Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland. Poland is outraged. France is shocked. And the German Film Commission doesn't understand how you can hold someone accountable for something that happened decades ago. The German Film Commission? Really?
So, let's say you're a parent of a thirteen-year-old girl. A famous Hollywood director, 44 years old, wants to photograph her. He takes her to a big fancy house, but instead of a photo shoot, the man gives your kid drugs and alcohol, then he takes off her clothes, and puts his 44 year old mouth on her 13 year old vagina. Then he puts his penis in her vagina. And if that's not enough to turn your stomach, he shoves his penis into her 13 year old anus.
This man is arrested. He makes a deal. Two months in jail. Time already served.
Let's stop there for a second. It gets wonky after this and I want to be clear about something. If that kid is my daughter and someone raped her and then made a plea bargain for two months time served? I WOULD LOSE MY FUCKING MIND!
Half the crowd freaking out about this are saying that the reason he should be free is because the judge back then was going to somehow renege on the plea bargain. Does that make it okay to get on a plane and flee the country? Is that the new rule, we don't like the system so we break more of its laws? Are we a civilized society that believes in the rule of law or aren't we? Or should we just leave the law up to every criminal who claims to have been mistreated by the courts?
Some of the get-out-of-jail-free crowd thinks that the reason Polanski should go free is because he's a gifted artist. Maybe you're right. Instead of an Oscar we should let the Best Director fuck your kids.
Yes, Polanski escaped the Nazis who murdered his mother. His wife was horribly slaughtered with their unborn child inside of her by the Manson Family. All of this is true, all of it is unfathomable and unspeakable. However, if we are going to let rapists off the hook because of their tragic histories we should open the prison doors right now. We don't have an "awful life" defense. We have self-defense and insanity. Neither seems to fit here.
There is a victim in this. And it's not the girl-turned-grown-up woman who now forgives her rapist and wants to move on. The victim is the 13-year-old girl she was when this 44-year-old man took advantage of her, got her drunk, and then pushed himself into every available and unavailable orifice he could. We owe that kid something, don't we? We owe every kid like her, past and future, our vigilance and dedication to punishing their attackers, regardless of the rapist's talent and fame.
I understand how the world might be confused by America's conflicting moral compass when it comes to sex. But, make no mistake, this wasn't sex. By any civilized country's laws and basic morality, this was rape. He raped her and he ran away. And now he's been arrested. You'll excuse me if I don't really give a shit that France, Poland and Germany don't like it.
To see transcript excerpts from the grand jury testimony click HERE.