Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008)

☆ ☆ ☆

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008) – M. Zenovich

Even-handed review of the Polanski statutory rape case that manages to make relatively clear the legal shenanigans that have been involved while also making it clear that the director was guilty.  Just taking one look at the school photo of the 13-year-girl makes you realize how wrong he was – so young.  I don’t think it mitigates things to ponder the fact that Polanski’s parents died in the Holocaust and his wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered by the Manson family. In archive interviews, Polanski himself seems to brush off the seriousness of the charges, as did the French, who received him when he fled the US.  However, this documentary does make it clear just how much Polanski was jerked around by the judge, a publicity-seeking knob (as suggested by both prosecution and defense lawyers in interviews), and why he decided to escape to avoid any further complications in the case and its resolution.  I didn’t realize that the film was 8 years ago and therefore omits the most recent moves by the U. S. to extradite Polanski again and their unwillingness to allow him to wrap things up with “time served” as even the victim and her family now think should happen.  I’m of two minds – 42 days isn’t much of a sentence (the time he actually spent in prison) – but 40 years in exile might be. As a parent (albeit of boys), it is hard not to see the ugly side of things and hard not to doubt the complicity of the victim at the time.  All told, this is a lot of talking heads to watch but director Marina Zenovich keeps things interesting.