| Poche Pictures |
| e-mail: rich@pochepictures.com |
| Usually HBO's documentaries are pretty good. This was by far their worst. I will assume that most of you will know about Polanski's crime. Basically, he is this famous film director who in 1977 was charged with the statutory rape of a 13 year old girl. He fled the United States in order to escape the prison term. This style of the documentary looks like it was made by a film student. There are numerous cuts spliced together with typewritten notes across the screen to get the viewer up to speed with the various court proceedings. . Where was the great documentary voice of Liev Schrieber? Furthermore, these were not just brief sentences played out across the screen but whole paragraphs in some cases. Big mistake not having a narrator do this. I was getting tired having to read this stuff. As far as the documentary subjects themselves, these are some of the some of the slimiest creatures I've ever seen. The defense attorney for Polanski is a master at putting folks' guard down with his smooth delivery...But...The guy was so full of shit that his eyes were brown. He's sitting there, thirty years later, talking about how Polanski had "consensual sex" with this 13 year old girl. And he does this with a straight face. I was almost equally unimpressed with the prosecution attorney. A clean cut Mormon, he displays no emotion or passion throughout. He possesses the same flat delivery thirty years ago as he does today. I am no attorney but I believe an individual has to have some type of righteous anger with a crime like this. The prosecutor displays none. Judge Betterand is presumably dead (he looks about 60ish in the doc) and he is a piece of work. He dates 20 year olds and tries to cut a deal with the attorneys to make everything look good for the press. For him, it is all about saving face and getting good PR. The crime against the 13 year old seemed to be a distant afterthought as he negotiated with the attorneys. Polanski, quite frankly, is the lowest form of single cell organism to hit the earth since the Big Bang. This guy is pure sleaze, a caricature of a French film director. And, let's face it, his movies "aren't all that" if I may borrow a phrase from today's hip hop vernacular. But because he was a successful director people kissed up to him. Various stars are trotted out during the broadcast and give their impression of him and they all talk about how "charismatic" he is. I have never seen a case of the "Emperor has no clothes" like this. Polanski is reserved, guarded and anything but charming. He is a little worm of a man. If not for his elevated status as a celebrity he would be just another pervert who took out his sickness on an innocent child. I stuck with the documentary because of the interview with his victim. The 13 year old girl is now in her mid-forties and is quite articulate. I didn't quite understand the circumstances of how she was alone with Polanski. Evidently her mother was an aspiring actress at the time and suggestions were made that the mother wanted Polanski to transform her daughter into another Nasstasja Kinski, whom Polanski photographed when she was 15. Well, photography can be all well and good but...You don't leave a 13 year old alone with a 45 year old man with a reputation for "liking young girls". He's going to take photographs of her in a jacuzzi?? Oh, go right ahead, monsieur...I found that to be incredulous. The victim, however, defends her mother quite vigorously, stating "she's been through enough" or something to that effect. Numerous friends of Polanski are interviewed and they imply that the act was consensual, the girl knew what she was doing. The victim responds that "they weren't there". I don't know what the friends of Polanski are smoking...I was stunned at what some of these idiots (Mia Farrow being one of them) were saying, this was a 13 year old for God sakes.....He drugged her up. Then there was oral copulation. Sodomy. At the age of thirteen? And the guy got away with it. Polanski belongs in San Quentin with Bubba and Vato. Overall, though, this documentary is boring as hell. But it does demonstrate how our judicial system is jacked up beyond belief. Particularly when it comes to the sexual assault of minors and celebrity privilege. Sick stuff... |
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| Professional slime ball Roman Polanski. If you look closely at his right hand you may see some "slime". My guess is that he was masturbating before he came on the set that day. |