The Laramie Project

I really can't review movies ... I have terrible taste in films and mostly like to be entertained, not reduced to tears and anger. I put The Laramie Project in my Netflix queue without really thinking about it, and even after it arrived, it sat around unopened while I watched fluffier fare. But tonight I put it in the DVD player, also kind of without thinking. That didn't last long.

The Laramie Project is the film version of Moises Kaufman's stage play of the same name about the town of Laramie in the aftermath of Matthew Shephard's death.  Kaufman and his theater group went to Laramie and interviewed about 200 people before, during, and after the trials of his killers. The film is a dramatization of that interview process, with actors portraying the theater group and townspeople, intermixed with actual news footage of the time. Even though it was filmed on location and not on a set or stage, it had that inescapable play-iness that plagues a lot of filmed versions of plays. After about ten minutes, though, I forgot all about it, and got drawn in by the painful power of the words themselves.

There were two passages that I found devastating. One was the speech given by Matthew's father at the sentencing hearing of one of the killers - the most merciless plea for mercy I've ever heard. The other was this statement by a 40-ish gay farmer, in response to the frequently heard comments that Wyoming is not "like that," but is a place where people "live and let live":

"There's this whole idea, you leave me alone, I'll leave you alone. It's even in some of the western literature, you know, live and let live. That is such crap. Basically what it boils down to is, if I don't tell you I'm a fag, you won't beat the crap out of me. What's so great about THAT? That's a great philosophy?"

I saw Brokeback Mountain on a date and commented later that it's a terrible date movie ... well, put this on that same list. But having let nearly five years pass by without seeing this film, I'm wishing now I had seen it sooner. If you haven't, do.

Comments

[Travis]

I thought it was a beautiful movie, when I saw it. The scene in which some of the townspeople dressed as angels and blocked Fred Phelp's from the funeral, literally took my breath away.

Travis