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Roman Polanski, Julian Assange Battle for America's Most Hated Figure

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Delia Lloyd
Delia Lloyd
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Amid the furor surrounding the WikiLeaks scandal, you'll be forgiven for not remembering that the European Film Awards will be given this coming Saturday, Dec. 4, in Talinn, Estonia. What may also have escaped your notice is that Roman Polanski's new film, "The Ghost Writer," has the highest number of nominations.

Roman Polanski -- remember him? He's that really creepy European director who raped and sodomized a 13-year-old girl 33 years ago and remains a fugitive from justice in the United States . (If you want a quick primer on the case, read this excellent summary by my Politics Daily colleague, Eleanor Clift.)

When we earlier checked in with Monsieur Polanski, he was living under house arrest in Switzerland, after he left his home in France to attend the Zurich Film Festival in September 2009. In July, the Swiss authorities decided not to ship him back to the U.S. for trial on the grounds that American authorities had failed to provide confidential testimony about Polanski's original sentencing procedure. As a result, he was declared a "free man" and he returned to his home in Paris (albeit with an outstanding Interpol arrest warrant in 188 countries).

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Needless to say, it seems unlikely that Polanski will venture forth to Talinn to collect any prizes, should he win some. (The film is nominated in seven different categories, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay.) Earlier this year, "The Ghost Writer" (titled "The Ghost" in Europe) won Polanski a Best Director Award at the Berlin Film Festival, although he was under house arrest at the time and was unable to attend.

As it happens, I watched a 2008 documentary about the (original) Polanski case just this past weekend with my husband. The film, "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," didn't alter my fundamental view that the man was a child rapist. (Like my colleague Luisita Lopez Torregrossa, I'd love to see what Lisbeth Salander could do with the likes of him.)

Roman Polanski, Julian AssangeIt did, however, change my view of the legal case, the details of which I'd never fully comprehended before. What the film makes you appreciate -- in addition to just how bizarre, wounded and self-destructive a character Polanski really is -- is the horrible miscarriage of justice that his circus of a trial was. Polanski was at the mercy of a vain, show horse of a judge who twisted, if not violated, legal precedent, all for his own glory. The net result was that a man who was plainly guilty of a horrible crime didn't get a fair shake. Even the then-prosecutor in the case, while not sympathetic to Polanski's crime, says at one point in the film that he understands why Polanski fled.

The rash of nominations for Polanski's latest film is undoubtedly a way for Europeans -- who were always more sympathetic to Polanski than the American public -- to snub their noses at the Americans on this case. (Hollywood is also a fan of Polanski, and following the film's warm reception in Europe, "The Ghost Writer" is also expected to garner some Oscar nominations.)

All of which is interesting, given that the movie itself is pretty mediocre, in my view. It's about an unrepentant former British prime minister who took his nation into the war in Iraq and is now under quasi house arrest on Cape Cod. A thriller ensues involving said former PM, the ghost writer of his memoirs, his wife and . . . wait for it . . . the CIA. As thrillers go, it's OK. But as a critic in The Guardian noted in his review, absent the resonances with contemporary politics and the whole Tony Blair/Iraq brouhaha (not to mention the director's own house arrest while he edited the film), it's not clear that this movie will hold up over time.

But to bring this back round to Wikileaks, here's one piece of good news for Roman Polanski. Until now, he might have been alone in holding the title of America's most wanted outlaw. Now he can share it with an equally curious, equally perverse figure for our times (with his own rape scandal to boot): Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. After the secret cables disaster, Assange has now made it to the top of America's Most Hated list.

Not exactly the notoriety that Polanski was after. But at least he's in good company.

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Filed Under: Woman Up, Culture, International, WikiLeaks
Tagged: Roman Polansi and Julian Assange, Roman Polanski celebrity, Roman Polanski European Film Awards, Roman Polanski house arrest, Roman Polanski legal case, Roman Polanski The Ghost, Roman Polanski The Ghost Writer, Roman Polanski wanted and desired
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3 Comments

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ettu

Yes, and the wussified Liberal Europeans will protect them.......embracing the despicable acts of both men(?).

December 06 2010 at 12:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
tistolaugh

Roman Polanski in the top two of America's most hated figures? LOL Not terrorists or dictators of oppressiver nations, but... Roman Polanski? This even after weeks of America's elitist left arguing on his behalf that he should be forgiven, including the 13 year old he had sex with during a drug and alscohol binge party 60 years ago. Wow, the media sure does believe America has very short memories.

December 01 2010 at 11:23 AM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
realrambo

One of the reason most European Country and France are reluctant to send back American that fled the judicial system in the USA is the very American judicial system , Judges have no independent saying , they are just like the law makers answetring to the lobbyst , one of the reason laws are overturned every 4 to 8 years . there is no blind justice in the USA simply interested justice . As for Polanski,any good Attorney would have taken him out of the situation he put himself in, going back to the very gruesome murder of His pregnant Wife Sharon Tate , this alone and seing the crime scene picture posted on the internet for anyone to see {another Problem for the US law enforcement and judicial sysytem, as there are no justification to distribute such material to the general public outside the Court room} He would have walked free man , but a procecutor decided to used him as material for greater political carreer , Polanski fled the peoples involved remained who they were , mediocre representant of the American judicial system . No justice was ever served to anyone period. "I have never seen any Polanski movies"

November 30 2010 at 2:17 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply

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