Unfairly treated victim? Please.

Posted by Jason Ihle | 5 Comments

I’ve always felt uncomfortable with the defenders and apologists of Roman Polanski, but his arrest in Switzerland on Saturday has stirred a new hornets nest of support for the film director.

The French government, including culture minister Frederic Miterrand and foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, have made statements not so subtly expressing their displeasure with the arrest. You can read more about the French support for Polanski here. Many wonder why this arrest has come so suddenly after 32 years but, according to prosecutors, they have made several attempts over the years any time they knew where Polanski was going to be. This time they knew he was going to Switzerland (where he maintains a home) to receive an award at the Zurich Film Festival.

Even Polanski’s victim forgives him and asks that the case be dropped.

But let’s not forget please that Polanski drugged a 13 year old girl, took her back home where he had sex with her against her will. Let’s not forget that’s called rape – child rape! Let’s not forget he pled guilty to 1 of the 6 charges brought against him (for unlawful sex with a minor) and that he fled the country the day before he was to be sentenced.

Now there is a lot of suggestion that there were errors and misdoings in the original prosecution of the case. And Polanski claims that he fled the country because he believed the judge was going to renege on a plea bargain to keep him out of jail. Let’s be clear – he is no Rubin Carter, nor the saintly Rubin Carter painted in The Hurricane.

I am mostly unfamiliar with the specifics of the prosecution and I’ve not seen last year’s documentary film which went into all the particulars. Maybe the defense does have a legitimate case. But that doesn’t change the fact that Polanski drugged and had sex with a minor child.

It’s a little baffling to me the number of people who are so willing to stand up and say that he’s been treated unfairly or suggest that he is somehow a victim because he can’t return to the US (the country he fled voluntarily to avoid sentencing for a disgusting crime).

If this crime had been committed by a nobody who hadn’t directed Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown and The Pianist, if this had been some regular guy who drugged and raped a 13 year old girl, pled guilty and fled the country before sentencing would anyone cry foul at his arrest in a foreign country 32 years later? Doubtful.

For a scathing piece on this topic, read Kate Harding in Salon.

Comments