Openly gay college student Matthew Shepard (Shane Meier) was murdered in an act of a hate crime with a senseless violence and such cruelty that attracted global attention. His death has changed the whole world forever.
The Matthew Shepard Story (2002)
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Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matthew_Shepard_Story
In 1998, a young gay man by the name of Matthew Shepard was robbed, viciously beaten and left tied to a fence to die. Although he’s found by the police, rescued and hospitalized, he dies from his injuries. This film recounts the events after the conviction of the two men responsible for this hate motivated murder.
Matthew’s parents, though satisfied by the conviction, are finding the sentencing phase of the trial more difficult. The parents initially want to request the death penalty for their son’s murderers, but the mother, Judy Shepard (Stockard Channing), starts to reconsider. As they struggle with their decision, they decide to reexamine the life of their son and rediscover his personality, his struggle to accept his homosexuality as a natural part of his being and above all, his generous humanity to others. All of this leads the parents to appeal to the court the way their son would have wanted, not out of vengeance but to represent best of what their son was and the tragedy of his loss.
Imdb user
What shocked me the most about this film is that I was also born in 1977 and was just coming out at university in 1998. I could totally identify with the young innocent Matthew walking along the street seeming slightly embarrassed behind his new gay friends from university. I did many a similar thing and what gets me is that I too could have been killed. But at the time, I felt free as a bird and like my life could not get any better. Thats what gives me the chills – it could have happened to me. It still could happen. Its frightening.
I was swept away by his relationship with Pablo; the stolen kiss; the painting; the play. I cried when after he was raped, Matthew came out to his mother, and she said, “I know”. It was all too familiar, how his mum saw the photos on the wall and suspected he was gay. I watched the film with my mum the other day, and it reminded us of the time when mum suspected I was gay, and she said to me, “a mother always knows these things”. How true.
The movie is well made, I actually enjoyed the flashbacks rather than having it presented in sequential order. It will be repeated on FOXTEL here in Sydney this month (Jan 07) and I will be taping it. Special praise is due to the actor who played Matthew and his parents.
Ultimately, the movie gets my thumbs up because, as you can see, it reminded me a lot of my coming out experience and my younger days when I began exploring the big gay world. I’m thankful I am still here to remember it, and I deplore what happened to Matthew. Poor Matthew and poor parents. :-(
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