More on Roman Polanski

[hnpcc]

Article from Salon - Reminder: Roman Polanski raped a child.

The other thing that occurred to me wonder last night was whether there would be this level of outcry about his arrest in Switzerland if the child had been male.

Just, you know, curious.

Comments

[vestalvagrant.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that link.

If I had known about this story years ago, I never would have watched any of his films. I'm sure many people fall on that side of the divide - the opposite of the "Let's forget about it because he's such a great director" crowd.

[undergroundsea.livejournal.com]

For me, the Switzerland factor plays a part, because people still expect it to be a neutral safe haven, and it wasn't even entirely that way back in WWII!

I don't like the idea that because "time has passed" the crime should simply go away, especially as the man has made several films about holocaust; and there seems to be an acceptance in our society that criminals must be pursued for their crimes up until there dying day - so why should we start forgiving him? Because he's famous? Because he's Jewish? Because the girl has now grown up, and says she hasn't been scarred by it?

It is still a crime, and one he jumped bail for, and has consciously evaded prosecution from for 30 odd years. He's not Charlie Chaplin, he didn't just skip over to Europe to escape the tax man. He sexually abused a minor. American justice and social opinion may come down harder on these matters, but he would have been aware of the laws of the society he was living in. He chose to break them, and basic moral and social standards.

If it was a boy, I get the feeling people would have bothered even less in Europe, and in America they would have made him out to be more evil - but I doubt they would have pursued him so long. Questions do arise for me as to why now and who is motivating this renewed push against him.

[hnpcc]

If it was a boy, I get the feeling people would have bothered even less in Europe

I'm not sure about that. I get the feeling if it had involved a boy there would be quite a few fewer European directors willing to sign "Free Polanski" petitions.

There is certainly a statute of limitations on prosecutions. But this isn't a prosecution, he skipped town after pleading guilty and while waiting sentence. I don't think there's a statute of limitations on that.

I certainly think had he stayed put at the time he (well, his lawyers) probably could have made a case for him not being given prison time based on his recent history. I don't agree with it, but they would certainly have tried it.

I think to be honest what they seem to be most up in arms about is that he was invited to an awards ceremony and then arrested. (Which is absolutely no different to what's happened a few times in the US, actually.)

There's certainly interesting questions about the timing of it - chance, politically motivated (my theory is that it's a unifying move, one which both sides of US politics can agree on to heal some of the wounds generated by the healthcare debate), both, who knows.

[undergroundsea.livejournal.com]

I remember hearing that he had been to Switzerland many times before and that's why he thought it would be safe to go there. I guess it doesn't look good for the Swiss or the Arts community to be part of that kind of cunning, authoritarian set up.

[valamelmeo.livejournal.com]

The impression I got was that this was the first time they had confirmed advance warning enough to arrange for a warrant, extradition, etc. to arrest him at a border crossing or airport customs, which I imagine for people with personal bodyguards is much easier than trying to catch him at home. Whatever paperwork was needed it seems that it needed to be specific enough or time-sensitive enough that they didn't manage to get all the ducks lined up until now. The fact that he didn't show up to collect his Oscar shows that he knew good and well they'd nab him as soon as he set foot in the US, but they don't need special paperwork for that. Like she said, skipping bail doesn't have a statute of limitations.