The Polanski dilemma

While acclaimed movie director and convicted-rapist-on-the-lam Roman Polanski is fighting his extradition to the USA from Switzerland, he is also trying to finish his latest film ... while he is in jail.

Harris said Polanski had recently given instructions about the film score and was making other decisions from his cell. "It is a nightmare looming that the director might be in jail at the time (of the film's release) but we will just have to cope with this as the situation develops. I'm sure he would want the film to go ahead, having worked on it for two years."

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Of course Polanski wants to think about/work on finishing his film. What else has he got to do?

And, once the director of respected films such as "Knife in the Water," "Repulsion," "Rosemary's Baby," "Chinatown," "Tess," and "The Pianist," gets hauled back to Los Angeles, it's going to be a media circus to rival O.J.'s trial.

Won't that be fun for the cable news networks?

No, I don't know anything about international law or extradition agreements between Switzerland and America. But one can easily get the sense that Polanski is eventually going to have to face the music in LA for what he did over 30 years ago.

Moreover, it's hard to believe that the end product of this whole process will be anything close to satisfying. No matter what a new judge in LA decides, it's unlikely it will seem much like justice that settles the matter and serves society's interests.

Gladstone's "Justice delayed is justice denied" sticks to this baby like glue.

The culture has changed quite a bit since 1977. Movies such as "Manhattan" or "Pretty Baby" couldn't be made today. Polanski's victim, 45-year-old Samantha Geimer, seems to want no part of punishing him at this point. Yet, there's no way a moral society can countenance the sexual abuse of a 13-year-old girl.