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Amos Lassen wrote on 06/19/2010:

“The Matthew Shepard Story”

The Story

Amos Lassen


In 1998, Matthew Shepard was robbed, beaten and left tied to a fence to die. Although he was soon found by the police and hospitalized, he soon died. This film recounts the events after the conviction of the two men responsible for this hate motivated murder. Though satisfied by the conviction, Matthew’s parents find it difficult to accept the sentence given to their son’s killers. They initially want to request the death penalty for their son's murderers, but the mother, Judy, 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 homosexual sexual orientation as a natural part of his being and above all, his generous humanity to others. They 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.
At the end of the two hour film, I was in tears.

The film gives an accurate portrayal of a horrendous hateful act and its aftermath. As usual, Sam Waterson 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 hopefully change the minds of some who might be "on the fence" regarding hate crime legislation.
The Matthew Shepard Story was a great tribute to his life, and what happened to him when and after he died.


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.

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.