POLANSKI: UNAUTHORIZED (2009)

Directed by Damien Chapa. Starring: Damien Chapa, Brienne De Beau, Silvia Suvadova, Tom Bruilhet.Drama/Historical/Biographical. Synopsis: A biopiv of the life of famed Director Roman Polanski focusing on the period(s) of his life when he was child and saw the brutality of the Nazis in Poland, his direction of the controversial movie Rosemary's Baby, the relationship and murder of his wife Sharon Tate at the hands of the Manson family and his arrest and subsequent fleeing from the charge of statutory rape.

I think this is the type of film that a lot of people will really dislike, and other people will like, but the first group will be much larger than the second. O.k., I know that is something that could be said about a lot of flicks, but especially this one.

Why?

Well, first the style ad flow of the movie. The story jumps repeatedly between the seminal points of Roman Polanski's life. As a boy in Poland in 1939 just before and during the Nazi occupation of his homeland; 1966 London, 1969 Hollywood and his preparation to direct Rosemary's Baby , and his actions leading to his arrest for the statutory rape of a 13 year old girl in 1977. The thing is, these scenes are not presented chronologically throughout the film, with jump cuts between the various scenes. I have no problem with doing different things with the chronology of a flm- a la' Tarentino, as long as the continuity does not suffer, but my problem with this flick is that it almost presupposes that you know the major details of the story of Roman Polanski.

Maybe that is a good supposition, after all, would anyone who had no idea who Roman Polanski is or the details of his interesting and controversial life want to rent/buy/watch this movie? I don't know, maybe not.

The story is fascinating enough, so the only ingredient missing is good acting and directing. I think you get it here, particularly from the lead actor and director, Chapa (Menedez: A Killing In Beverly Hills) as Polanski. We get a good idea of the genuis, motivation, and deep moral failings of the man, and the character is made empathetic, if not sympathetic. However, he is not alone as Brienne De Beau more than does justice to her role as Sharon Tate, Polanski's wife and victim of the infamous Manson family murders, and Tom Bruilhet as Anton Lavey, Church of Satan founder and consultant to Polanski steals every scene he is in.

This is a smaller budget film, not an epic, but that is o.k. by me and I think anyone who is interested in the long running saga of this talented and tormented director would probably be doing themselves a favor by picking this one up. But, if you're not familiar with the story(ies), you'd likely be better off watching a documentary on the subject when you get a chance.