The Matthew Shepard Story

For many reasons, more than a biographic film. In fact, this film propose not a story but few serious fists of questions. About be parent, be gay, to be front to the cruel death of your son and to expect radical form of justice , to see the things more clear, to make your duty and to accept yourself. The story of Matthew Shepard can not be exposed by a film. But the film, in this case for beautiful acting and inspired exploration of case, gives some clues . Not exactly for conclusions or verdict. But for understand something defining the evil inside and near us , the options and inner fights of self acceptance. And, sure, the essence defining the status of parent.

Essentially, this should be looked upon as a sort of companion piece to "The Laramie Project" - which also came out in the same year and dealt with the Mathew Shepard murder. The other movie adopted a documentary- style approach as it deals with the impact of the murder of Mathew Shepard on the town of Laramie, Wyoming, while this one offered a dramatization of the events. "The Mathew Shepard Story" does offer a fairly graphic and hard to watch portrayal right off the top of Mathew's murder (made even more graphic by the fact that some of it was shot in slow motion.) The movie then switches back and forth in two directions. We watch Mathew's parents (played very well by Stockard Channing and Sam Waterston) as they deal with their son's death, and particularly how they deal with an upcoming victim impact statement that has to be made and as they wrestle with whether or not to demand the death penalty for Mathew's murderer. Waterston especially was impressive as he portrayed Mathew's father making the victim impact statement. The emotion he offered up seemed both real and raw and was very moving to watch. We also watch snippets of Mathew's life, his struggles to come to terms with being gay, some of the hardships he had to deal with because he was gay, and finally how he was lured into the trap his killers set for him. Shane Meier did a great job with the role of Mathew.

I was a little bit surprised to discover that this was a Canadian movie, and it was a good one, which seemed to offer a fitting portrayal of Mathew's life.

The Matthew Shepard Story was a great tribute to his life, and what happened to him when and after he died. You will have to see it to make your own opinions, but my opinion is it was undoubtfully great! So many things remind me of my own life, which make it even better. I do recommend this movie to young/old, gay/straight, man/woman, just everyone!

I can only hope that at least a few people who were not familiar with the case saw this thought provoking accurate portayal of a horrendous hateful act and its aftermath. As usual, Sam Watterston and Stockard Channing did an excellent job portraying the grieving parents. Any parent should relate to the turmoil, self-blame and general heart break that Judy and Dennis Shepard went through during that horrible period of time. Also, the agony that Dennis Shepard endured before he finally made his last minute decision about the death penalty was extremely well-done. I hope this movie will pave the way for others like it and and hopefully change the minds of some who might be "on the fence" regarding hate crime legislation.

We live in a visual age and the horrifying thing about Matthew Shepard's demise is that it is far from an isolated incident. I'm in a better position to know more than most because I worked for New York State Crime Victims Board for 23 years. I can give the reader the names of several victims of horrifying incidents that resulted in homicide or serious injury, but these cases were covered locally or at most statewide.

The real hero in The Matthew Shepard Story as far as I'm concerned is some anonymous individual working for a wire service who picked up the local story of a kid being left for dead on a lonely road on a barbed wire fence in the state of Wyoming in a coma. The visual picture of little Matthew all 5'3" of him stretched out like he was crucified gave a nationwide picture for America to ponder the effects of hate crimes against GLBT people. For the first time in our history a case like this got national coverage.

There were rallies in all 50 states calling for GLBT inclusive hate crime legislation. I remember attending one in Buffalo and with me was a friend who actually went to the University of Wyoming some twenty years earlier. He told me that Laramie, Wyoming was not the most gay friendly place in the world, but that he never had any serious problems that put him in fear of his life there.

The Matthew Shepard Story is as much about his parents Dennis and Judy Shepard played here by Sam Waterston and Stockard Channing and there efforts to support their gay son in life and give his death meaning as it is about Matthew who is portrayed by Shane Meier. Matthew was nothing special in life, just your average gay kid, trying to fit into a world that can be real hostile. He had his angst over his sexual orientation, but looked to be adjusting to it.

In my life I've also seen parents who behaved abominably when their kids came out or even when they suspected. The support that Dennis and Judy Shepard gave in life and after can never be overestimated. Sam Waterston has had many a courtroom moment as ADA Jack McCoy, but addressing the court and the perpetrators in the penalty phase of the trial of McKinney and Henderson might just have been his best.

Philip Morris, Wayne Purviance, Julio Rivera, James Zappalorti, Henry Marquez all may have met Matthew Shepard as he went from one plain of existence to another. Any one of them could have gotten the national coverage that Matthew Shepard did, it was fate that got him the national coverage they didn't have. Matthew was a national symbol for them as well as millions of others over time.

And so he tragically remains.