Daughter Daena and I made it a point to stop by the Polish Embassy this spring during DC’s annual open house of embassies. She’s 50% Polish after all.
polanski.jpgWhile waiting in line to get scrumptious pierogi, kielbasa, and ?ywiec beer, we perused a display of renowned Poles.
And there he was, Roman Polanski, famous film director. “But he’s a child rapist!” I exclaimed, embarrassing Daena, unaware of his past, to no end. But when a guy a few feet behind us pronounced the same indictment after spotting Polanski’s picture, I felt vindicated.
But the blind spot re: Polanski’s sordid past was evident.
Youngsters in the crowd can read the New York Times PG13-to-R-rated backstory on page 2, including grand jury testimony from the 13yo Polanski raped and sodomized.
That was in 1977. When Polanski realized he might end up in prison, he fled the country and has for 32 years not restepped foot back on US soil. However, last week when the now 76yo ventured to Switzerland to receive a film festival award, he was nabbed….


free polanski.jpgThat’s where Hollywood comes in. Since then several of its liberal luminaries have signed a “Free Polanski” petition, and some have just offered support.
These include kindred spirit Woody Allen (having slept with his wife’s 21yo adopted daughter before divorcing the former and marrying the latter), Jonatham Demme, Whoopi Goldberg (“It was something else, but I don’t believe it was rape-rape.”), John Landis, Mike Nichols, Salman Rushdie, Martin Scorcese, Tilda Swinton, Diane von Furstenberg, and Debra Winger (pictured below right at a Zurich press conference stating, “[The arrest] is based on an… old case that is all but dead but for minor technicalities.”)
But now, thankfully, a backlash is building. Reported Reuters yesterday:

… Polanski… saw support weaken on Wednesday….
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters in NY that Polanski’s extradition… to CA to face sentencing on the 1977 sex crime charge was a matter for judges, not diplomats, to handle….
In France, the government changed its passionate protests about Polanski’s arrest to a more measured stance and described the charges as serious….
Major US newspapers called on the Oscar winner to account for the crime, and commentators said US public opinion was running strongly against Polanski. Few in the cinema world in Hollywood and Europe stepped forward on Wednesday to join his supporters….
Polanski’s arrest first drew outrage in Europe’s diplomatic and artistic quarters….

debra winger polanski.jpg

But support in Europe and Hollywood appears to be eroding…. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk… said that while Polanski should be offered consular help, ministers need not get involved in the extradition battle.
“The case involves a great director but still, it is also a case of rape, of sex with a child,” Tusk said….
In Hollywood, influential movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s call earlier this week for US filmmakers to lobby against Polanski’s extradition has fallen on many deaf ears.

polanski nicholson.jpg

There has been only silence from some of Polanski’s oldest friends, including actor Jack Nicholson who appeared in 1974’s Chinatown and at whose home the rape occurred [pictured left together during filming].
Actress Whoopi Goldberg provoked online fury after saying she didn’t consider the sex incident to be rape in the strict sense of the word….
Editorials in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times said Polanski, 76, should return to account for his crime.
The newspapers dismissed arguments by The Pianist director’s supporters about his Oscar-winning body of work and the tragic 1969 murder of his pregnant wife Sharon Tate by followers of cult leader Charles Manson.
“This case has nothing to do with Mr Polanski’s work or his age. It is about an adult preying on a child. Mr Polanski pleaded guilty to that crime and must account for it,” the NYT said.
LAT entertainment reporter Patrick Goldstein wrote that his mail was now “about 100-1 against Polanski.”

A couple incredible quotes, both from the LAT

“My personal thoughts are let the guy go,” said Peg Yorkin, founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation. “It’s bad a person was raped. But that was so many years ago. The guy has been through so much in his life. It’s crazy to arrest him now. Let it go. The government could spend its money on other things.”…
Weinstein… [is] not convinced public opinion is running against the filmmaker and dismisses the categorization of Hollywood as amoral. “Hollywood has the best moral compass, because it has compassion,” Weinstein said. “We were the people who did the fundraising telethon for the victims of 9/11. We were there for the victims of Katrina and any world catastrophe.”

New York Times story…

The following excerpts are from a transcript of the March 1977 grand jury proceedings that led to Roman Polanski’s indictment on charges of furnishing a controlled substance to a minor, lewd or lascivious act on a child under 14, unlawful sexual intercourse with a female under the age of 18, rape by use of drugs, perversion (now called oral copulation) and sodomy.
Polanski later pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse; prosecutors dropped the other charges.
——
On March 10, 1977, Polanski picked up the 13-year-old victim at her house and took her to Jack Nicholson’s home for a modeling shoot. The victim testified that Polanski served her champagne and gave her part of a Quaalude before getting in a whirlpool bath with her while they were naked. No one else was home.
Q: What happened then?
A: He goes, ‘Come down here.’ And I said, ‘No. No, I got to get out.’ And he goes, ‘No, come down here.’ And then I said that I had asthma and that I couldn’t – I had to get out because of the warm air and the cold air or something like that. And he said, ‘Just come down here for a second.’ So I finally went down. And then he went – there was a lot of Whirlpool bath jets. He goes, ‘Doesn’t it feel better down here?’ And he was like holding me up because it is almost over my head. And I went, ‘Yeah, but I better get out.’ So I got out.
——
The victim testified that after she left the whirlpool bath, Polanski told her to go into a nearby bedroom and lie down.
A: I was going, ‘No, I think I better go home,’ because I was afraid. So I just went and I sat down on the couch.
Q: What were you afraid of?
A: Him.
(a few minutes later)
A: He sat down beside me and asked me if I was OK.
Q: What did you say, if anything?
A: I said, ‘No.’
Q: What did he say?
A: He goes, ‘Well, you’ll be better.’ And I go, ‘No, I won’t. I have to go home.’
Q: What happened then?
A: He reached over and he kissed me. And I was telling him, ‘No,’ you know, ‘Keep away.’
——
After Polanski kissed her, the victim alleged, he began to engage in oral sex.
A: … I was ready to cry. I was kind of – I was going, ‘No. Come on. Stop it.’ But I was afraid.
Q: And what did he say, if anything?
A: He wasn’t saying anything that I can remember. He was – sometimes he was saying stuff, but I was just blocking him out, you know.
——
The victim testified that Polanski began having sex with her, but sodomized her when he learned she wasn’t using birth control.
A: He asked, he goes, ‘Are you on the pill?’ And I went, ‘No.’ And he goes, ‘When did you last have your period?’ And I said, I don’t know. A week or two. I’m not sure.’
Q: And what did he say?
A: He goes, ‘Come on. You have to remember.’ And I told him I didn’t.
Q: Did he say anything after that?
A: Yes. He goes, ‘Would you want me to go through your back? And I went, ‘No.’
——
The victim testified that after the sex, she got dressed and waited in the car for Polanski to drive her home. Before driving her home, he asked her to keep the incident a secret.
A: He said to me, he goes, ‘Oh, don’t tell your mother about this.’…
Q: What did you say?
A: I wasn’t saying anything. He says, ‘Don’t tell your mother about this and don’t tell your boyfriend either.’… He said something like, ‘This is our secret.’ And I went, ‘Yeah.’ And then later he said, ‘You know, when I first met you I promised myself I wouldn’t do anything like this with you.’

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