Put Roman Polanski in Jail

Recently Roman Polanski was arrested on a long outstanding warrant. People from all areas of film have come fourth to demand his immediate release. Woody Allen, Tilda Swinton, Martin Scorsese, Monica Belucci, John Landis, and many others have come fourth in support of Roman Polanski.

As much as I wish I could be, I am not really part of the film industry. I stand outside the real world of film it as a small critic on a mostly unknown blog. All the same I have a voice, and I can't remain silent about this subject.

Roman Polanski drugged and raped a 13 year old girl, when he was in his forties. He admitted he was guilty in court, but then fled before he could serve any punishment. Being a brilliant artist does not give you a license to do whatever you want. Roman Polanski forced himself on a young woman, and it is a completely inexcusable crime. No amount of brilliant and beautiful movies can erase the ugliness of that one act.

In the Declaration of Independence it states that "All Men are created equal". I believe that this statement was never meant to be taken literally, clearly some people are born with more talent then others. At it's core this statement means that all people should be treated and valued equally under the law. If Roman Polanski was an auto mechanic or a school teacher as opposed to a director he already would have served his time in jail. I don't understand why so many in the film industry are apt to absolve a man of his crimes simply because he is a genius director who faced a great deal of personal tragedy.

Here is a very good article on the subject

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2009/09/28/puzzle-activity-time/#more-16939

And here is a less biased article

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/09/29/polanski.filmmakers.protest/index.html