So. Three decades after he fled Los Angeles, director Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland.
In 1977, Polanski pled guilty of "unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor" to avoid being charged with rape by use of drugs (he gave alcohol and quaaludes to the then-13-year-old female model he was doing a photo shoot with) and sodomy, amongst other charges. He fled the United States before his sentencing and has been avoiding traveling to countries that could extradite him ever since. The victim has since forgiven him and settled a civil suit against Polanski for an unspecified amount.
Granted, the Polanski case was tawdry. It was filled with celebrity, sex, drugs and violence (not to mention charges of ethical misconduct of the judge presiding over the case). In short, it was the stuff of Hollywood. So the media frenzy of the arrest was not unexpected. But what surprised me was the diplomatic row that ensued when both France and Poland (Polanski is a dual citizen of both countries) protested Polanski's arrest.
Is rape of a minor not a serious offense in those two countries? How about fleeing and being a fugitive from the law (while not exactly hiding - Polanski continued to direct award-winning films even with warrants outstanding)? Was the arrest outrageous, as journalist Anne Applebaum wrote in a column for The Washington Post? Or was it justice finally being served?
What do you think of the whole drama?
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That being said, rape of a minor (even what is called 'statutory rape', is a serious crime that most or all western nations recognize and enforce.
The civil settlement is irrelevant. Whether or not he had been sentenced, and for that matter served the last however-many-years in prision, the civil suit would have progressed (anyway).
He broke a real law, meaning a law intended to protect the weak form other stronger members of society, and he needs to be punished.
Whether I like him or not is also irrelevant.
I like Bill Clinton but still curse him for not being able to keep his fly shut. Think of everything he could have gotten accomplished if he had not had the Lewinsky scandal to feed the flames of the republican machine against him.
Just because I like someone, or most of what someone is doing, doesn't make them perfect or infallible.
Yet because this creep made some 'deep' movies people are automatically overlooking what he did. Sick, sick, sick world we live in. And do not even start on the victim's statements. Who cares what she says, it has no bearing on people being punished for their wrong doings.
Oh, no politics on Neatorama!
If he were to be let off on those charges, what does that say to other rapists? What does that say politically? Celebrities get a freebie? If you run away long enough, you'll get away with it?
No dice. The man is a coward on a number of levels and should be brought to justice.
Should convicted pedophiles/child rapists be held accountable for their crimes? I say yes.
Are famous and rich people above the law? I say no.
The fact that ANYONE is defending this man disgusts me. He plead guilty - he should have done the time. I hope he comes back and serves his time.
Interesting that you link the the Anne Applebaum column without noting that her husband is a Polish politician who has made great efforts to have Polanski's arrest warrant voided. Applebaum is not exactly a neutral party in this story.
I think I'd rather be reading about it on CNN or MSNBC. This. Is. Not. Neat. :-|
It speaks more than a little to our hypocrisy as a society towards celebrities.
But I gotta agree, I read Neatorama to unwind, not get wound back up. =(
The compensation of the victim and the punishment of the offender are two completely separate issues and the one should never be allowed to affect the other. Justice must always be seen to be done, otherwise you have a two tier system where the rich can avoid criminal conviction.
To patronize his work is to put money into the pocket of a paedophile.
As for the notion that he didn't know that the girl was underage: he received modeling waivers from the girl's mother. What did he think that they meant?
as it was, he never denied that it happened and had done everything the judge had asked of him up until that point. the documentary is really interesting if you can track it down.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1157705/
He left the country, which is what his sentence would have been if the judge wouldn't have acted in such an unfair manner.
Leave him alone. There is a reason why most of Europe thinks we are crazy on this one.
There are two schools of thought in this country.
One says that the rich and famous should be allowed to ply children with drugs and rape them, get drunk, crash a car into a river, and leave a woman to die, stab your wife and her friend to death, or bomb a US military institution, and get away with it, because they are rich and famous.
The other? We believe that all men are created equal.
Yay, more rape! Only this way, it'll be the good kind of rape.
Yeah, that's the ticket.
Besides, everything about this case leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. It's the taste of American macho moral grandstanding mixed with the drugging and rape of a minor. This will sully anyone who talks about it.
Well, in both these countries the age of consent is much lower than most of the US or UK - at 15. In many areas of Europe it is 14. I'm not condoning or condemning, and obviously 13 is still a legal minor, just that attitudes are slightly different in different places. Is all.
Case closed. Find something else to be angry about.
Whatever may happen to Polanski I do hope this is the last of its kind on Neatorama.
Run away and hide long enough and all will be forgiven?
I am not defending Polanski in any shape or form, but her parents should be equally responsible.
Roman Polanski was punished more than anyone deserves in his life. Now please leave him alone!
Well?
The failure is with the US justice system. He pled guilty, served his unfathomably short sentence, and then was told that the deal he had made was not going to be honoured. The district attorney in the case agreed that it was understandable for him to flee. In any case it is a mis-carrige of justice but ridiculous to arrest him 32 years later. At some point you have to let guilty people go free when the justice system fails. Shocking, but not as bad as a former NFL football player walking after a double homicide.
It certainly drew enough responses.
Yes, the dude should be prosecuted. He committed a crime. A child is not deemed capable of making that sort of decision, and even if he is forgiven years later, he still ahs to face justice for his actions.
What if Roman Polanki were a catholic priest? or a politician?. No one is above the law. Hollywood, Church, Politics, Roman Polanski or John Doe.
Honestly putting anybody over the age of 70 in prison is like providing free nursing home care at this point.
See, he is a CONVICTED criminal. However, he hasn't served a sentence for his crime. When he ran, he did so to avoid sentencing...he had already admitted his guilt by taking a guilty plea. Regardless of who believes he should be let go or who is a victim or not...the bottom line is if we let him go, it undermines the entire justice system.
He should be sentenced and carry out his sentence like any other criminal out there. What he does for a living, how much money he has, or where he lives means nothing...he didn't serve a sentence for his crimes and so he needs to now.
My vote: Not Neat