He struck a curious balance - his tone almost pleading for Congress and the nation to rally behind his unpopular plan to send more troops, but his words refusing to yield anything substantive to his critics.

BBC: NEWS | Americas | Bush fights to stop ticking clock

Zenovich is particularly good at showing the legal system to be driven by personality and by media politics, but she does Polanski no favors by dwelling on his difficult past (as if pleading for mercy from the viewer) and yet selecting archival clips in which he comes off as almost solipsistically remorseless.

NEWYORKER: Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired