In an ironic bit of counterpoint I only now noticed, just as word of Roman Polanski’s arrest in Switzerland was spreading, the 3,000 tickets available for the Los Angeles of preview “Michael Jackson’s This is It” sold out within two hours. I’m not sure what to make of this, except to say that there’s nothing like death for obtaining forgiveness from the American public for sins both real and imagined.
Anyhow, it’s no surprise at all that much ink has been spilled already on the case. David Hudson at the Auteurs Daily has done a terrific job of rounding up the coverage. He points out that one person who hasn’t been shy on weighing in on the matter is actress Debra Winger (“Terms of Endearment”) who happens to be president of the Zurich Film Festival which found itself the bait in the trap that caught Polanski.
He also points us to fairly exhaustive collation of blospopheric opinion on the matter conducted by Carl Franzen of the Atlantic Wire. I will say that the only thing that really bothers me about anyone’s reaction to the news is the way some want to make this highly complicated case extremely simple and act as if there’s no difference at all between statutory rape, forcible rape, and child molestation/rape — as if confessing to one makes you guilty of all.
Though just exactly how bad it was will never be known to anyone who wasn’t there, there’s no question but that what Polanski did was reprehensible. However, lots of people do reprehensible things and they don’t all go to jail for it, nor should they always. Just because someone may be a great artist doesn’t grant them any kind of moral license, but at the same time we should not judge anyone solely by their very worst actions.
I still can’t watch this scene without seriously covering my eyes a little.
