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Home > Blogs > Sir Critic on Cinema > Archives > 2009 > September > 28
Monday, September 28, 2009
Free Roman Polanski?
Director Roman Polanski, who was jailed over the weekend by Swiss authorities in connection with his 1977 sex crime will fight extradition back to the United States, his lawyer says.
Quite frankly, I can’t blame him for fighting this latest obstacle in his ongoing legal battle.
Make no mistake, what Polanski did all those years ago was despicable. Polanski’s tragic past, including surviving the Holocaust and enduring the horror of his wife and unborn child’s murders at the hands of the Manson family, does not excuse his crime. The fact that he is one of cinema’s greatest talents certainly does not excuse his crime.
When you get down to it, he, by his own admission, took advantage of a 13-year-old girl, to put it mildly. Many people cannot look past that fact, and I understand that.
However …
Many people will point to alleged prosecutorial and judicial misconduct in the case, noting how Polanksi did plead guilty and did serve time, but, upon learning that a judge was about to renege on a plea bargain and throw the book at him, Polanski fled the U.S. and has never returned.
But that’s not the crux of the matter for me. The crux of the matter for me is that Polanski’s victim, Samantha Geimer, who has since identified herself, has long said she wanted the case against Polanski to be dropped so the ordeal could come to an end.
If the person most directly and seriously harmed by Polanski’s crime forgives him and wants the case dropped, I ask you - who is anyone else to say Polanski should continue to be punished?
What justice would be served by now? What’s the point? To me the whole thing seeems like a waste of time, energy and taxpayer dollars.
But that’s just me. What do you think?
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