Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, directed by Marina Zenovich, is a documentary investigating director Roman Polanski's 1977 sex crime case and how it drove him to flee the United States. The documentary revealed that the presiding judge, Laurence J. Rittenband, spoke to the press while the case was ongoing, made decisions based on how they would appear publicly, and unilaterally reneged on a plea agreement all parties had accepted. A prosecutor interviewed in the film claimed he had advised the judge to impose additional prison time, though he later partially retracted that claim after the film aired. The documentary's findings led Polanski's lawyers to petition for the case's dismissal; courts denied the request but acknowledged strong evidence of judicial misconduct. This process led the Los Angeles District Attorney's office to pursue extradition against Polanski for the first time, resulting in his arrest in Switzerland in 2009. Who it's for: anyone curious about a rare documentary that exposed real judicial misconduct in the case that drove a director to flee the country, and directly triggered legal consequences. Who it's not for: those looking for a film that argues Polanski's guilt or innocence, since the documentary focuses primarily on irregularities in the legal process itself.