A Puritan Police Sergeant arrives in a Scottish island village in search of a missing girl, whom the Pagan locals claim never existed.
Marking its 50th year around the Sun, “The Wicker Man” remains an iconic cult classic. And after all these years, it is a film that stands firmly on its own for various reasons. At its heart, it is a Folk Horror, filled with universal socio-political fears wrapped in pagan mythology, beautifully crafted songs, and an unforgettable finale. Although – Horror – is just the tip of this cinematic iceberg. It also contains mystery, thriller, musical, and drama genre elements. It plays with perspectives, not in a manipulative sense, but a more thoughtful inquisition into faith and who the oppressor is.
Its story begins after a young girl is reported missing, possibly sacrificed as part of a ritual on an isolated Scottish island called Summerisle. Devout Christian Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) arrives to investigate. On Summerisle, Howie is stricken by the pagan Celtic customs, which consist of libertine performances and bawdy ballads – all in a bid to yield more crops after the prior year’s unsatisfactory harvest. These customs at first seem Renaissance fair-lite, but they are culturally accurate. One unsettling fertility ritual involving a baby and an egg showcased an acute artistic sense of the uncanny and highlighted the story’s thorough research done by screenwriter Anthony Schaffer. But Schaffer refuses to single out this group of antiquated zealots and sets his sights on Howie’s religious beliefs.
The devout Howie is living in denial in various ways, denying himself the pleasures offered by Summerisle in the form of a seductive innkeeper’s daughter. He is in denial over whether his religious convictions guarantee him salvation in this life or the next. Denial that he, too, is not simply a servant to a British monarchy that is full of contradictions, carrying out odd rituals and dishing out an extraordinary amount of colonial atrocities. Whereas the islanders do not wish ill will towards Howie’s Christianity. Their religious drive is a material one; they rely upon it for their harvest to come. Interestingly, some of the islanders are shown teaching children Christian parables.
The islanders are led by Lord Summerisle, played by an effervescently terrifying Christopher Lee, who is appropriately introduced in a vampiric chiaroscuro of shadow and light. Lee would later state this was his favorite performance of his prolific career. He was a regular of England’s Hammer Horror film company, best known for his roles in a series of successful films, notably playing Dracula. Thus, Lee wished to showcase his range to avoid typecasting. The genesis of “The Wicker Man” came to be in 1971 when Lee met with Anthony Shaffer, and the two collaborated on the project. Upon director Robin Hardy’s participation, Shaffer and Hardy wanted to center their story on “old religion.” Shaffer was inspired by David Pinner’s novel ‘Ritual,’ which followed a similar plot about a devout detective searching for a missing child. Oddly, director Robin Hardy never made more than a couple of other films, but he wrote several novels, the most successful being ‘The Education Of Don Juan.’
Since I think about the Roman Empire daily, I appreciate that the film’s title originated from Julius Caesar’s description of Gauls carrying out human sacrifices in his “Commentaries on the Gallic War.” He writes, “Others have figures of vast size, the limbs of which formed of osiers they fill with living men, which being set on fire, the men perish enveloped in the flames.”
In the 1970s, defeated protest movements and citizens worldwide questioned their lack of autonomy and feared their governments who only served themselves. Governments and monarchs were more than willing to sacrifice many of their citizens through neoliberal measures enacted in the form of cuts to social programs and more. When faced with such a disquieting reality, it does not seem so odd when some people revert to worshiping pagan gods and charlatans.
“The Wicker Man’s” ending is exceptionally executed and satisfyingly reveals the mystery. If not the entirety of the film, the finale is especially an allegory for the need or unconscious desire humans naturally possess for martyrdom in a society still rooted in religion. And today, we can see this fanaticism is still killing people by the thousands. That is why these thoughtful artistic expressions remain so compelling – and genuinely horrifying.
Now available on 4K Ultra HD™ SteelBook
