Cannes Directors: 32 Years of Fame and Riches Is Punishment Enough for Polanski

Bernard Henri-Lévy, France's premier defender of the rights of famous men to molest children, crowed recently in the Huffington Post about the latest iteration of his petition that somehow arresting a well-known international fugitive and convicted sex-offender is a monstrous injustice. Disappointingly,  several of France's best known directors (Jean-Luc Goddard, Olivier Assayas, to name just two) once again happily signed on to the concept that justice doesn't apply to artists like Roman Polanski who can make movies of the caliber of The Ninth Gate. Or that raping 13-year old girls is one of the perks of winning an Oscar; their position isn't exactly clear.

They join a depressing list of celebrities who signed onto the first Roman Polanski petition. With relatively few exceptions (Greg Grunberg, who spoke out on his popular Twitter feed about Polanski; Emma Thompson, who withdrew her name; Michael Douglas, who refused to sign the new petition), the nominally liberal and progressive luminaries of the Hollywood elite, including actresses like Debra Winger, somehow believe that thirty years of "exile" in France (I should be so lucky), great wealth, and numerous accolades including the Palme d'Or and two Best Director Oscars is suitable punishment for raping a child.

And it's certainly beginning to look like this wasn't the isolated drunken mistake his defenders claim it to be. On Friday actress Charlotte Lewis, who was sixteen when she worked with Polanski on his 1986 flop "Pirates," accused Polanski of sexually abusing her in "the worst way possible." Take that into account; remember that he supposedly began a relationship with Nastassja Kinski when she was fifteen; note as well that in an interview with Martin Amis, Polanski said the following: “If I had killed somebody, it wouldn’t have had so much appeal to the press, you see? But… f—ing, you see, and the young girls. Judges want to f— young girls. Juries want to f— young girls. Everyone wants to f— young girls!”

... You would hardly be grasping at straws to see a pattern that is at least disturbing if not pathological.

What is truly sickening about this situation is just how clearly it shows how even so-called liberal Hollywood routinely discounts women's lives and women's rights. What else are we supposed to conclude about the willingness of so many to join in Polanski's defense except that rape is simply not important to them? Or that the rights of a single rich man are more important than prosecuting people who commit crimes against women? If even the rape of a little girl can't raise outrage among them, then why should anyone think they'll care any more about the rape of grown women?

That Polanski's crimes have finally caught up with him isn't the stuff of tragedy: it's the part of the movie when the heroes nab the bad guy. You'd think he, of all people, would understand that.

Photo credit: mira66