Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired (2008) Movie Review

The first notion of hearing the name Roman Polanski is of a pedophile that ran away and that is also a prominent filmmaker. The notion of hearing of a documentary centering on Polanski and showing all sides of his trial case for drugging and raping a 13 year old girl in 1977 was that the film had to be one sided or biased. After watching Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, the film does paint a portrayal of Polanski as a scarred individual, but it is not forgiving and examines information that makes for a compelling documentary about a very complex individual.

Director Marina Zenovich mixes in archival footage of Polanski, his trail, his works, with interviews now 30 years later with his lawyer, friends, the defense against him, and the 13-year old victim Samantha Gailey Geimer, now a grown mother. Polanski himself is not interviewed, which is disappointing to viewers, who want to hear his side, even though pieces of past interviews are shown.

Polanski was from Poland and escaped the Holocaust, which took the life of his mother and was the inspiration of his Oscar winning film The Pianist. After arriving on the Hollywood scene and directing the classic horror film Rosemary’s Baby in 1968, he married actress Sharon Tate, who was brutally murdered with his unborn child by the Manson family. He went on to direct Chinatown and grew more in the Hollywood circle, which included parties, drugs and sex. Polanski himself has stated that he likes young women and dated a 15-year-old while he was adult. He also took pictures of teenagers for Vogue magazines, which led to what happen with him and 13 year old Geimer. While on trial, the film shows how a spotlight driven Judge Rittenband, who handled Polanski’s case made numerous questionable decisions during the case such as staging courtroom sessions and even asking a reporter what to do with Polanski, after the director did admit to having sexual intercourse with a minor.

Zenovich’s interviews drive the documentary and she lets the interviewees tell the story, with no extra propaganda props or sequences. In fact, both the defense and Polanski’s attorney agree that justice was not given in the case due to Rittenband’s tactics.

Much of the footage is from the 70’s and Zenovich balances them with the interviews and an informative timeline that types across the screen from time to time. A lot of focus is spent on the media’s influence on the case and on Polanski, which at one time deemed him a satanic killer that killed Tate due to Rosemary’s Baby affect of moviegoers. The media is seen as hounds in the footage in the early days of the paparazzi, if this case took place during present day it would even be more of a circus.

Polanski is still a high profile director to this day has not returned to the United States, he has remarried with children and Geimer did forgive him for his actions years ago, not staying that he is still innocent, but his story is very complex and unusual.