A Review of the Docudrama the Laramie Project

October 12, 1998 is the date that many people will never forget. 20-30 anti-gay murders take place across the United States every year. None, however, have caught the united conscience of the country like that, which took place in early October 1998 in Laramie, Wyoming. The image of Matthew Shepard being violently beaten to a state of comatose and bound tightly to a fence became the rallying point against intolerance.

As a journalism student, teachers have said don't become emotional towards certain stories. In the case of Matthew Shepard, it was hard for me, as I have several gay friends, some of who have received harsh beatings just for the fact that they were gay. I couldn't help but think "what if that was my friend?" I can't just check my emotions at the door, this could have happened to one of my best friends. For the sake of the review, I did just that; I put my emotional feelings aside so I can give a non-biased review of this film.

Before watching this movie, I wondered how one could create art from tragedy. Then I thought just forget art and let the tragedy speak for itself. It would be easy for a filmmaker to create a self-righteous, preachy film about the murder of 21-year-old college student Matthew Shepard in the outskirts of Laramie, but the director did the opposite.

The Laramie Project is a docudrama about a playwright who wants to turn the story of what happened to Matthew Shepard into an off-Broadway play. Moises Kaufman, the playwright, went to Laramie with several other interviewers in the wake of the vicious murder of Matthew Shepard. Shepard was beaten and left for dead by two men who wanted to "scare him straight" or "teach him a lesson" about hitting on straight men.