Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Roman Polanski - Sign the Petition

Most of the whirling dialogue about Roman Polanki's arrest in Switzerland swirls around a few columnists displaying the staggering scope of their ignorance about the case and yet misses this little gem, the "Petition for Roman Polanski" which, Variety reports, has been signed by 100 filmmakers including: Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann, Darren Aronofsky, Wes Anderson, Woody Allen (the comedy writes itself on that one) David Lynch, Jonathan Demme, Pedro Almodovar, Wim Wenders, Tilda Swinton and Tom Tykwer. (this list is among the reasons I began to have favorite films and NOT favorite filmmakers some years ago.)

But the actual text of the petition is almost comical. I quote:

His arrest follows an American arrest warrant dating from 1978 against the filmmaker, in a case of morals.
Uh - yeah, morals.

Roman Polanski is a French citizen, a renown and international artist now facing extradition. This extradition, if it takes place, will be heavy in consequences and will take away his freedom.
Am I missing something or isn't that the whole point? Whole thing here.

Update: I'm just thinking out loud here, but this would be a GREAT episode for the ripped-from-the-headlines types at "Law and Order."