If you believe the justice system, the facts in the Roman Polanski case are clear. In 1978, already a grown man, Polanski lured a thirteen year old girl to a friend's home, plied her with alcohol and drugs, and then had sex with her repeatedly and in a variety of ways. He was convicted only of statutory rape in a deal that let him off of much creepier charges. He served 43 days of his sentence, and then fled the country. In my book, these are not small crimes. This isn't like an 18 year old having sex with their 15 year old boyfriend, or a grown man being caught with a grown woman who is not his wife. This is beyond creepy and into the predatory territory.
Why, then, are all sorts of French and Polish officials and Hollywood mucky-mucks rising to his defense? If these charges are even half true, this is not a "youthful indiscretion" as one French authority tried to put it. Does the directing talent of this man somehow forgive his incredible nastiness? If so, that would be a terrible miscarriage of justice. I also don't buy the "oh sure but that was years ago" excuse. Unless some really surprising new evidence was to show up, I hope they throw the proverbial book at Polanski.
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