A CRY IN THE DARK Movie Review
Evil Angels
During a recent, high-profile murder investigation near my hometown of Detroit, the guilt of the victim's spouse was virtually assumed by many in the community, not because of any facts, but because of the extremely polished, calm, and emotionless manner in which the spouse answered reporters' questions on television. As it turned out, the eventual solution to the case proved the spouse's complete innocence. This kind of public lynching by mannerism is nothing new; it is, in fact, the subject of one of the most powerfully unsettling (and unjustly neglected) films of the 1980s, Australian director Fred Schepisi's A Cry in the Dark. It's based on the true story of an Australian woman named Lindy Chamberlain, who was found guilty of murdering her baby despite her claims that the infant was carried off from the family's campsite by a wild dingo. Chamberlain was found guilty by the public long before the jury chimed in, and the “incriminating evidence” all centered around her cool, unemotional attitude in TV interviews as well as on the witness stand. If you've ever thought that Meryl Streep's talent has been over-hyped, one look at her riveting performance here as Lindy Chamberlain will cure you of that notion. She didn't win the Oscar the year she was nominated for A Cry in the Dark, but that may simply be because not enough tickets were sold to the movie—and that may be because people don't like Lindy Chamberlain, which of course is what got her convicted in the first place. Issues of popularity aside, this is an extraordinary picture.
NEXT STOP … The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Six Degrees of Separation, The Thin Blue Line
1988 (PG-13) 120m/C AU Meryl Streep, Sam Neill, Bruce Myles, Charles Tingwell, Nick Tate, Neil Fitz-patrick, Maurice Fields, Lewis Fitz-gerald; D: Fred Schepisi; W: Fred Schepisi, Robert Caswell; C: Ian Baker; M: Bruce Smeaton. Australian Film Institute '89: Best Actor (Neill), Best Actress (Streep), Best Film; Cannes Film Festival '89: Best Actress (Streep); New York Film Critics Awards '88: Best Actress (Streep); Nominations: Academy Awards '88: Best Actress (Streep). VHS, LV, 8mm, Closed Caption WAR, FCT