Despite some French folks beating the drums of freedom for Roman Polanski, including the country’s own president, not every French national is wearing a Free Polanski badge this week.
Polanski has citizenship in Poland and France—but it was interesting to read that his fellow French citizens, according to this piece in today’s New York Times, still think it unwise to rush to defend a celebrity who raped a 13-year-old girl (even if that rape occurred in the early 1970s). Perhaps a campaign would be better waged in Spain, where the age of consent is reportedly 13.
C’est la vie!
This article appears in Sep 24-30, 2009.
That’s the thing that all of Polanski’s defenders are failing to actually note: HE RAPED A 13 YEAR OLD GIRL. He ADMITTED to this. He took the advice of his legal team and copped a plea, which was read into the record; the judge, however, decided not to go with the plea deal. Now, had Polanski stood and let things run, he would have had a fair bit of recourse, a possible reinstatement of the deal (which was, frankly, a lot lighter than he deserved), and either a retrial (because of the judge’s behavior) or an appeal (well, a series of appeals.)
Instead, he ran.
Not only did he run, but he got away with doing what he did…on top of that he was bloody well REWARDED. Sure, he couldn’t come back to the US, or go to the UK, but that didn’t stop the movie deals, or his winning an Oscar, or, indeed, his screwing underage girls — such as Natassja Kinski.
People keep trying to insist that he didn’t do much of anything wrong. HE RAPED A 13 YEAR OLD GIRL. People insist that he’s paid for anything he did. No, he was rewarded for it. Repeatedly. And has lived quite a cushy life in France, occasionally whining about how he should be cleared.
Time for the bill to come due, i say. And for it to be paid in full.