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DVD
Warner Brothers
Publisher: Hbo Home Video
Andy Paris
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
Actors: Christina Ricci, Steve Buscemi, Kathleen Chalfant, Laura Linney, Peter Fonda
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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| Classic performance |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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This has been a classic for ten years and rings even truer today on presenting the latent prejudices of our society.
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| Remembering Matthew Shephard |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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"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.
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| review of laramie project |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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a good film which exposes the biased opinions of many americans in a small town named laramie. laramie can be viewed as a metaphor for ultra conservative thinking in many parts of america, and indeed, the world and matthew shepard as the object/scapegoat of those prejudices. the motto "live and let live" which is mentioned a few times in the film is a cliche which many people give lip service to but do not actually practice.
it gives the viewer the opportunity to reflect his/her own prejudices and not only does it have to be limited to views and opinions concerning homosexuality, but can be expounded to include all types of haughty and proud thinking and behavior, which, at one time or another, we are all susceptible to.
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| Amazing |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Normally, I'm not a crier, but this movie made me bawl. It's an incredibly moving story about the aftereffects the Matthew Shepard murder had on the town of Laramie, Wyoming. The film is pieced together very well and the acting is phenomenal. This is a story that needs to be heard, and I suggest every see it at least once.
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| No Changes |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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This movie tells me that nothing has changed since then (1998) to today (2008). There still are no laws against discrimination against gays, neither State nor Federal. It is still open season on gays and it is still happening today. How many killings today are due to people being gay? It is estimated that 50% of all teen suicides today are due to gays being verbably and physicaly abused in school and at home. When will we learn. Who plays what role is of no importance in this film. The importance is the MESSAGE.
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