Evil Angels

Plot synopsis:
Seventh-day Adventist Church pastor Michael Chamberlain (Sam Neill), his wife Lindy (Meryl Streep), their two sons, and their nine-week-old daughter Azaria are on a camping holiday trip in the Outback. With the baby sleeping in their tent, the family is enjoying a barbecue with their fellow campers when a cry is heard. Lindy returns to the tent to check on Azaria and is certain she sees a dingo with something in its mouth running off as she approaches. When she discovers the infant is missing, everyone joins forces to search for her, without success. It is assumed what Lindy saw was the animal carrying off the child, and a subsequent inquest rules her account of events is true.
The tide of public opinion soon turns against the Chamberlains. For many, Lindy seems too stoic, too cold-hearted, and too accepting of the disaster that has befallen her. Gossip about her begins to swell and soon is accepted as statements of fact. The couple's beliefs are not widely practised in the country, and when the media report a rumour that the name Azaria means "sacrifice in the wilderness" (when in fact it means "blessed of God"), the public is quick to believe they decapitated their baby with a pair of scissors as part of a bizarre religious rite. Law-enforcement officials find new witnesses, forensics experts, and circumstantial evidence—including a small wooden coffin Michael uses as a receptacle for his parishioners' packs of un-smoked cigarettes—and reopen the investigation, eventually charging Lindy with murder. Seven months pregnant, she ignores her attorneys' advice to play on the jury's sympathy and appears emotionless on the stand, convincing onlookers she is guilty of the crime of which she is accused. As the trial progresses, Michael's faith in his religion and his belief in his wife disintegrate, and he stumbles through his testimony, suggesting he is concealing the truth. In October 1982, Lindy is found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour, while Michael is found guilty as an accessory and given an 18-month suspended sentence.
More than three years later, while searching for the body of an English tourist who fell from Uluru, police discover a small item of clothing that is identified as the jacket Lindy had insisted Azaria was wearing over her jumpsuit, which had been recovered early in the investigation. She is immediately released from prison, the case is reopened and all convictions against the Chamberlains overturned.

Tags: tragedy, flashback

Review:
Also known as A cry in the dark', Evil Angel' shows how divided the Australian public really were towards this case and how the media can manipulate a story, by favouring just one side of a story that they believe is the whole truth.
It is understandable that the general public would think that Lindy is guilty of murder, which is again testament to Streep's masterful performance.
As I watched this film, made in 1988, in 1999, I thought I was watching the O.J. Simpson debacle (although I have very different opinions about the innocence of the individuals in each situation).The Australian news media, if this movie is to be believed, devoured the case of a possible infanticide and truth was left as an afterthought.
I do wish more was made of the issue of religious prejudice in the case (the accused are Seven-Day Adventists).Today these circuses have become common but that makes the lesson only more important.Streep is excellent as usual, and this is the best I've ever seen Sam Neill.
I say that because how brutal a hounding press can be to people, in this case an innocent Australian couple charged with killing their baby.Meryl Streep received a lot of recognition for her performance when this film came out but I thought Sam Neill was just as good.
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.
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.
Meryl Streep is excellent, as always, and manages to hold our interest even though she plays a character who isn't particularly likable.The media frenzy that surrounded this case in Australia is reminiscent of the Sam Sheppard murder case in Ohio during the 50's.
Both versions recount the disappearance during a weekend camping trip of Lindy and Michael Chamberlain's infant daughter, and the subsequent three-ring media circus which led to wild (and totally fabricated) accusations of cult fanaticism and ritual sacrifices, and eventually to a murder conviction for the bereaved mother.
The reporters covering the case are shown to be more ferocious than the wild dingo dog claimed by the Chamberlain's to have killed their child, but the screenplay wisely implicates public opinion as well, which condemned Lindy Chamberlain to prison for not having a telegenic personality (the same trait might also lose her sympathy with moviegoers, despite another challenging performance by Meryl Streep).
