It sounds crazy, but a new report about French President Nicolas Sarkozy's "helpfulness" in getting Roman Polanski released to house arrest seems to suggest the possibility of a daring action-movie escape for the 72-year-old fugitive filmmaker.

The article, in today's Times of London, is ostensibly about the mysterious role Nicolas Sarkozy played in securing Roman Polanski's release into house arrest at Polanski's Swiss chalet in exchange for $4.5 million in bail kind of buries the lead a bit. Is the real story here the idea that Polanski might become a fugitive again, this time almost certainly for the rest of his life? They certainly do hint at that!:

"The Swiss authorities said that Mr Polanski would be allowed out once the agreed bail of 4.5 million Swiss Francs had been received. They have ordered that he should not leave his chalet - for fear that the first-rate skier might slip over the nearby border via a mountain pass into his adopted French homeland and escape US justice a second time."


Whoa! That's imaginative. But at least Polanski's electronic bracelet will keep him where he's supposed to be, right?:

"He will be under house arrest and has also committed to wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet," it added. While the bracelet will help police to monitor if Mr Polanski is staying put at his chalet during his house arrest, experts said that if he fled, the set-up was not equipped with global positioning system and would therefore not help to track him down. "The canton of Bern uses the first generation system ," said Jonas Peter Weber, a professor at the University of Bern. "We can only check if the person is at home. If the alarm goes off and no police is in the vicinity , the person will be able to flee," he said."


So, like, this guy whose been a fugitive from justice for thirty years for child rape will be monitored by less technology than that found in the average iPhone. I'm just saying that all of this doesn't not sound like the beginning of an International Heist Movie.

Sarkozy "Very Effective" in Securing Polanski's Release [TimesOnline]