QUESTIONS ASKED: The Mel Gibson-’Hacksaw Ridge’ debate “parallels that of Nate Parker, the director of ‘Birth of a Nation.’ Parker was acquitted in 1991 of rape, yet the story of that case has now been raised as the well reviewed movie is getting ready for release. The big Oscar debate of 2016 will be how to weigh the actions of these directors vs. their movies. Are we supposed to separate the man from his art? And how does the director’s personal actions color the way we look at the movies?”

Doesn’t Hollywood expect us to separate out from their work Roman Polanski and Woody Allen’s crimes and misdemeanors (to coin an Alvy Singer-approved phrase)? Spike Lee and Samuel L. Jackson’s racialism? Sean Penn and Oliver Stone’s love of totalitarian thugs? Alec Baldwin’s frequent assaults on well, seemingly everyone? Given how low the bar has been set by the industry, I’m not sure why Gibson alone should expect to be tossed down the memory hole.