(Mersault, in Camus' "The Stranger.") Lindy Chamberlain, as expertly played here my Meryl Streep, a phenomenally talented technical actress, is not a likable person.
She's as unsympathetic as all get out and human nature being what it is, people are likely to get confused about the difference between being dislikable and being guilty of murder.Sam Neill is far more sympathetic a character but, where Streep is arrogant, he's sensitive, muddled, and weak.
the origin of that popular quote " A DINGO ATE MY BABY!!" ( Though, you never actually hear those words said in the film) It all derives from a true story about how a religious, devoted mother off on a little trip deep in the Aussie Outback with her husband and two other kids has her baby abducted and ultimately devoured by a particularly strong dingo.
Of course, if you followed the coverage at the time, you'd already know the answer to that, but try not to spoil it for those who didn't...Films based on actual events don't come any better than this, as we find ourselves immersed in this living nightmare for the married pair, where everyone has an opinion on what happened, the media is out to get them and even the police seem untrustworthy.
Streep especially is perfect; with a dead-on accent to boot; not surprisingly, she won yet ANOTHER Oscar nomination.There is still those who think Lindy is guilty, after four trials and plenty of evidence backing her story.Probably the same people who think Man never landed on the Moon, There were two shooters when JFK got assassinated and Global Warming is a myth.
The film wonderfully portrays the lack of public sympathy given to people of faith who instead of displays of grief are calm because they believe it is the will of God. A Cry in the Dark is about the dangers of a free press who in this instance behave like savage dogs behind keyboards.
Excellent true-life drama from director and co-writer Fred Schepisi, adapting John Bryson's book "Evil Angels" with Robert Caswell, details the 1980 case of a nine-week-old baby allegedly carried off by a wild dingo at a camping site at Ayers Rock in the Northern territory of central Australia.
Sam Neil and Meryl Streep play Michael and Lindy Chamberlain, a married couple who take a camping trip in outback Australia with their baby daughter Azaria, who one night goes missing, and only her bloody and torn clothing is recovered.
Lindy is convinced that a native Dingo(a sort of wild dog) grabbed and killed Azaria, but the police and public don't believe her, since they never heard of such behavior by a dingo, and so the Chamberlains find themselves arrested and charged with their daughter's murder.
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..
Based on a true story, Lindy Chamberlain (Meryl Streep) loses her baby to a dingo while camping near Ayers Rock in Australia.
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 don't mean to spoil the story for you, but you need to know the basics before getting knee-deep in what caused this woman to find herself inside a prison.Buy or rent the movie and discover how deep-seated human hatred of those who are different continues to thrive around the globe.This is a very moving motion picture with a terrific cast of actors.Both Meryl Streep (with her famous Aussie accent) and Sam Neill, whose accent is his native-born pronunciation, are outstanding.
The central characters, Lindy and Michael Chamberlain, whose daughter disappears during a night out in the Australian outback, are not bad people, but then surely not all, or even most, of the scores of people we see throughout this movie would be bad if we knew them better.
Meryl Streep, one of, if not the, greatest actress working today, may not give a performance that particularly stands out, and frankly neither does any other actor, or department of film-making.
Whatever happened to the little girl, her parents were part of a margin with whom most of the media's intake didn't immediately identify, so the first inclination was to go after them like a pack of hungry...well...Meryl Streep and Sam Neill are constantly on screen, but the public plays the real leads here.
It tells the story about a thirty-one-year-old Australian mother named Alice Lynne Murchison Chamberlain.Distinctly and subtly directed by Australian filmmaker Fred Schepisi, this quietly paced and somewhat fictional tale which is narrated from multiple viewpoints though mostly from the main characters' point of view, draws a judicial portrayal of an Australian father named Michael Chamberlain who went with his wife, their sons and their daughter named Azaria to a city called Mount Isa (1923) in the state of Queensland, Australia and how a baby coat and inventions caused a persecution of a family.
