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Amos Lassen wrote on 12/26/2011:

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.