Evil Angels (film)

Evil Angels, released as A Cry in the Dark outside of Australia and New Zealand, is a 1988 Australian film directed by Fred Schepisi. The screenplay by Schepisi and Robert Caswell is based on John Brysons 1985 book of the same name. It chronicles the case of Azaria Chamberlain, a nineweekold baby girl who disappeared from a campground near Uluru then called Ayers Rock in August 1980 and the struggle of her parents, Michael and Lindy, to prove their innocence to a public convinced that they were complicit in her death. Meryl Streep and Sam Neill star as the Chamberlains, and Streep was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance.

Seventhday Adventist Church pastor Michael Chamberlain Sam Neill, his wife Lindy Meryl Streep, their two sons, and their nineweekold 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 coldhearted, 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 couples 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. Lawenforcement officials find new witnesses, forensics experts, and circumstantial evidenceincluding a small wooden coffin Michael uses as a receptacle for his parishioners packs of unsmoked cigarettesand reopen the investigation, eventually charging Lindy with murder. Seven months pregnant, she ignores her attorneys advice to play on the jurys sympathy and appears emotionless on the stand, convincing onlookers she is guilty of the crime of which she is accused. As the trial progresses, Michaels 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

Source: Wikipedia