It appears that when I suggested Woody Allen was the last person Polanski who want as an advocate (here), I spoke too hastily. As the French continue their campaign to force the return of Roman Polanski to their country (and avoid extradition to the United States for his rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1997), a new controversy has emerged from the Sarkozy government. The culture minister advocating for the famed director is the nephew of the late Socialist French president Francois Mitterand — Frédéric Mitterrand. Mitterrand appears to have more than a platonic interest in the underlying controversy.
In his 2005 autobiography entitled “The Bad Life,” Mr. Mitterand wrote: “I got into the habit of paying for boys… “All these rituals of the market for youths, the slave market excited me enormously… the abundance of very attractive and immediately available young boys put me in a state of desire.” He added “[o]ne could judge this abominable spectacle from a moral standpoint but it pleases me beyond the reasonable.” Mitterand continues to explain that “[t]he profusion of very attractive and immediately available young boys puts me in a state of desire that I no longer need to hinder nor hide… as I know that I will not be refused.”
Since the cultural minister is describing a criminal act of rape and molestation, it is simply amazing that he has been given a cabinet position by Sarkozy, let alone play a public role in defending another accused pedophile, Polanski.
While Mitterand insists that he was loosely using the term “boys,” his book described cruising for young boys in Thailand — a major destination for pedophiles.
For the full story, click here
extended story on Polanski’s crime by LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-polanski25-2009oct25,0,5337333,full.story
How about Eichmann? I know he’s dead, but he could explain the trauma that Polanski lived through.
I’m not making light of that situation. But Hannah Arendt’s book came to mind: Eichmann and the Banality of Evil. Convincing argument that has withstood the test of time: see “Witness to Execution.”
Oh, I’d LOVE to see Louis Black on this one!! I think perhaps the obvious choice for me would be Charlie Manson. He could blame himself by killing Sharon Tate, and how that led to …. fill in the paranoid delusion here.
I never knew why Manson chose that house. This is probably no news to anyone here, but at least it soothes the fears of picking out a house because of the color or the number. It was rented, or at least a producer that Manson overheard saying, “Why did you waste my time on this guy,” meaning listening to Manson’s music. Manson thought he still lived there.
I guess the bottom line is: NO ONE wants Manson as a character witness.
Too dramatic?
I would say Lewis Black should be at or near the bottom of the list.
It was 1977 not 1997
Moi’?
Probably Jack Nicholson, he loaned him the use of his house, the day of the crime…
I’d put Mark Foley, the former Republican Rep. from Florida, on the short list of character witnesses not to call.
JT,
I must have been distracted and missed the Woody Allen article. I’m not one to follow the doings of celebrities and their morality, but the Woody/Soon Yi thing got my attention. I was an early fan of his, when he was only a comic and saw him live a lot. Thought he was as funny as Richard Pryor. I admired his movies and even got an A+ on a paper I did on his movie Interiors in grad school. Since the Soon Yi incident I can’t watch his movies and he disgusts me. Any man who could know a child and help raise them from such a young age, is in the end a egotistical pig if he then harbors sexual feelings for that child. It would indeed be the supreme irony for him to testify for Polanski as a character witness.