A Cry in the Dark (Widescreen): Amazon.ca: Meryl Streep, Sam Neill, Fred Schepisi: DVD

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Amazon.com Essential Video

Julia Louis-Dreyfus's Elaine on Seinfeld once offered a non sequitur at a party just to relieve her own boredom: "The dingo ate your baby," she blurted in a bad Australian accent. It was a reference to this harrowing film by director Fred Schepisi, based on a true story. Meryl Streep and Sam Neill play a married couple on a camping trip whose baby disappears. Streep maintains that the baby was carried off by a dingo--a wild dog--but she winds up as the victim of a hard-hearted prosecutor and the target of a nationwide hate campaign, in part because she was a religious fundamentalist who seemed unsympathetic and, thus, became an easy target for the tabloid press. Streep and Neill are both outstanding in this fierce, realistic drama about the ways faith can bolster even in the face of outrageous persecution. --Marshall Fine

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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars captures the complexity that swept the nation, Oct 12 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Cry in the Dark (Widescreen) (DVD)

i'm a native australian and remember all too well the chamberlain case, which was as big as the o.j. case in australia. this movie, in particular meryl streep's amazing performance, really captures the tension that existed amongst australians as to whether lindy chamberlain was guilty of killing her daughter. forget crocodile dundee or other misconceptions - this shows australians and the australian mentality and readiness to judge people with razor-sharp precision.

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4.0 out of 5 stars excellent choice, Nov 14 2010

By

Darryce Zimmer "freeziez" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Cry in the Dark (Widescreen) (DVD)

thanks so much for the order. I enjoyed the movie I picked. It came in excellent timing. well packaged and well worth the viewing!!! thanks again

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5.0 out of 5 stars A Movie With A Timeless Theme, May 14 2004

By

H. F. Corbin "Foster Corbin" (ATLANTA, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Cry in the Dark (VHS Tape)

Michael and Lindy Chamberlain (Sam Neill and Meryl Streep) must endure the double horror of having their infant baby carried off by a dingo and then being convicted in a-- forgive me-- kangaroo court of the child's death. This movie, which grips you early on and never lets you go, sad to say, is based on a true incident that occurred in Australia in 1980. The Chamberlains, who are devout Seventh-Day Adventists, are guilty of being different. They are tried by both the public and media. Hysteria and rumor run rampant while reason and justice get lost in a rush to judgment.

With the possible exception of IRON WEED, Meryl Streep has never made a bad movie. She is perfect here as the mother who has hope against hope that the truth will out and she will be found innocent. With an awful haircut-- the old bowl over your head look-- and the additional weight she apparently gained (she is pregnant during her trial) she manages to almost look plain and frumpy. Sam Neill as her fundamentalist minister husband gives an outstranding performance as well. The scenes of the Australian outback are beautiful.

The theme is timeless: too often to be different is to be evil. If you are different, then you are not a person; and I can ignore the evidence and find you guilty of heinous crimes. Unfortunately, the Austalians in 1980 were not unique in this disease. One only has to remember the recent debacle of innocent inmates on death row in Illinois who were found to be innocent with new DNA evidence. Then there's Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in the 1950's. There's still questions about whether they were guilty of the crimes for which they were executed. The list goes on and on.

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Most recent customer reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars This MOVIE WAS JUST TOO HALLARIOUS TO TAKE SEROUSLY!
This movie is just a true joke. I remember seeing this movie in the middle of the night once before the time of all night infomercials. Read more

Published on Mar 24 2004 by THE AUTISTIC WEREWOLF

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling
"Cry In the Dark" is based on a true story about a disappearing baby. The mother maintains her claim that a dingo carried her baby daughter through the woods and killed... Read more

Published on Aug 31 2003 by David Anderson