A scream in the dark
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | A scream in the dark |
| Original title | A Cry in the Dark (USA) Evil Angels (Australia) |
| Country of production | USA , Australia |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1988 |
| length | 122 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Fred Schepisi |
| script |
Robert Caswell Fred Schepisi |
| production | Verity Lambert |
| music | Bruce Smeaton |
| camera | Ian Baker |
| cut | Jill Bilcock |
| occupation | |
| |
A Scream in the Dark is a 1988 US-Australian drama film based on a true story. The script is based on the novel Evil Angels by John Bryson .
action
Michael Chamberlain is pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist Free Protestant Church in Australia. He is on a camping holiday at Ayers Rock with his wife Lindy, his two sons and their nine-week-old daughter Azaria . One evening when the baby is sleeping in the tent, the family is having a barbecue with other campers when a cry can be heard. Lindy returns to the tent to check on her daughter. She is sure that she saw a dingo dragging something away with it. Lindy goes into the tent and sees that Azaria has disappeared. Everyone in the camp starts looking for the child, but is unsuccessful.
Soon the public turns against the Chamberlains, due to Lindy's apparent cold-heartedness. Rumors and gossip make the rounds and are shortly thereafter considered to be the truth. The public knows little about Adventists. When it turns out that the name Azaria translates as "sacrificed in the wilderness", the Chamberlains are suspected of having sacrificed their own child in a bizarre religious ritual. Unusual evidence (Michael uses a wooden urn for the cigarette butts of his parishioners) leads to the investigation of the case being reopened.
Lindy is charged with the murder of her child. She is seven months pregnant and refuses to respond to her attorney's urging to be on good terms with the judge and jury. She remains seated in the courtroom without emotion and convinces those present that she is the murderer. During the trial, Michael's faith and loyalty to his wife are shaken. In October 1982, Lindy was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Michael is found guilty of aiding and abetting and sentenced to 18 months probation.
Three years later, the body of an Englishman who fell from Ayers Rock is searched for. The police found a piece of a jacket in a dingo cave. The piece is identified as part of the jacket Azaria was wearing at the time of her disappearance. Lindy is released immediately and the case is reopened.
criticism
The lexicon of international films writes about the film: “For the sake of documentary accuracy, the film dispenses with the usual emotional dramatization. Due to his strict orientation towards the facts, the accusation of the media that emerges as the actual originator of the tragedy is all the more haunting. "
Cinema magazine sees the film as a "moving chronicle of a media scandal."
The Variety describes the film as a classic and disturbing drama that retells a strange and illogical murder case in incredibly deep detail.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times particularly emphasizes the performance of Meryl Streep, who brilliantly passes the challenge of making a strange person appear sympathetic.
Awards
The film has been nominated for numerous awards, some of which it won.
The AFI Award from the Australian Film Institute went to Verity Lambert ( Best Film ), Sam Neill ( Best Actor ), Meryl Streep ( Best Actress ), Fred Schepisi ( Best Director ) and Fred Schepisi together with Robert Caswell ( Best Screenplay Adaptation ). Jull Bilcock ( Best Editing ), Bruce Smeaton ( Best Original Music ) and Craig Carter, Terry Rodman and Peter Fenton ( Best Sound ) were also nominated.
The New York Film Critics Circle awarded Meryl Streep the award for best actress . The film also won the Political Film Society Award for Exposé .
Meryl Streep was also named Best Actress at the Cannes International Film Festival . The film was also nominated for the Palme d' Or.
There were two other nominations for Meryl Streep, in 1989 for an Oscar and a Golden Globe . There were three other nominations for the Golden Globe: for best drama , for best director and for best screenplay .
background
The film was shot in Australia at Ayers Rock, Mt. Uluru, in Alice Springs and Melbourne. The premiere took place in Australia on November 3rd and in the USA on November 11th, 1988. In Germany, the film was first shown in cinemas on May 25, 1989.
The budget for the film is estimated at approximately $ 15 million. At the US box office, however, he only made about half of it again.
Web links
- A cry in the dark in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ A scream in the dark. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film Service , accessed January 20, 2011 .
- ↑ Critique of Cinema
- ↑ (Engl.) Criticism of Variety ( Memento of the original on 20 October 2012 at the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Critique of the Chicago Sun-Times (Eng.)
- ↑ Film budget
