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Can we separate Roman Polanski’s excellent new film from its director’s contemptible past?

JL;DR SUMMARY Roman Polanski's 2019 film "An Officer and a Spy," which delves into the Dreyfus Affair, presents a modern take on historical events, emphasizing themes of prejudice and injustice that resonate today. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

ZionismSexual Abuse AllegationsTheodor HerzlDreyfus AffairRoman PolanskiGeorges PicquartHollywood ControversyFilm EthicsArt Versus Artist Debate

Places mentioned

Paris, France
"An Officer and a Spy opens on a parade ground in Paris, where soldiers line up to see Captain Alfred Dreyfus stripped of his rank before he is sent to serve out his 10-year sentence for treason on Devils Island."
Île-de-France, France
"Picquart, played perfectly by Jean Dujardin, keeps picking at the proper, honorable patina of fin de sicle France, exposing all the corruption, ignorance, violence and vice, including his own."
France
"The limitation of that approach is that the historical sweep of the Dreyfus Affair goes understated: how it rocked the French-Catholic establishment, helped energize liberal republican forces as well as European antisemitism, and led the Viennese journalist Theodor Herzl, who witnessed Dreyfuss degradation, to launch a movement called Zionism."

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Retrieved 2025-08-09 05:31:23 UTC
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