Marina Zenovich's new documentary doesn't try to excuse or condone Polanski's behavior but it does try to put it into a larger context. Her title reflects the split in public perceptions about Polanski. In Europe he was "desired" but in the U.S. he was merely "wanted." Here's how a Santa Monica reporter covering the case that was being tried in his town put it: "The European reporters looked at Polanski as this tragic, brilliant historic figure. Here's this man who had survived the Holocaust, who had survived the gassing of his mother, and then had come here and developed his developed his own voice, had maintained his integrity against the power of the Hollywood machine and the American press tended to look at him as this malignant twisted dwarf with this dark vision."
