ox-bow, updated

Not surprisingly, the American lynch-mob mentality reared its ugly head following the Casey Anthony trial. The judgmental vitriol exhibited is reminiscent of “A Cry in the Dark,” Fred Schepisi's excellent 1988 film in which Meryl Streep played Lindy Chamberlain, the Australian woman demonized because her form of grief following the killing of her child didn’t meet societal standards, making her suspect.



It's a disturbing film and the American public should be forced to watch it so that it can witness a mirror image of itself.



To that end, "A Cry in the Dark" should be played on a loop with Billy Wilder's prescient 1951 film, "Ace in a Hole" (aka, "The Big Carnival"), which indicted the ravenous meat-eating ways of the media and its penchant for turning human tragedy into a circus.



And that was 60 years ago.