This is, of course, because those interviews did not use the footage where she was crying. In multiple interviews, she seemed to come off as emotionless and detached. It includes a lot of comment from journalists who covered the story (albeit the more sympathetic ones, because you can imagine the ones who did wrong are probably too ashamed to appear) and the most galling thing to me, who has only ever known Chamberlain as innocent, is how the media was complicit in framing and misframing her story.Īs the documentary tells it, the entirety of Australia seemed to hate Chamberlain right from the start. I bring up Chamberlain’s appearance because it’s been a constant theme throughout her story, and one the documentary focuses on. Today, she’s a cheerful woman with purple streaks in her hair and long silver acrylic nails.
THE DINGO ATE MY BABY MOVIE TRIAL
Trial in the Outback tells this story comprehensively, with plenty of archival footage, and comment from many members of the Chamberlain family in the present day, Lindy looking a far cry from the stone-faced, black-bobbed woman the media presented us with. The conviction was later overturned, and the Chamberlains spent 32 years trying to have it legally declared that their daughter had been taken by a dingo, rather than just being acquitted and determined innocent. They were charged with this, and Lindy spent three years in jail as a result. Despite ample evidence determining this was the case, both the state and the media were determined that Lindy Chamberlain had killed her child, and that her husband Michael was an accomplice. If you’re unfamiliar with the story, the short version is that on one horrid north Australian morning in 1980, Azaria Chamberlain was taken by a dingo.
THE DINGO ATE MY BABY MOVIE SERIES
There’s a reason why it’s been retold so many times, with Trial in the Outback – The Lindy Chamberlain story being the latest in a long line of series both factual and lightly fictional.
The irony comes from the fact there’s few stories that have been distorted by the media and the public more than Lindy Chamberlain’s story. In that film, Meryl Streep exclaims, in Chamberlain’s trademark hybrid accent, “The dingo’s got my baby.” It’s just that the line was twisted until it became a pop culture reference, cruel in both its brutality and longevity. What she said has been reported differently many times, but was canonised, for better or worse, in the film based on her life, A Cry in the Dark (released under the terribly unsubtle name Evil Angels in Australia and New Zealand). There’s a cruel irony that it’s not even what she said after the tragic death of her daughter, Azaria Chamberlain, after she was taken by that dingo. If there’s one line synonymous with Lindy Chamberlain’s story, it’s that. Trial of the Outback: The Lindy Chamberlain Story is a potent reminder that fighting for the truth is worth it, writes Sam Brooks.
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