The film follows a theater group as they interview people in the town of Laramie, Wyoming after the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard. This film meshes real accounts of Laramie people portrayed by actors and reenactments of the murder, it is a remake of the play of the same name. Matthew Shepard was a gay man and was killed simply for that reason. The film shows how despite the occurrence of the hate crime, people in Laramie were reluctant to admit it was anything more than an isolated incidence or recognize how homophobia permeated their town. In some cases, Laramie residents were outright homophobic and excused Matthew's death because he was "coming on" to the men that murdered him.
I thought this film was powerful. It is scary to know that it is a real story and the interviews are based on actual accounts from residents. We like to think that America is a place of acceptance and freedom, however that is not the case for all people. LGBT people are at a much higher risk of violence. I'm glad we've made progress in the years after his murder such as the marriage ruling and more laws protecting LGBT people against discrimination, but there is still more work to be done. Transgender women of color are being murdered at an alarming rate and this problem is seemingly unaddressed by the public or government. I think this would be a great film to show in schools to advocate against biased based bullying and prejudice. One critic I will give is that the acting could have been better, but I think the powerful message overshadowed that.
Resources:
https://www.niot.org/sites/default/files/KQEDNIOT-LearningGuideWeb.pdf
https://occr.ucdavis.edu/ccbp2004/laramie_teacher.pdf
https://betterlesson.com/community/document/2104764/laramie-project-anticipation-guide-docx
https://www.glsen.org/sites/default/files/FINAL%20RESOURCE%20Matthew%20Shepard.pdf
http://www.welcomingschools.org/resources/school-tips/bullying-what/
https://antibullying.nsw.gov.au/media/documents/Bias-based-bullying-for-educators.pdf
https://www.cdc.gov/lgbthealth/youth-resources.htm
https://www.glsen.org/educate/resources/lesson-plans
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