To me, this movie is perfection.

Excellent but underrated film

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Pedophilia! Shining legal star of our times! I think it is worse to be a pedophile in the anglo-saxon world then a murderer. Hack, murderers are wanted and desired to be sent to the wars in the Middle East these days, ah, well since they are the good guys, like an American Sniper, let us make pedophiles real monsters! Sufficient to say that those people receive harsh sentences and they are well mistreated in jails all over the world both by jailers and the inmates.Ms. Zenovich explores probably one of the most known cases in the world as far as pedophilia goes. Her documentary is a masterpiece, by all means, but as I understand it had Roman Polanski arrested in Switzerland, and even now if I understand he is under investigation in Poland as he is making his newest film. I am not sure did she intended for him to be hunted again? It is for her to answer.The whole case was ridiculous, by the twist of fate, if he stayed in the USA and got sentenced, he could of been sent to the same prison where murderers of his pregnant wife are serving their life sentences. I am glad that he escaped and I scream from the top of my lungs LEAVE HIM ALONE! Didn*t he suffer enough? He is a survivor of Auschwitz for Gods sake! All in all I recommend this film strongly since pedophilia is getting such attention these days, and documentary is very well done albeit I think it hurted Mr. Polanski.

There's no point arguing about this blight on the life of Roman Polanski. People's opinions are strong on both sides. He is a controversial figure and that will never change."Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired" takes a biased look at the child molester case against the director. The interesting part is what went on behind the scenes with Judge Rittenband, the Judge ultimately removed from the case.Frankly, if all of that is true, which I guess it is since the Judge was removed, I can't blame Roman Polanski for running. Even the District Attorney assigned to the case said the same thing.The documentary points up the difference between the European and American cultures, and a psychiatrist who examined Polanski speaks of what may have caused his interest in young girls. I'm not sure if he still has such interests, but he has been married now for 24 years to actress Emmanuelle Seigner, and they have two children.The victim was a very pretty young girl with show business ambitions. She developed into a lovely woman and went on to marry and have a family. She was interviewed and it was pretty obvious in this documentary that she's sick of the whole thing and people's opinions about it. She feels her mother was unjustly criticized for allowing her to spend time with Polanski.I haven't walked in her shoes, which must have been pretty uncomfortable, so I am in no position to judge. I thankfully was never in her situation as a teenager, never went through schoolmates knowing what happened, never went through the European press publishing my name and having reporters looking for me. The fact that she went on to build a gratifying life is a remarkable achievement.And I haven't walked in Polanski's shoes, also I'm sure very uncomfortable. I can't pretend to judge a man who lost his parents in a concentration camp and his wife and baby in a brutal, sadistic murder. I didn't have to put up with horrendous things being written about me and his wife in the press after the murders. That he has been able to make any contribution at all to his art form is remarkable.So I don't come down on either side. As far as the documentary, I found what the attorneys had to say fascinating. If you have any interest in the law, you will find it interesting.

The guy repeatedly raped a 13-year-old girl and sodomized her. Roman will always be a rapist and a child molester first and a director second. This is what defines him as a human being and it's been defining him ever since he committed the rape. Obviously, we don't know if this was his first or last one. This women could've simply been the only one coming forward. It's absolutely abominable that a respectable Western European country would help him avoid prosecution. It only shows complete lack of class and moral values. What's next, giving serial killers political asylum? There are so many excellent artists who are also quality people and they never had the chance to become successful during their lifetimes. Child molesters belong in jail, not among quality humans.

It's the mark of a civilised society that, no matter how terrible the crime of which you are accused, you are entitled to a trial in accordance with due process; and although some perpetrators may sometimes escape the full consequence of their crimes by playing the system, that's better than mob rule, or a judiciary with arbitrary powers. In this sense, Roman Polanski was badly treated: convicted only of sexual intercourse with a minor, the outcome of due process was unacceptable to public opinion, so in sentencing, the judge ignored the law. Polanski fled the U.S and has never returned (although since this film was made, he has been arrested in Switzerland and faces extradition). On the other hand, while only convicted of a minor offence, this was due to a plea-bargain agreed by the state because of the reluctance of the alleged victim to testify; had Polanski been tried and convicted of all charges (including rape), he would have gone to prison for a long time whatever the judge. But that trial did not occur and the verdict it would have returned is thus unknown. The story may not be a happy one; but Polanski is as entitled to impartial justice as anyone, and did not get it.The backdrop to all this is a culture in 1970s California of young women making themselves available freely to rich and attractive men. The joke was that the prosecutor, a Mormon, was selected because he was the only lawyer in the office who hadn't committed the same offence himself. You may feel this is only natural, and that Polanski was just unlucky to be picked out for persecution for doing a very normal thing; or that the whole culture was rotten, and "why me?" is not an adequate defence. And remember that the original charge was of rape. The most disturbing thing I found in this entire film was a defence put together by some of Polanski's friends, who criticised the victim's mother: Polanski, they argued, was known to like sleeping with young women, so what was the mother doing in introducing her daughter? The assumption here, that Polanski was obviously have sex with a thirteen year old if given the chance, and that it was everybody else's responsibility to make sure this didn't happen, is enough in itself to make a little part of you wish Polanski was sent to gaol for life.Marina Zenovich's film tells Polanski's extraordinary life story (of which the trial is only one part), has interviews with all the right people, and is consistently revealing. Because the tale ends with judicial manipulation, it induces a kind of sympathy for Polanski he probably doesn't deserve. On one hand, he has had a tragic life. On the other, he does appear to be a man who believes his own talent and sexual magnetism give him carte blanche to do whatever he can get away with. One thing is clear: neither he nor his victim got justice.