This item is currently not available. If you have this item,
Join and post it to share with others.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus's Elaine onSeinfeldonce 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
The "Death" Of An Innocent Family Goes to show how far a little prejudice will go. After warnings that Dingos were becoming a dangerous problem at Ayer's Rock, baby Azaria's tragic death was bound to happen to someone's child sooner or later. Unfortunately, many didn't realize just how powerful an animal the Dingo is. Like many here in the U.S. don't realize the dangers of our even smaller Coyote. And unfortunately for the Chamberlain family, smaller minority churches like their membership in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, made them subjects of suspicion and rumors. Their marriage was eventually destroyed over this crisis.
This film portrayed so well, how a little gossip and stereotyping can explode into hatred. Little known to most even today, is that there was a large cover-up from law enforcement, down to members of the local community, who were aware that a well known local Dingo was responsible for Azaria's death. Yet, many still refuse to accept Lindy Chamberlain's total innocence of her baby's death. The average viewer of this film would be totally sickened by the full revelation of this tragic event.
Meryl Streep's performance, is possibly the best movie portrayal of someone not actually born a native to the country of her character's origin. Her Australian accent is delivered to perfection. Very much worthy of the 8th Academy Award nomination she received. A strong argument for religious tolerance, and keeping cool heads till all the facts are in. And a great edition to any DVD collection, though some strong language for what essentially is a faith-based film may discourage some from viewing.
The film's now well known line, "the Dingo took my baby" would not have the least hint of humor if heard in its true context. Watch the movie and you'll see what I mean.
PIERCING CRY No body, motive or weapon. The facts in the Australian murder trial of Lindy and Michael Chamberlain didn't add up, but other things did. Bigotry against the couple's religion. Scattershot forensics evidence taken as fact. And a hysteria that was the 1980s equivalent of a Salem witch hunt...thus says the box on this riveting true story. Director Fred Schepisi captures the media outrage that condemned a couple for a murder that didn't exist, as the couple's infant was carried off by a wild dingo. Receiving her 8th Oscar nomination, Meryl Streep is pitch perfect as Lindy. One can see however why the media didn't warm up to her story: she seems steely, almost unaffected, until her final statements in the courtroom. Sam Neill is equally superb minister husband, a man whose entire life is unraveling around him. It's a dark disturbing film and one can only wonder how "justice" could have been served in a "kangaroo court." A timeless, evocative movie.Sometimes, the truth and the reason are not in the same table! Many people tend to forget this memorable performance of Streep, who made, to my mind, her fourth best artistic achievement after Sophie 's decision, Ironweed and Silkwood in that order.
Powerful drama based on a true story around a woman judged unfairly as the murder of her own child when in reality was a wild dog the true guilty of this awful personal tragedy. Magnificent directorial effort of Schepisi backstage.
