A Cry in the Dark

source: A Cry in the Dark

Meryl Streep is such a genius. Well, at least as an actress. I know she's been made fun of for doing a lot of roles with accents, but she nails the accent every time. Her performance as Lindy Chamberlain was inspiring. Mrs. Chamberlain, as portrayed here, was not particularly likable, nor all that smart. But that just makes Streep's work all the more remarkable. I think she is worth all 10 or so of her Oscar nominations. About the film, well, there were a couple of interesting things. I don't know much about Australia, but the theme of religious bigotry among the general public played a big part in the story. I had largely missed this when I first saw the film some years ago, but it came through loud and clear yesterday. And it seems the Australian press is just as accomplished at misery-inducing pursuit and overkill as their American colleagues. A pretty good film. A bit different. Grade: B

Once again an outstanding performance by Meryl Streep ,achieving the tour de force of making us feel for a character which only an actress of the first order could make in turns pitiful,harsh,full of dignity ,but also disturbing and threatening.(Just compare with Streisand's poor acting in "nuts" )We almost believed she might possibly be guilty,such is the talent of this actress.Sam Neill is fine too,in a portrayal of a distraught suffering man (a minister!) whose faith is put through the mill.Religion plays a prominent part in this true story:it's because people do not know it very well that the couple seems different :in ancient times they would have passed for sorcerer and witch and been burned alive .Numerous sequences are given over to the populace's reactions ,barroom philosophizing which leads to slander and hatred. Directing is conventional,but the actors are everything.Watch the movie for them.

"A Cry in the Dark" is a masterful piece of cinema, haunting, and incredibly though provoking. The true story of Lindy Chamberland, who, in 1980, witnessed a horrific sight, seeing her 3-month-old baby being brutally taken from their family's tent, while camping on the Austrailian outback. Azaria (the baby) was never seen again, and the result of her horrendous disappearance caused a true life frenzy all around the world. Meryl Streep does immaculate justice to the role of Lindy, as she always does. But the one thing that helps "A Cry in the Dark" never fall flat is the brilliant direction. A truly inspired and accurate outlook on this baffeling case, tears are brought to the eyes. The concept is nothing less then terrifying, and afterwards you are left haunted, but also inspired.

Based on a true story, Lindy Chamberlain (Meryl Streep) loses her baby to a dingo while camping near Ayers Rock in Australia. She and her husband Michael (Sam Neill) would go through an odyssey of lies and innuendos leading to their conviction in the murder of their child. The story moves along quite well with the two stellar leads. When I rewatched it recently, I saw the realism of the court case and the gossip that goes along with a celebrity case. I didn't really care that much about O J Simpson when it happened. But I had some time during the Casey Anthony case, and the media circus is so close to this movie. All those little real people inserts in the movie just hit the nail on the head. I also love the performances of Neill and Streep. I love when the husband started to break down. I love that after the conviction, Streep tells the guards that Neill is going to fall. I love all their interplay. The one thing I would change is to not show the dingo in the tent when it happened. I would plant a little doubt in the mind of the audience. It would cause a little bit of unease especially in the beginning. Other than that, this is perfectly made.

It's a real challenge to make a movie about a baby being devoured by wild canines and the mother being wrongly accused of murder funny but against all odds this one succeeds. Meryl Streep gives the performance of her life, melodramatic, overwrought but with that comic genius that keeps you laughing even as a mother struggles with the ultimate horror. If comedies about the infants being eaten by dogs are not your cup of tea you might be uncomfortable watching this and, yes, it is an odd choice of topic for a farce but really very little of the movie has anything to do with that as it focuses on giving Streep a showcase for her Aussie accent and facial contortions. Throwing in a slam at media bias and sensationalism and disregard for either the truth or ethics gives the movie the chance to make the daring point that those things are bad.

