In October 1998, a young gay student at the University of Wyoming was found badly beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die. After several days lingering in a coma, 22-year-old Matthew Shepard died in Laramie, Wyoming, an event that created a national uproar and calls for legislation against hate crimes. Shortly after the infamous crime occurred, members of the Tectonic Theater Project descended on Laramie and conducted about 200 interviews with local people, both those involved and those uninvolved with the crime. The results were edited, compiled, and consolidated into a play entitled "The Laramie Project." Written by Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project, the play premiered in 2000 and was filmed in 2002 for HBO.Moises Kaufman directed this HBO film adaptation, and he assembled a large distinguished cast to play the multitude of characters. Among the most notable are Peter Fonda, Laura Linney, Steve Buscemi, Dylan Baker, Ben Foster, Janeane Garofolo, Bill Irwin, Amy Madigan, Margo Martindale, Christina Ricci, Frances Sternhagen, and Terry Kinney. Surprisingly, the appearance of so many well known faces enhances, rather than disrupts the film. Instead of a grainy documentary that features a series of self conscious interviews with unfamiliar people, this largely engrossing film is a series of dramatized interviews by seasoned professionals, which focus viewer attention on the words and their import.The excellent cast play town residents, both gay and straight; as well as religious, police, medical, and legal people involved after the crime; some knew Matt, while others only knew of him from the news. The Laramie bartender, who remembered Mat on the night of the crime, disputed the story told by the two murderers, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, whom he also remembered in the bar that night. The young boy, played by Ben Foster, who found the dying Matt, describes the grisly scene and the beaten victim. Amy Madigan is the policewoman, who aided the HIV positive Mat without gloves and inadvertently exposed herself to the AIDS virus; Frances Sternhagen is her understanding mother. Bill Irwin plays one of Laramie's gay residents, who tell of closeted life in the town and his reaction to the crime and its aftermath. Peter Fonda is the doctor who treats the dying young man, and Dylan Baker plays a town spokesperson to fine effect. However, not everyone interviewed is likable; Laura Linney is a conservative resident who does not understand all the fuss over the death of one gay man. While a local Catholic priest expresses sympathy, a Protestant preacher is outspoken about his hostility to gay people, and members of the despicable Westboro Baptist Church make an unwelcome appearance at Shepard's funeral. In the courtroom, the two defendants, McKinney and Henderson, talk of their feelings about gay people and attempt a lame "gay panic" defense that would be laughable, if not so tragic and pathetic. During the trial's final moments, Terry Kinney as Matthew's father, Dennis, makes a closing statement that effectively brings the film to a satisfying, moving, and sad close. Between the interviews and the comments on prejudice and homophobia, related newscast footage depicts politicians, marches, and candle-light vigils."The Laramie Project" is a fine work, both as a play and a film. While hate-crime legislation lags and the civil rights of the LGBT community remain under attack, films like "The Laramie Project" are increasingly important to illustrate the tragedies and injustices that hate can cause, irregardless the targets; this film is important and, hopefully, enduring.

Matthew Shepard was about two months short of his twenty-second birth when he was robbed, beaten, tied to a fence post and left to die in a rural area of Wyoming. The man who found him at first thought he was a scarecrow. Rushed to Poudre Valley Hospital at Fort Collins, he died on 12 October 1998--and when Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney were arrested for the crime they resorted to a defense known as "gay panic." Matthew Shepherd had propositioned them, they said, and they were so horrified that they killed him in response.The gay community and numerous civil rights watchdog groups were outraged by the defense, and as more and more facts came to light it seemed that the crime was somewhat more complicated than Henderson and McKinney wanted the public to know. Witnesses stated that Henderson and McKinney had specifically targeted Shepherd because he was gay. After much legal wrangling, Henderson pled guilty and testified against McKinney, who was convicted; after still more legal wrangling, and at the request of Shepherd's parents, McKinney escaped the death penalty but has no chance of parole.The case made headlines from end of the United States to the other and prompted numerous calls for Hate Crimes legislation, which had long been stalled both at the state and federal level. And in the midst of the confusion, chaos, and controversy, Moises Kaufman and the members of The Tectonic Theatre Project arrived on the scene, interviewing more than two hundred people about their thoughts and feelings on the case. These were shaped into THE LARAMIE PROJECT, a drama that debuted in 2000 and which has since shocked, impressed, and deeply moved audiences from coast to coast.On the stage, THE LARAMIE PROJECT is played by eight performers who enact the numerous interview subjects in a three act, three hour performance on a largely bare stage. When filmed by HBO in 2002, it was reduced in length by about half and each interview subject was performed by a different actor--some of them members of the Techtonic Theatre Project, some of them well-known actors such as Laura Linney and Peter Fonda. The result is indeed powerful... but not as effective as the stage version, for on film it tends be a series of readings by "talking heads," a sort of pseudo-documentary, rather than as a cohesive whole.That said, the great difference between the film and the original script is one of balance. On stage, THE LARAMIE PROJECT takes no sides per se; it simply sets forth the words and allows the audience to judge. On screen, it is distinctly slanted, cutting much of the commentary that gave the original such remarkable balance. Even so, and although far outstripped by the stage version, it is a powerful voice for equality, tolerance, and simple human decency. Recommended.GFT, Amazon Reviewer

