Roman Has Stopped Roamin

After more than 30 years of waiting, we have captured Roman Polanski; he did the crime; and eventually, one way or another, he'll do the time. And at the Zurich Film Festival, of all places. After all, artists have always felt that his crime was less important than his stunning examinations of such things as pirates, fearless vampire killers and Devil babies; to say nothing of his uncredited, tour de force performance in Rush Hour 3 , in 2007. Polanski admits to having had sex with a 13-year-old girl in Jack Nicholson's hot tub, and pleaded guilty at the time to having sex with a minor; in exchange, five other criminal charges, including rape and sodomy and giving drugs to a minor, were dropped.

Although he bitterly acknowledges he is widely regarded as an “evil profligate dwarf,” in the appalling documentary, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired , the unrepentant Humbert Humbert (76 years old) blithely declares that all men like younger women. Younger than 14 ? The simple fact is a thirteen year old child, even drunk and drugged does not want to get it on with an ugly little pervert.

His victim Samantha Geimer has been vocal a long time now, never denying what transpired in that filthy water, but asserting that Polanski has served his sentence by means of his long exile. Sorry, Geimer, it's not up to you, thank goodness. Are you trying to curry his favour?

Thirty years of living as a millionaire in Europe with a succession of teenage girlfriends is not exactly doing hard time. Michael Jackson was hounded to his death by unfounded accusations of child molestation involving boys the same age as Geimer. So, how evil is he ? does he deserve to be put in prison after all this time ? I believe so. Time doesn't dilute the severity of the crime against the child. Will he do time ? I somehow doubt that very much. There's that celebrity privilege once again. They are people who live on a different plane of existence than we ordinary mortals, and so have different laws.

One would expect him to stand up, like a man, after all these years, and take responsibility for what he has done; stealing the innocence of a child and of course..... Rush Hour 3.