Dingo

A Cry in the Dark (1988)

Meryl Streep stars in this film based on the real life events of dingos eating babies and the lead characters conviction for the murder of her own child set in Australia. The basic narrative of the film is fairly average, it is horrible to lose a child and it does put a terrible strain on the family relations and this is handled respectfully if unremarkably.

While the story focuses on the family it is as much about the public and press reaction and how this leads to a miscarriage of justice as it is about the loss of a young child. We have a strong belief in the justice systems in most free countries these days but it is shocking to see how the course of justice is perverted here. As science has advanced we have become increasingly reliant on expert testimony and complex scientific tests in hard to prove cases, the film deals with the misuse of these without getting bogged down in the details. The public and press are only interested in how events play out for their own entertainment and this in part also leads to the main characters conviction.

Managing to over come it's average execution this film is though provoking enough to earn a 4/5.