When i first saw this movie i was filled with many different feelings, it was an truthful, accurate story about a young man who should not have had to die because of who he was. It shows the ignorance there is in people, the fear some harbor and absolute evil there is in some. This young man, a sweet small, man someone who was someones child was killed brutally because he was gay. Because he chose to be with men. Its a story from people who knew him, of other gay people who live with the fear of being harmed for being who they are. Its a story of how things are in this day and age. Its sad, horrible and tragic that this young mans family had to lose him because there are such narrow minded homophobic people out there. It shows up the different types of hate crime and racist there is out there. Its a touching, story one that makes you think, one that makes you feel and one that makes you wish you could change things. I would recommend this movie to any one who wants to see something meaningful, something with a touch of truth, something with a lot to say. Its a great movie with a tragic loss within it.

"...And the last thing that he saw on this Earth was the sparkling lights of Laramie, Wyoming."Characters are frequently speaking in poetics similar to that in "The Laramie Project," a film that if it weren't for its grim subject matter, could probably register somewhere as a darkly hopeful poem that would have been authored by none other than Edgar Allan Poe himself.Laramie, Wyoming was just a small dot on the U.S. Plains. It rests comfortably on plentiful farmland and everybody knows everybody and there isn't really a need to lock your door at night. But this small town in Wyoming became the center of a worldwide media frenzy for one cold, dark, chilling winter in October 1998 when 22-year-old University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten and left to die tied to a fence in an open field.Laramie's citizens are quick to denounce the crime, and emphasize that, "they are not a town of hate." Matthew was beaten, as we later find out, by two local kids, because he was a homosexual. The townsfolk were all hoping these were some out-of-town people but the fact the perpetrators are locals makes it even more heinous.I guess I should say I vaguely remember the case. I'm 20 now; I was 13 and in junior high school in 1998 when this story broke. For several months, all that was on the news was Matthew Shepard, Matthew Shepard - the gay college student beaten and left to die by fellow townspeople, who were also kids themselves. Matthew, we're told, wasn't born a winner; he was scrawny, wore braces until his death, short (5'2"), but he died a hero, at least in the eyes of his father Dennis (Terry Kinney).I didn't pay much attention to the story, but looking back now, with "The Laramie Project" still fresh in my mind, I now wish I had followed it more closely. This film, directed by Venezuelan-born Moises Kaufman (and based on his own play), which is the result of a collection of over 200 interviews by his fellow (gay & lesbian) New York theater workers with the citizens of Laramie, Wyoming, sticks with you long after it's finished, as person after person expresses their thoughts, feelings, and utter outrage that something as horrific as this crime could happen in America. Only IN America, could something like this happen. We are supposed to be in a country where people can live without fear of being harassed for their creed, gender, race, or sexual orientation.Referring to the film, it makes you rethink American values and wonder: Gosh, is this the degree at which people in this country hate? As a straight African-American male, it frightens me. It utterly, utterly frightens me at how often hate is preached in this country, and people swallow it up like it's the Gospels; it's not. Also, as an agnostic, it's not my duty to say whether or not I approve of the lifestyle myself, but I don't let that cloud my judgment because gays are also people, and we aren't perfect. But still, it's disturbing to see the amount of hate and animosity that was a result of Matthew's ordeal - "GAYS BURN IN HELL," "THANK GOD FOR AIDS" - from an evangelical Christian preacher, no less! (It makes me wonder if he really believes his own garbage.)By the time the film opens, the crime has already occurred, and the two young men responsible - Aaron McKinney (Mark Webber) and Russell Henderson (Garret Neergaard) - have already been brought in and are awaiting trial, as the young (but never seen) Matthew "Matt" Shepard is dying inside a hospital with his parents at his bedside, and a brave doctor (Dylan Baker) keeps the media and nation alert on his condition."Matt," as he was often called by those closest to him, is described as a kind and down-to-earth fellow who didn't hold a grudge against anybody, gay or straight. Christina Ricci is Romaine Patterson, a lesbian who knew him well and is certain Matt's beating was no robbery but a hate crime. Two law enforcement people (Clancy Brown and Amy Madigan) involved in the investigation find their lives changed drastically as a result of Matthew: Brown's character undergoes a radical shift in his personal views on the gay community and Madigan narrowly contracts HIV from handling Matt.The story is told passionately well in many personal and candid interviews with townsfolk. There are many actors here, some familiar, some not, but each serves as everyone else's support, since there are no clear-cut stars. Other familiars include Laura Linney as a sheriff's wife, Steve Buscemi as a philosophical mechanic, Janeane Garofalo as a lesbian school teacher, Joshua Jackson as a bartender, and Jeremy Davies as a theater student who gets the lead in "Angels in America."By the end of it all, the cameras pack up and leave, and a shattered town attempts to recover from a senseless spectacle of violence. They have to live with it now, while the rest of America gets to continue scot-free. We're told, that no anti-hate crime legislation was passed as a result of Matthew's beating, neither at a federal level or state level. With this in mind, the liberal ideology that things will get better in time no longer holds much water. The message is clear: the Matthew Shepard murder focused worldwide attention on hate, but why has so little been done to curb the violence? (*Shakes his head*) Only in America...9/10