(SPOILERS)
“The Wicker Man” is a 1973 folk horror film directed by Robin Hardy and written by Anthony Shaffer, fresh from his hit film Sleuth, released in 1972. It tells the story of a devout Scottish Christian detective that is sent to investigate the disappearance of a young woman in the Scottish island of Summerisle, where he finds unnerving evidence of paganic behavior on the island. It stars Edward Woodward as the protagonist, a self-righteous detective whose obsession with finding this young child that had initially disappeared ultimately leads to his unfortunate demise by the hands of a cult.
The similarities between this film and Ari Aster’s “Midsommar” quickly became apparent when I finished watching this shockingly unnerving classic, and while Midsommar boasts of significantly better acting and cinematography (though definitely a product of its time, where new filmmaking technologies compete with the possibly outdated ones in the 70’s), I have to credit “The Wicker Man” for producing in me a feeling of anxiety that gripped me throughout its entire runtime. I believe this feeling is due to its incredible screenplay, adapted from a David Pinner’s novel Ritual, and its outstanding direction, at the hand of Robin Hardy.
However, this film is not perfect. While I do think that Edward Woodward grows into his role in the third act I believe that his portrayal of Sergeant Howard was slightly mediocre, as was his character, who seemed too one-dimensional. As someone who appreciates interesting characters, I was disappointed to find little to no character development or character study in any of the townies or even the sergeant himself, but yet, this screenplay manages to focus on what I believe is what really is the foundation of the film, and that is its story and thematic groundwork.
Exploring themes as those of the measures to which people, especially those who are isolated from the rest of the world, can go to fulfill their religious beliefs, the presence of sexuality in pagan rituals, and the conflict between Catholicism specifically and paganism, the film becomes an incredible study and showcase of Celtic pagan rituals and traditions, as well as shows the horrors that can lie behind these cult-like behaviors. This film isn’t afraid to present both ideals of paganism and christianity as not one or the other being exclusively good, or the correct choice, and present them as beliefs that people acquire through life experiences, depicting religion in a way that begs the question of what is morality behind following a god or gods.
As I move into a more spoilery section of this analysis/review, there are a couple of scenes that seemed quite effective to me in portraying the apprehension that the filmmakers wanted the audience to feel, the first being the “Chop, Chop, Chop” scene. In this scene, Sergeant Howard, infiltrating as part of a parade for the May Day celebration as part of a pagan celebration on the island, is led to a stone formation, where quickly, parading townies are forced to participate in a chilling game of chance where they must put their heads through a hole formed by 6 swords, that could close at any moment, in a sort of “Russian Roulette” type game. This whole scene is backed by folk music playing diegetically, and ends in what seems to be shock horror, as a young girl’s head appears to be cut off, but is shown as a fake out as the girl stands up laughing. Through the eyes of both the audience and Sergeant Howard, this ritualistic game is horrifying, but to the citizens participating in it, it’s just part of a bigger ritual, and more of a laughing matter than it might seem to an outsider.
The cult’s rituals involving public fornicating and teaching sexuality to children had already been planted as strange behavior in the audience’s mind, and in Sergeant Howard’s mind (who plays an audience surrogate as he discovers the island’s strange traditions from the eyes of a puritanic christian), but it is this game that seems the most unnerving so far, as it depicts the possibility of murder for religious purposes, a theme very prevalent in the film and its ending. This ending contains the second scene I want to talk about. In a shocking revelation that it is actually Sergeant Howard who was being sacrificed by the Summerisle Cult and not Rowan Morrison, who the detective believed was doomed to be sacrificed to the Gods, Howard is taken towards a Wicker Man where he is set to be burnt to death. Faced by this titanic statue that surely indicates his death, the sergeant exclaims “Oh God, Oh Jesus Christ” in a fearful manner, blaspheming at God, out of fear. This sudden change in Howard’s devout christianity as he breaks the third commandment of the Bible strikes fear in the audience in the same way that the vision of this giant effigy strikes fear into the detective, and it is a great way of demonstrating the horrors of how far this cult is willing to go to fulfill their rituals.
As one of the most popular folk horror movies of all time and my personal favorite, over its thematically similar Midsommar, The Wicker Man released 50 years ago, holds up as a chilling demonstration of group-think, cultish behavior, and the dark sides of pagan religion, while also exploring how sexuality is involved in religion and delving into how Christianity clashes with other beliefs. An unnerving masterpiece.
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