I took the stars from my ..." (2009) contains a great and timely score by composer Bruce Smeaton.This retelling which is set in Oceania in the late 20th century and where people advocated more for the dignity of a Dingo than for a woman, is impelled and reinforced by its cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, rhythmic continuity, comment by Alice: " my heart " and the lingering acting performances by American actress Meryl Streep and New Zealand actor Sam Neill.
Fascinating movie, based on a true story, about an Australian woman, Lindy Chamberlain (Meryl Streep) accused of killing her baby daughter.
Fred Schepisi (the director) selects random moments to capture of a family on vacation that give a looming sense of the oncoming tragedy, while also showing the attentive bliss with which Lindy (Streep) and Michael (Sam Neill) Chamberlain care for their children.While the famous line "A Dingo Took My Baby!" has become somewhat of a punchline these days, the movie never even comes close to laughable.
It is subtle and realistic, leaving the audience horrified and asking questions.The majority of the film takes place in courtrooms and focuses on the Chamberlain's continuous fight to prove their innocence to the press and the court, which suspects Lindy of murder.The fact that it is clear to us from the beginning that they are innocent makes the tense trials all the more gripping.
I loved the way the media was by no means made to be sympathetic, but they always had valid reasons to hold their views.The final line of the film is very profound and captures perfectly the central element that makes this film so much different from other courtroom dramas.In terms of performances, the only ones that really matter in this film are those of Streep and Neill...
I highly recommend that people who only know of the movie as the flick where Meryl screams "The dingo took my baby!" watch the film and see just how much more there is to A CRY IN THE DARK then that one line....
Lindy (Meryl Streep) and her husband Michael (Sam Neill) have just welcomed a baby girl, Azaria.
Best remembered by cinephiles as the film won Meryl Streep a Cannes BEST ACTRESS trophy and is among one of her 19 Oscar-nominated performances, A CRY IN THE DARK is a faithful adaptation of a sensational true story in Australia, about Lindy Chamberlain (Streep), a mother of three, and her parson husband Michael (Neill), the former is accused of murdering her newborn baby daughter during a camping trip in Ayers Rock in 1980, while she claims the baby is snatched by a dingo, and the latter is charged as an accessory.
Now this case is already cleared as their convictions have been overturned in 1988 when new key evidence emerges.Before watching the movie, I have no idea how the story will wind up, all I know is that it is a thorny case of whether a mother murders her own child or not, so I conjecture it would straddle the key issue of the mother's innocence, but director Fred Schepisi (SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION 1993, 6/10) gives a firm hand in exerting Lindy's innocence, and vigilantly indicts the media's hullabaloo and hyper coverage, the spuriousness lies in the forensic system and the public's collective impressionability maliciously based on mislead first impression and personal prejudice.
Meryl Streep is excellent in her nuanced and stoic performance as the infamous Lindy Chamberlain who was accused and tried for allegedly killing her own baby Azaria Chamberlain and using her alibi of ravenous dingoes as her defense.
A contemporary, and classic, tale of injustice.Evil Angels, aka A Cry in the Dark, depicts the famous case of Azaria Chamberlain, a baby killed by a dingo near Ayers Rock / Uluru in 1980.
This review contains spoilers for those who are not aware of the details of the true story on which this movie is based.The right to be presumed "Innocent until proven guilty" is a basic entitlement of anyone in a civilised society; but according to Fred Schepisi's partisan but sadly convincing story of a famous Australian murder trial, it was not granted to Lindy Chamberlain, accused of killing her baby.
Although Chamberlain was eventually released, this shamefully only followed the discovery of new evidence "proving" their innocence, something no defendants should have to produce.'A Cry in the Dark' is well acted throughout, especially by Meryl Streep, who puts on a convincing Australian accent (at least to this Pom's ears) and manages keep Lindy sympathetic (to us) while still conveying how she managed to become a national hate figure.
The couple maintained that she had been taken by a dingo, but circumstantial evidence, which included Lindy's confrontational personality and the family's religious beliefs, led to the perception within Australia that Azaria had been murdered by her mother.
