On Thursday, October 21, at 2 pm in Lawson 104, the Year of Oceania program will present the 1988 Australian film A Cry in the Dark, starring Meryl Streep and Sam Neill. The film is based on the real-life case of Azaria Chamberlain, a 9-week-old infant who disappeared from a campground near Uluru in August of 1980. Her body was never found.
Azaria's mother Lindy (Streep) claimed she saw a dingo carrying off the child. Although an initial inquest accepted Lindy's account as true, public opinion began to swell against the Chamberlains, who were accused of killing their baby and trying to cover it up. Eventually Lindy was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor. Three years later new evidence caused the case to be reopened.
Meryl Streep was nominated for an Academy award for her performance. The movie won the Australian Film Institute's award for Best Film. Streep and Neill both took home the Australian Film Institute's best acting awards, and Fred Schepesi won as best director. In 2008 the American Film Institute included A Cry in the Dark in its list of the top ten best courtroom dramas.
Library director and Year of Oceania committee member Michael Martinez will be on hand to lead a discussion and answer questions about the film.
Remember the ongoing essay contest! Just read any Year of Oceania book, see any Year of Oceania movie, or attend any Year of Oceania event. Then write a brief review (two paragraphs are sufficient, and send it to Stephanie Olsen at sfo@reinhardt.edu. The winning essay each month wins a "Year Of" t-shirt!
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