Small Wonders:

I’ve worked in the entertainment industry for almost 20 years. And in that time I’ve seen the bubble of self-importance in which A-List Hollywood resides. This has been only a minor personal annoyance for me. But with the recent uproar over Roman Polanski’s arrest, I can’t keep quiet.

I know this isn’t really a local issue. But as the father of two daughters, I think it’s a human issue. We live in the entertainment capital of the world, many of us gainfully employed there, and this negatively affects all of us. Hollywood is already condemned for being morally depraved, and letting an admitted sex offender ignore his punishment does nothing to change that view.

Harvey Weinstein wrote an open letter to the film industry calling on every U.S. filmmaker to lobby against any move to bring Polanski back to the States.

Weinstein calls Polanski’s illegal sexual intercourse with a drugged and resistant 13 year-old girl, the “so-called crime,” adding that “film makers are looking for justice to be properly served.”

Yes, Harvey. We are. And so are a lot of people.

To anyone not blinded by their own self obsessed, self indulgent and self gratifying lifestyle within the bubble of glamour and privilege that is A-List celebrity, the only proper justice is for Polanski to be returned to the U.S. and face the consequences of the crime to which he pleaded guilty.

“Roman Polanski is a man who cares deeply about his art and its place in this world,” Weinstein tells us. He goes on in his letter to praise Polanski’s artistry, painting a picture of societal collapse should the world be denied Polanski’s talents for even a moment.

I do agree that Polanski is a great artist. “Chinatown” is one of the greatest films ever made. But this has absolutely zero relation to anything in this case. Nor does the fact that the crime is “ancient history” as some suggest.

Part of the indignation of those that defend Polanski is due to how he was arrested — en route to receiving an award at a film festival in Zurich.

“It seems inadmissible?.?.?.?that an international cultural event, paying homage to one of the greatest contemporary filmmakers, is used by the police to apprehend him,” stated a petition backed by France’s Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers.

Polanski has served his time, Weinstein tells us. And that time amounts to 42 days in jail before sentencing and 32 years living opulently in Europe.