REVIEW

DIRECTOR:Moises Kaufman

STARRING: Christina, Steve Buscemi, Laura Linney

RATING: 5/5

In 1998 in Wyoming, USA, a 21-year-old gay man named Matthew Shepard was robbed, beaten and left tied to a fence to die. It is believed he was targeted because of his sexuality, making the attack a hate crime. After the incident, Matthew’s parents created the Matthew Shepard Foundation, an influential LGBT rights group.

Many films were made about Matthew’s death. The Laramie Project is a multi-award winning product of these narratives; it is a play adapted into a HBO film by Mois├®s Kaufman. It draws on hundreds of interviews with Laramie locals to tell the story of a group of artists interviewing citizens about Shepard’s murder.

With Nestor Carbonell, Christina Ricci and Steve Buscemi, the cast brings to life different personalities and reflections on the murder. As an ÔÇ£acted documentaryÔÇØ, the accounts are interesting and incredibly shocking. It also depicts how the HIV scare at the time was predominantly associated with the LGBT community and stirred many religion-based reactions.

This film provides an insight into a time very foreign to most of us and investigates homophobia, forcing the audience to question certain attitudes. This story should be remembered as it shocked the world and questioned the way that society treated homosexuals.

Andy Love