weird seeing normally-liberal actresses howling for the blood of the murderers. How do they feel about the death penalty sentences of other killers?
(I know they’re supposed to be reading speeches by actual citizens, but most of them felt like crafted messages or hectoring sermons).
Every week in America, horrific crimes are committed on thousands of people every year–some bewildering in their motives and horrifying in their details. Maybe I’ve just been desensitized by keeping up on the news, but I can’t blame Laramie or America or myself for the death of this guy.
Or maybe this film, so desperate and zealous to convey its outrage, lost its dramatic focus by becoming a smug, haughty screed.
March 16, 2008
#2
This film, which is really just a series of re-enacted interviews, is a dismal portrayal of a community in agony. It’s natural when someone you know dies to feel sad, miserable, angry and outraged. But the producers of this film dwell on the community’s misery and suffering, and any opportunity to learn from this crime is lost in the raw emotions of the town’s residents.
This is, quite simply, a film with an agenda. It is intended to incite anger and promote hate crime legislation. Dwelling on this crime is not going to do anyone any good.
March 16, 2008
#3
To me, the worst thing that a movie can be is “exploitative.” This film is exploitative because it takes advantage of a sad, tragic situation and twists that situation to further the ultra-lefist agenda of the hollywood elite. The murder of Matthew Shepard was disgusting, despicable, and hateful. Rather than addressing the murder as such, this film compartmentalizes everyone involved as either “enlightened” (i.e. the New York people, the gays) or hateful “bumpkins” (i.e. the people of Wyoming, churchgoers) and this is very condescending! Polarizing films such as this do not teach lessons, succeed in changing closed minds, or provoke strong emotions from the viewers because it is too obsorbed in furthering the agenda of the filmmakers and actors while subverting the true message and power of the story.
March 16, 2008
#4
This movie is simply a documentary. In fact, it’s really just a bunch of interviews. And interviews with actors portraying the original people that lived in this town. So, really, it’s just a made-up documentary.
That understood, it was well done. It looked real, the actors did a great job. I don’t remember hearing about this true-life incident, so I wasn’t swept up in the emotion, nor was I really interested in the event.
I would have liked this movie a whole lot more if it was NOT a documentary, but a re-enactment of the whole incident, from the Shepard boy’s life and home and at school, to the murder, to the aftermath. THEN, the interviews could have had some meaning.
I watched it. I sat through the whole thing. But if I came across this documentary, or rather, a REAL documentary with the real people on Discovery, A&E, or some channel like that, I would change the channel and not be interested at all.
March 16, 2008
#5
I bought the DVD after taping the film from HBO because I read here that it had commentary. There is no commentary on the DVD. I wasted my money basically, because I’d already seen the film and was not that impressed. I wanted to hear what the director was thinking to try and redeem the film for me.