From today's Oregonian....
The most twisted testament to Roman Polanski's filmmaking genius is that there are still, to this day, people who bend over backwards to justify his sleaziest act.
In 1977, Polanski (then 44) gave a 13-year-old champagne and Quaaludes and had sex with her. He pled guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, but fled to Europe before final sentencing. And in the excellent documentary "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," filmmaker Marina Zenovich finds Polanski supporters who still suggest the victim's mother is to blame for letting her daughter consort with showfolk.
But what makes "Wanted and Desired" riveting is that Zenovich balances this immorality play by interviewing nearly everyone involved -- including the grown-up victim and disgusted lawyers on all sides -- and mixes it with perfectly culled archival footage. The doc ends up telling the most troubling story possible: that Polanski is a great artist who was guilty as sin and that justice was ill-served by a media-obsessed judge who made so many unethical choices, even the prosecutor isn't surprised Polanski fled.
I wish Zenovich wasn't forced to skate surfaces when it comes to Polanski's perspective -- his interviews are vague and archival -- but she skillfully works around him to craft a maddening look at one of Hollywood's most infamous trials.
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B; 99 minutes; unrated.
'Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired' (The Oregonian, Friday, Sept. 12, 2008)
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