Review of Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008) by Andrew L — 06 Feb 2010

The thing that really suprised me about this documentary is that it doesn't put up an agrument as to if Roman Polanski is guilty or not of his crime, but it really focuses on the how the judge treated this crime and why Polanski really got on a plane to Europe and never came back.

In 1977 director Roman Polanski was accused of drugging and raping a 13 year old girl. Polanski claims he is innocent. After incriminating evidence is introduced, Polanski seeks out a plea agreement where many of the counts will be dropped in exhange for him pleading guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. Once his plea agreement is set in motion, the case begins to take some odd twists thanks to a fame loving and egotistical judge, and Polanski's own relationship to the press. The documentary gives an overview of Polanski's tragic early life as well as his career as a filmaker and how it all ties into the case.

First off, I think Polanski clearly did this, and the documentary demonstrates this well. There isn't any doubt and he deservesto go to jail. Any normal person that did this would be expected to get serious and signficant jail time, but because this is Roman Polanski and this was such a huge trial, everything changed. After pleading guilty to an extremely serious charge, he deserved a lot of jail time. The real problem with justice being served was the judge who should never have been in charge. It's unbelivable to hear and see what he did and, and shockingly enough even the Distrct Attorney at one point says that he even understood why Polanski ran away. Polanski comes across in a lot of ways and they really present an upfront and in-depth look at who he is.

It's an extremely well done and interesting documentary on the Hollywood justice system. It's got a lot of great interviews, archive footage, and perception. Even though you know how it turns out, there is a real level of suspense in it as they discuss things that have never really been brought up before as to what happened in the punishment phase of this case. An excellent documentary and one of the best of the year.