Review of Evil Angels (1988) by Ld P — 27 Aug 2009

Terrifically well made docu-drama which captures Meryl Streep and Sam Neill in great form. Streep does not have an easy role. This is a woman you feel sorry for in principal, for what she's gone through, but as she sets up walls and bottles up her anger into an icy stare, she becomes a woman that doesn't look the part of a grieving mother, and thus, in some respects, gets the ire she deserves. Streep plays this delicate balance of a role perfectly and understatedly, and her scenes on the stand are intense.

What was intriguing about the film was how it did not pander to the Chamberlain family. In these kind of films, the "good guys" have been accused of something bad and are put into a good light, but here, we get an unbiased look at the event itself, and then, how their lives were shredded both privately and publicly. Adding to the film, was some impressive cinematography. First with the landscapes at the beginning, but later, we get a lot of shots that are set up with Lindy, Michael, and even a few with their sons as though they're behind bars. This, of course, is a foreshadowing of things to come with her guilty conviction, but also shows how crippling an effect this incident was having on her, and on them. What I also found well structured within the film was the various insertions of the thoughts of the Australian people, here and there, commenting on the case and what they felt about the this woman and the supposed dingo that killed her baby. It gives the audience a feel as to what this trial was doing to the Australian public and how much of an impact this scandal had on each and every citizen. Not to mention, these small moments give us a bird's eye view into how the rumors of her possibly being guilty got started, from the media to public and back and forth, and how powerful of an influence this was during her trial and conviction.