On March 10, 1977, a 43 year old Roman Polanski photographed a young model for a French magazine. After the shoot, they ended up in Jack Nicholson’s hot tub, where they got stoned on Quaaludes, and eventually had sex. The girl, Samantha Gailey, was just 13 years old.
Sadly, this was not the first time that Polanski was caught in the public eye for events other than his work in the movie industry. As I wrote about last month, his pregnant wife was murdered just a few years earlier by the followers of Charles Manson. Strangely enough, after the hot tub incident in 1977, he fled to Europe to avoid jail time associated with the crimes committed against Samantha.
That was over 30 years ago. Since then, Polanski has continued to make films. He even helped make the career of the actor Adrian Brody, whom he directed in the 2002 film “The Pianist
On Saturday, September 26, 2009, he was finally arrested by Swiss authorities on his way to the Zurich Film Festival to receive a lifetime achievement award.
If you are a parent of a girl around the age of 13, you may be cheering the news of a pervert and predator who was finally served the justice that was long overdue.
If you are neither, perhaps imagining a 13 year old girl that you know and a 43 year old man that you know in a hot tub together will help to distill your feelings. American culture frowns on sexual relationships between adults and minors. But there are many cultures in the world that do not. So, in that case, is this a moral issue or a cultural one?
When I read Samantha’s account of that night on CNN.com, where she repeatedly asked Polanski to stop, and had to fake an asthma attack to make that happen, I sense my desire for justice swelling. Shouldn’t a man in his 40s understand the wrongness in such a blatant violation of someone else’s will, let alone her body? What could there be to excuse his behavior? How can there be justice for this act that took advantage of one of society’s less protected?
Well, according to Samantha, justice has already been served. Or at least, according to the same CNN article, she has long since forgiven him.
What?!?!?!?
Samantha is now 45 years old and has put the matter far behind her. In fact, she seems much more upset about the judicial system and media scrutiny that followed the crime, than the crime itself:
“He’s just a stranger to me. I met him twice, three times. … His life really has nothing to do with my life.”
and
“Looking back, there can be no question that he did something awful. It was a terrible thing to do to a young girl,” she wrote in her Los Angeles Times piece. “And honestly, the publicity surrounding it was so traumatic that what he did to me seemed to pale in comparison.”
So, is justice something that a society always needs to enforce in an effort to protect the vulnerable? Or is this just the case when the wronged seek out such assistance from society? If judgement is not meted out by Polansky’s human peers, is there a cosmic judgement by God that is being felt or will be felt in the future? Either way, should society respect the wishes of the victim to drop the charges in this case? Or was this a type of crime against society that needs to be met with a clear resolution of intolerance?
I wish I knew the answer, but it does have me thinking.
A group of his Hollywood peers seems to think that he should be released immediately, if not pardoned. I wonder how I would feel about this case if the victim or the perpetrator were a friend of mine.
@Stephanie – Thanks for the comment. I guess some of my personal lack of bloodlust for justice in this case stems from my question of: “Who benefits from his punishment?” If the answer is society, then that is the answer. But if the victim states a sincere acceptance and forgiveness of the criminal, regardless of society’s judgement, don’t we disrespect her in some way by saying that a price still must be paid? Or is she disrespecting society by being to graceful with someone who violated our laws and agreements?
How about just putting Polanski into the general population while he is waiting for trial, and let the real men take care of the punishment. This whole Hollywood elitist cr*p is outrageous. The guy plead GUILTY, and then escaped and ran. Book Him, Lock HIM UP…. and don’t protect him from the perverts that want to prey on him!
And if we don’t want to put the poor lady through the triall.. we shouldn’t have to. The PEOPLE are the victims of his escape – not the rape victim. Try him on that… after he sits in the general population for awhile.
As for the French – what do you expect from them. They have always been worthless – we should never have saved them in WWI and WWII. And Poland just confirmed why we are justified in removing the missle shiels for that Country.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,[1] promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
This, as you know, is the preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America. Things that stick out to me in this case are:
Establish Justice
Ensure domestic Tranquility
(well, really all of it)
The promise of justice controls, more or less, the conduct of all civilized people. If there were no promise of justice- ie: “if you do something bad, we may want to talk to you about it a little” or “We know you did that, but it was a year ago, so, oh well”
The other is that we want to ensure domestic tranquility. How tranquil do you think your life would be if at any moment someone could attack you with no fear of retribution? I’ll tell you one thing- the NRA would be a heck of a lot more popular. The people of the united states- us- we formed the government and the laws and who is this one man to receive a get out of jail free card?
His trial is not only for the benefit of society, but also for his benefit. He knew what he was doing when he did it and he knew what the consequence would be. For rehabilitation there needs to be penance. It has nothing to do with the victim anymore. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. There is choice and there is accountability.
You should be acting as a advocate for young victims not showing them how to allow justice NOT to be done. I know it is hard to live with the attention but I myself am a survivor and if any of my pain could help another young girl then so be it and being on the pain!
@Stephanie – Good points again. The only thing that I would question would be regarding your statement that “the promise of justice controls, more or less, the conduct of all civilized people” and your statement later about Polansky knowing what he did was wrong and what the consequence would be. Is this implying that he is not “civilized” or educated in whatever way you meant by that? Since it did not prevent his actions, why do you expect it to prevent actions by others? Do you yourself not rape people because of the punishment you would receive? I hope you can tell that my questions are serious. I mean no disrespect or sarcasm.
@Melanie – Thank you for your comment. I am sad for your pain, but glad that you want to reclaim that pain and turn it into education or support for others. I believe that educating everyone as to the pain involved in such a situation would help to better understand it all.
this is why I added more or less. ha ha- It means that he has been conditioned to think that he can get away with doing it- as you have obviously been.
There are two types of people: those whom justice frightens and those whom justice comforts. You can change which group you belong to, but the important thing is that justice is what keeps our society moving. This is how justice (or lack of it) controls more or less the conduct of humanity- either you live in fear or you dont. It’s up to us which group will live in fear. I’d rather it be the criminals, wouldn’t you?
@Stephanie – Interesting…. I might change your point to be: Fear and comfort are two ways that people are motivated by justice. Would you agree that education would (eventually) help everyone to value justice and be comforted by it? Or do you believe that some people will never get it and will always need fear as a motivator? Thanks again for the comments!
Zac, I think it’s not so much traditional education that would change this. I think it’s more the teaching children receive in the home. Morals and decency and service. I think the break down of the family and morals are at the heart of this debate (yet not mentioned until now) It is a sad day when fear of the law is the motivator for decency and that is where we are now. I’m sad that we are no longer shocked to hear that something like rape or theivery has happened. Now we expect it. I don’t know if that will ever change, Zac. I think the ways of the past are gone down the stinker. However, we can change this on an individual basis. I heard a talk this weekend; a story was told where every night at dinner (in the times families had dinner together) the father would ask each child what they had done for someone else that day. It’s situations like these that we need to provide for our children. Start at home (not to rip off HGTV’s logo he he)
@Stephanie – I could not agree with you more. That is what I meant to say with the word “education”. That’s not to say that educated people from healthy families aren’t capable of making huge mistakes in spite of how they were raised. Whether the ways of the past are gone or not, we can change on an individual basis. And groups can be changed by a strong individual. I think it is a battle worth fighting.
I’m sure HGTV is glad for your plug! Thanks again for your comments!