Written by Vickie
September 28, 2009
Whether you think of Roman Polanski as a monster or a misunderstood playboy, there is little doubt that the legal system failed him.
Think you know the story of why Roman Polanski fled America for Europe in 1978? Think again. This fascinating, insightful and richly detailed documentary from filmmaker Marina Zenovich reveals that much of what people believe today has more to do with myth and a giant case of broken telephone than it does with the facts of the situation at the time.
In 1977, director Roman Polanski was charged with a half-dozen criminal offenses—including rape—after he had sex with a 13-year-old girl. The sex part of that equation was, and is, never in question; Polanski readily admitted it happened and didn’t understand all the fuss. But the circumstances around the incident and the ensuing legal battle have, in the past 30 years, become obscured. Zenovich brings them into sharp focus.
Featuring interviews with almost all the key players—including Polanski’s defense attorney, Douglas Dalton; Roger Gunson, the now-retired assistant D.A. who prosecuted the case; and Samantha Gailey, the now-adult victim—the film reconstructs the entire mess through archival footage, court transcripts and clips of some of Polanski’s provocative work at the time. We get his side of the story (though he and publicity-hungry Judge Laurence Rittenband, who died in 1993, are the only two people not interviewed in present day), the victim’s side of the story, the case as seen by the police officers conducting the investigation, the observations of members of the press and, best of all, the eye-opening opinions of both key attorneys in the trial. Shockingly, despite being on opposing sides, they seem to have found common ground and agree that Rittenband was far more interested in turning the proceedings into a media-fuelled circus than in carrying out justice of any sort. His goal, the film suggests, was to "direct" his own, live, in-court celebrity melodrama for as long as possible... and he did so by dragging out the trial for a year before Polanski finally high-tailed it off the continent. Oh, and nevermind the victim: her best interests were, for all intents and purposes, forgotten amid the frenzy. She has, in the years since, publicly forgiven Polanski.
What emerges in the end is not a condemnation of, nor a pardon for, the famed director. Whether you think him a monster or a misunderstood playboy, there is little doubt that the legal system failed him. ...Wanted and Desired is, instead, a riveting look at how justice under the glare of the Hollywood spotlight is a highly malleable thing... easily bent and twisted and shaped to suit whomever wields the biggest gavel... and how the impressions of the public can be quietly molded by what the media chooses to report.
