"The Matthew Shepard Story: An American Hate Crime" is a powerful and heartbreaking film that tells the tragic story of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man who was brutally murdered in a targeted hate crime in 1998. The film sensitively explores the events leading up to Shepard's death and the impact it had on his family, friends, and the wider community. Through its honest portrayal of the devastating consequences of intolerance and bigotry, the film serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of acceptance, understanding, and standing up against hate. The performances are compelling, particularly by the actors portraying Matthew and his family. Overall, "The Matthew Shepard Story" is a moving tribute to a life cut short by prejudice and a call to action for greater compassion and equality in society.

Almost everything anything I needed to know about the Shepard case I got through the great HBO film "The Laramie Project" which had a stellar cast and it was a very special movie even though the story presented about the details of the crime and then afterwards with the WBC homophobic protests on his funeral makes for a harsh experience to be seen and I never went back to see anything related with, except reading on the internet.

I don't usually shy away from movies of any topic but for a little while I almost decided to not see it. But I got myself into it just to see what more could be added to Matthew's story and it was worth seeing it since it puts into a wider context of our current times and everything that happened, of good and bad, 25 years later after his killing.

And it turned out to be a really great, informative documentary.

For the generation that came after him or haven't heard about the murder in 1998, this is a really important and well-made TV special that presents a little about who was Matthew,

Unfortunately the makers of this documentary have chosen to allot only a portion of the documentary to Matthew Shepard and his story; the second half of this documentary is spent on talking about trans issues, current politics in Florida and Texas, and bringing on a host of random people who have no relation whatsoever to Matthew Shepard's story or life to talk about current political events like how upset they were when Trump was elected, moves to prevent children from taking puberty blockers, and basically everything under the sun that has nothing to do with Matthew Shepard; it's a tragic waste of bandwidth that should have belonged to Matthew.

Matthew wasn't trans. Matthew wasn't politically involved. What happened to him was a travesty, and the whole story deserved more attention than it was given - about thirty minutes. Why the documentary makers didn't let people get to know Matthew as a human being, didn't discuss the perpetrators of this murder, and didn't even try to interview the perpetrators, their friends and family, or the people of Laramie is a strange and negligent decision.

Matthew still deserves his documentary.