Thoughts on A Cry in the Dark

 

via Tumblr/Courtesy TCM/Golan-Globus/Warner Bros.

"Well, is it not the case that you wrote some sort of thesis on dingoes when you were in college?"
"It is not the case. That's a press invention."
"That arose from the Woman's Day article?"
"I thought it came from a newspaper."
"Was the Woman's Day article accurate?"
"No, it was the most inaccurate article of all, or at least of the ones that I've read so far. In fact, there are only about five reporters who write exactly what you say and the rest of them use a little bit of license."

I was at first hesitant to use that gif. I mean, it is rather tacky, isn't it? But the more I think of it, the more I feel it is appropriate for A Cry in the Dark. For the first time in a while, we have a tale of two movies. In one corner, the story of Lindy and Michael Chamberlain (Meryl Streep and Sam Neill), Australian Seventh-day Adventists whose infant daughter dies. Azaria Chamberlain, Lindy said, was carried away by a dingo while the family was camping. Suspicion soon falls on the Chamberlains, with Lindy and Michael's happiness and faith eroding as they face an unbelievable situation with alternating shock, anger, defensive humor (this one seems to be exclusive to Lindy) and grief.

That's enough for one movie, right? Except that the Chamberlains' story was a cause célèbre, the kind that creates experts out of onlookers. Fred Schepisi, who directed and co-wrote Cry*, devoted too much time to the public reacting to every twist and turn. Seemingly every cross section of Australian society gets to speak its peace. If the Chamberlains' story was being told today, I suspect the spread of "information" would be depicted more satirically. Anyway, it's soon apparent that special attention is being paid to the reporters who apparently were too incompetent for words. I don't mind seeing journalism be held accountable, and the hullabaloo had to be acknowledged, but Cry was approaching Richard Jewell levels of "See! The media, they're the real monsters!"

*Known in Australia and New Zealand as Evil Angels, after the John Bryson book Schepisi and Robert Castwell adopted.

I think I watched Cry wrong. I took everything at face value. I believe Lindy, as played by Meryl, would not have killed Azaria. Furthermore, I didn't find Lindy or Michael especially off-putting. The couple, David Denby wrote, were "a strange, dicey pair to put at the center of a movie ... dim and unappealing." I dunno, in the wake of seemingly camera-friendly victims, I found it affecting to remember that the Chamberlains really couldn't have prepared for the indignities and low-key anguish they faced. One of Cry's most moving moments involves Lindy having to take her son over to see that a neighbor's baby really is sleeping securely. It's scenes like that, or when household items of interest were seized by law enforcement**, or how Lindy and Michael stand by each other despite their doubts, that I cared about. Not the endless Greek chorus shit.

**Which reminded me of Silkwood, when they did an inventory of Karen's belongings when it's possible she's dangerously radioactive.

Meryl Streep won Cry's only Oscar nomination. I don't think of the movie as a star vehicle the way that The Accused and Gorillas in the Mist was. Meryl is excellently supported by Sam Neill, playing the conventional ("womanly") material. Michael is the one visibly suffering for his love and his faith. Lindy's human, too, and that's conveyed in a refreshingly human manner. Meryl/Lindy gets to be mad at attention-grabbing witnesses, the tightrope she's obligated to navigate so as to win favor with jury members and the public, a system that seems determined to declare her guilty of something, if only to save face, and, of course, her husband. As for Lindy feeling any personal guilt and anguish, it's not as overt but definitely seems likely.

"... We should have got that zipper fixed so it was safe."

"Oh, love, it wouldn't have made any difference."

"We should have got it fixed, and we should have seen to it that it was zipped."

"Well what about that other dingo they told us about? Clawed its way through the tent to get some food."

"We should have zipped up the tent!"

"You mean I should have zipped it up, isn't that what you mean? Say it, for God sakes! ... Say it! Have the guts for once to say it."

This is a close one ... ultimately, Not Recommended.

Thoughts:

-- "Look, Mr. Barker, I wasn't there. I can only go on the evidence of my own eyes. We're talking about my baby daughter. Not some object."

-- Box Office: Grossing $6.9 million in the United States on a $15 million budget, this opened at No. 8.

-- Awards Watch: In addition to her Oscar nod, Meryl also won at Cannes and was one of the movie's four Golden Globe nominees. It lost in the fields of dramatic picture, dramatic lead actress, director and screenplay.

-- Critic's Corner, the movie: "Mr. Schepisi has chosen to present the terrible events in the outback in such a way that there's never any doubt in the audience's mind about what happened," Vincent Canby wrote. "Argues that dislikable people deserve tolerance and respect, too, and we register the point, but it's a hollow victory for tolerance," according to David Denby.

-- Critic's Corner, Meryl: "Perhaps her most impressive feat is her absolute refusal to soften Lindy into a saccharine symbol," either John Guerin or Aird Belivet wrote for The Film Experience. "In so doing, Streep recuperates Lindy from tabloid fodder while testing the viewer's empathic capabilities."

-- Fanservice Junction: Who wears short shorts? Sam wears short shorts!

-- Hey, It's ...!: Deborra-Lee Furness, as the Woman's Day reporter.

-- "I don't think a lot of people realize how important innocence is to innocent people."

-- Next: The Accidental Tourist. On deck: Mississippi Burning.