The Wicker Man

The Wicker Man

1973

Director- Robin Hardy

Cast-  Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Ingrid Pitt, Diane Cilento, Lindsay Kemp, Aubrey Morris

           

 

Sgt. Neil Howie (Edward Woodard, probably best known from the TV show The Equalizer) is a British detective sent to an isolated community on an island to look into the reported disappearance of a young girl, Rowan Morrison. Upon arrival he gets the cold shoulder and all of the islanders feign ignorance of the girl. Later he finds out that she may have been killed but no one knows how and no body can be found. Most shocking to Sgt. Howie is the pervasive paganism on the island. The townsfolk practice a version of the old pre-Christian Celtic religions.

            Howie, in role playing terms, is the archetypal lawful good character. He sermonizes at his church, he upholds the law and doesn’t believe in pre-marital sex. The townsfolk, by contrast, gleefully celebrate sex with public orgies and naked pagan rituals. The town’s spiritual leader is Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee) an aristocratic descendant of the man that brought the worship of the old gods back to the island. Howie is led on a wild goose chase trying to solve the girl’s murder. He finally concludes that the girl must still be alive and that the townsfolk plan to murder her as a ritual sacrifice to bring back their failing crops. Too late he finds out that the truth is much worse.

            The Wicker Man is in some ways quaint and in others still very relevant. In the hyper-violent 21^st century it may seem strange that a policeman would travel both unarmed and without the aid of cutting edge forensic technology. On the other hand, the film’s sexual themes would probably still shock an American audience that is numb to violence but still feels pangs of Puritan shame and guilt at exposed breasts. Particularly memorable is a rather lengthy musical number with a very alluring and stark naked Britt Ekland as she tries to seduce Howie. Beautiful, Ingrid Pitt, best known from her Hammer vampire films, appears in a supporting role.

            The Wicker Man is not a Satanic film. It does in fact, convey a mythology that actively seeks to reject Christianity, and by extension, it’s counterpart. The Wicker Man achieves that rarest of accomplishment for a horror movie. It creates an emotional reaction while at the same time engaging us intellectually in a way that is usually reserved for science fiction.