Usually I avoid commenting on such current affairs as Polanski's recent arrest, but there have been such heated debates everywhere I go online and with my friends that I thought I'd write about it after all.
It seems that everyone has their own preconceived opinion about the case, which makes arguing quite difficult, and it really doesn't help that this affair has so many different aspects.
1977 was quite exactly the year I started getting seriously interested in cinema, its art and history. Therefore Polanski's flight from jurisdiction has always been a topic I had my problems with and I still can't really say what my opinion about it is. But then what's wrong with that?
I.
At the core of everything is the case, the crime, itself which today is still awaiting due process. It's not about justice, it's a legal requirement. The question about guilt is one of a court and to this day resolved.
It's everyone's right to have and express an opinion, but - except for those involved - none of us talking is victim or perpetrator, prosecutor or the defence lawyer, judge or jury. Therefore our opinions are just simply irrelevant and not worth much more than any other kind of gossip.
II.
Roman Polanski has decided to avoid prosecution and fled from the United States and has done everything to bypass a criminal trial. I don't think not many would agree that this is exemplary behaviour, and denying responsibility can hardly be lauded.
Furthermore this has made the whole issue a complex international and public affair. It is Polanski's full fault to have created such a situation.
Consequently he's been compromising friends and anyone involved in his life and work, including the countries he has been to ever since he left the States. And so in the end this has become a public affair on an international scale.
III.
This has been going on for more than 30 years now. Obviously it was no pressing issue for the United States to urge any of its ally countries to extradite Polanski nor did any of these countries feel obliged to act on their own accord. So why arrest him now?
A German newspaper (DIE ZEIT) noticed that Polanski had been in Germany the last few months shooting his new movie in Sylt, but no request for arrest was sent to the authorities. Obviously someone at the LA district attorney's office finally had a look into his Google alert for 'Roman Polanski', found the invitation for the Swiss film festival and sent an arrest warrant to the Swiss authorities??
It might even be true, but it seems to be a political issue. Switzerland has had some recent international difficulties with the USA (UBS bank) and might feel obliged to make good.
In any case it obviously doesn't have much to do with the initial case in itself.
IV.
And so I hear some people getting upset about those artists, mostly from the movie industry, signing the 'Free Polanski' petition. Who cares and why care? It's not like this will really influence the future procedure of this case.
Some signers are Polanski's friends and are showing genuine solidarity, others are maybe just joining to have their name on the list with the 'in crowd'. It's NOT Hollywood expressing an official opinion like a political party might do. Who is Hollywood? It's just a large amount of people working for the major American film production companies, and every one of them has his or her own private opinion.
V.
I also hear doubt about the value of Polanski's work and that his movies should be boycotted, and there's disgust that he ever received an Academy Award for The Pianist.
Despite the fact that nearly all of his relevant art was produced before 1977 it is merely one truth in life that I have learnt that you can't measure art on the personality of its creators. More often than not we here of those nutty or mean people who nevertheless produce timeless works of art.
I actually do value art higher than justice, because art can be and often is perfect, whereas true justice rarely prevails. (If justice existed, then I'd still be running a cinema). And art is not the artist, an artist is a person like anyone else and not above the law.
True art does manage to go beyond the actial intentions of its creator and magically touches realms not initially comprehended in its creation. Art is simply more than just the sum of its parts.
And the Academy Award? How many great artists in cinema have been overseen and forgotten and how often have we been aggravated about certain decisions who got the prize? Polanksi has achieved prize-worthy works within his career, and if he got one after 1977, so it be. It's not like such a prize proves you to be innocent of anything.
But I guess the public has already switched its attention to Letterman...
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