As many readers will know, Lindy was convicted of the crime after a trial that received unprecedented media coverage (rivalled only by Madeleine McCann's disappearance in 2007) and served three years in prison, before new evidence emerged which exonerated her.Hearing the news this morning that, at long last, an Australian coroner has served the Chamberlains with a death certificate confirming that Azaria was killed by a dingo, reminded me of how brilliantly the family's struggle for justice was portrayed in A Cry in the Dark.Quite often, the courtroom drama, so popular in the 1980s, can be a very formulaic film genre.
Indeed, Fred Schepisi's film focuses on conversations between anonymous characters throughout Australia in order to reflect the circus-like attention the Chamberlain case received.Meryl Streep's performance is key to maintaining the central ambiguity.
Though nominated for the Best Actress Oscar, Streep uncharacteristically (and unjustly) didn't win on this occasion, although perhaps I should applaud this fact, given my last blog entry about Biopics.Sam Neill puts in, arguably, his best performance as Michael Chamberlain, Lindy's loyal but weaker husband.
Azaria's father, Michael Chamberlain, is then convicted as an accessory and given a suspended sentence.I will not spoil the film's conclusion, suffice to say that actress Meryl Streep, who plays Lindy Chamberlain, lends the film surprising power.
We're thus suckered, like the public, into believing we too can successfully "spot a liar".7.9/10 – Gentle direction, nice music and an impressive performance by Meryl Streep and Sam Neill as the film's central couple, make this an effective docudrama.
The film's themes - "one woman against the world", "steadfast faith", "religious trials", "the importance of innocence" and "the danger of rash judgements" – are standard "movie of the week" stuff, far less interesting than Streep's performance.
Several years later fresh evidence came to light which led to Lindy's release from prison; in 1988, shortly before this film was released, both the Chamberlains were acquitted by the Northern Territory Court of Appeals of all the charges against them.The "dingo baby case", as it became known, was one of the most controversial cases in Australian legal history.
It is a dry, factual look at the facts of the case in the manner of a television docudrama; there is little to distinguish it from a "based-on-a-true-story" TV movie except for the presence of a major international star in the shape of Meryl Streep.
"A Cry in the Dark" in an Australian film from an Australian director, Fred Schepisi, chronicling the most famous trial of Australian history, the disappearance of a nine- week old baby, Azaria Chamberlain, in a campground near Ayers Rock (world's biggest rock) in 1980.
The sad episode is infamous for the "The Dingo took my baby" line, the desperate cry of a mother, Lindy Chamberlain who saw the dingo coming off the tent where she put little Azaria a few minutes before, before it would be reduced to an 'opinion' debated by millions of Australians and questioned in trial.
The Chamberlains would end up being convicted for the murder of their own baby after no evidence of a piece of clothing took by a dingo could be found.And whether it was the dingo who took little Azaria or Lindy, with the complicity of her husband Michael, who killed her child, matters less in the course of the film than the mechanisms that lead to one conviction to another.
Meryl Streep, Oscar-nominated for the role of Lindy Chamberlain, redefines again the rule of acting through her extraordinary talent to multiply the accents, to be realer than the real, and to embody in her eyes all the emotion needed to elevate the film.
Kramer", if it wasn't for Meryl Streep, the movie would have definitely sunk into oblivion and not become this pop-culture phenomenon forever associated with Australia.The film was released in 1988 after the Chamberlains were finally acquitted when a baby clothing was found in a dingo lair.
In August 1980 the disappearance of baby Azaria Chamberlain and the pursuant trial of her parents Lindy and Michael for the alleged murder of the child caused an uproar across what was then a very angry nation.
What followed was little more than trial by media, and with the Australian people determined she be put away, Lindy was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour, even though the prosecution could present no motive and little other than circumstantial evidence.Meryl Streep is in top form as the accused woman who battles Australia head on to prove her innocence.
This is a docudrama story on the Lindy Chamberlain case and a look at it's impact on Australian society.