When I first saw "A Cry in the Dark", I had no idea what the plot was. But when I saw it, I was shocked at what it portrayed. When I saw it a second time in an Australian Cinema class, I realized a second point: communication issues. You see, when a dingo snatched Lindy Chamberlain's (Meryl Streep) baby, she and her husband Michael (Sam Neill) were grief-stricken but didn't show it. As Seventh Day Adventists, they believed that God willed this to happen, and so they couldn't mourn it. But when people all over Australia saw their lack of sadness, everyone started believing that Lindy did it herself. The point is, the wrong message got communicated to the public, and it turned people against Lindy. Even though this was a pure accident, it still happened. It may be one of the biggest disasters resulting from the existence of mass media, regardless of any media outlet's political views. As for the performances, Streep does a very good job with an Australian accent (no surprise there), and Sam Neill is equally great. You will probably get blown away just by what you see here. Definitely one of Fred Schepisi's best movies ever.

In short I say to you the facts.... Lindy and David are New Zealanders who immigrated to Australia (soz Meryl your accent is wrong) A two month old baby disappeared while camping with their family (why would anyone go to the middle of the desert to see a massive rock with such a young family is anyone's guess especially when she couldn't do anything except watch her husband climb up Uluru) It is extremely unlikely that a dingo would be able to carry a baby let alone not leave a massive mess inside the tent when you consider they are constantly fed by the tourists, to this day this is unanswered but that's not to say that she is innocent or guilty it's just a very unlikely event. The press really took away any chance of getting to the real truth of this story.... who or what killed Azaria Chamberlain? This movie is extremely hard for Australian's to look at itself cause I can't get over the stupid comments made by the Australians, it really made us look silly and I feel that it didn't really portray what Australia is really all about. The things you can learn from this movie is that press can destroy any facts and Police can botch up any investigation, bigotry is rife in Australia when it comes to religion and truth to what happen to Azaria will never be known. Good to watch however you need to consider that this is a POV and still the facts are out there.

I am a Meryl Streep fan. I feel she is so versatile. This is just another character where she shows her versatility. I don't think the role of Lindy Chamberlain was an easy one, nor Michael Chamberlain for that matter. Meryl Streep and Sam Neil both did an INCREDIBLE job playing those roles. This is a very sad story. I couldn't even imagine having to going through what Lindy had to go through after losing a baby. As if losing the baby wasn't enough. This movie shows the power of media. As soon as people start talking the whole story escalates. Everything went out of control. I find it so sad how everyone has to jump on the bandwagon, and this mom went to jail because of it. I know that with certain murder trials I have had quite a strong opinions of what I believe is true. So I guess this is exactly the same thing, part of our human nature. I found the beginning of the movie a bit slow, but from the time Azaria was taken, I couldn't take my eye away from the screen. I was too emotionally involved. I found how they kept showing snippets of the general public to be very effective. It was interesting to see how everyone has their opinion, in the beginning silly things like the name Azaria means sacrifice in the wilderness, and eventually it all turns into a hate for Lindy. People celebrated when she got convicted. This is a really sad, but great movie. The movie left me with a lot of things to think about, about human nature, media etc etc. Most definitely a tearjerker, but I think one of those are good every now and then. Knowing that this is based on a true story just makes it that much sadder...

An unqualified "10." The level of writing and acting in this Australian movie is reminiscent of the very best of "old" Hollywood. Sam Neill and Meryl Streep are very good together. Neill matches Streep line for line, and take for take -- it is one of the best showcases yet of his prodigious acting talent and he is at his sexy and gorgeous best, notwithstanding the intensity of his role. This engrossing film is a treat for any movie fan who loves a gripping courtroom drama, portrayed in the most human but unsentimental terms. The movie -- which won several top awards in Australia -- boasts not only a superlative cast and director, but wonderful and authentic Australian locales. It proves that people are the same the world over. And, after all these years, people still delight in repeating the famous Streep line, accent and all: "A dingo ate moy baby!" Including that imp "Elaine Benis" on "Seinfeld."