Synopsis:
Marina Zenovich's new documentary
examines the public scandal and private tragedy which led to legendary director
Roman Polanski's sudden flight from the United States.
The Freak's
Rating: B+ :
Knowing little of Polanski's case, I stayed
neutral when he won Best Director for The
Pianist. I had seen the film and enjoyed
it. It was an amazing message of
intolerance and evil in the world and how an
artist overcame such obstacles through
incredible hardship. It won multiple
awards, the most publicized being Polanski's.
He was honored primarily with cheers but the
noise was peppered with boos from the Oscar
crowd. Right-wing America (primarily Fox
News) villanized Hollywood for honoring a
"criminal". This controversy
inspired HBO Documentary Films to greenlight
this project, and rightly so.
Most
might think this documentary is truly a
one-sided case for Polanski, an effort from
liberal Hollywood to vindicate one of their own.
At first I thought the same, but I continued
watching. The truly amazing thing about
this entire situation was the judge of the
Polanski trial, Rittenband. The fame truly
got to his head and he attempted to manipulate
both the defense and prosecution to make himself
the "star" of the trial. For all the
hoopla made over Polanski's exit, there was
little attention given to the disaster of a
legal system in California at the time.
The judge was ultimately dismissed and even the
prosecution is quoted as saying they "aren't
surprised Polanski left given the
circumstances".
It is
a fascinating documentary for any who know
Polanski's history as a director, husband to the
gorgeous Sharon Tate (the most tragic death in
the history of Hollywood) and ultimately the
criminal he would be known to be from most of
the world. For those who soak up the
latter as his identifying characteristic, see
this one and you might just change your mind.
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