Intensity	Stupidity:Nudity Ratio 3:5	Budget Medium

The original burning man?

The movie opens with Sergeant Howie piloting a sea plane to a remote island to look for a missing girl. Upon arrival he is greeted with distrust and any assistance he gets is more confusing than helpful. When showing the girl's picture leads nowhere, he mentions the mother's name and is directed to the Post Office but unfortunately the mother denies missing any children. The Sergeant goes to the Inn for food and lodging and is introduced to Willow. As she is about to show him to his room, someone in the bar starts singing and suddenly we nearly have a musical. Later that night Willow will tempt the Sergeant by singing and dancing naked in the room next to his. During the course of his investigation Sergeant Howie is confronted with many rituals from the Old Religon that he finds disquieting. Eventually he meets Lord Summerisle and the two butt heads. As the plot continues to play out, the Sergeant gets closer and closer to finding the girl only to have the tables turned on him at the last minute and he himself becomes the sacrifice.

There are not many obscure films that make an impression like this on people. The film deals with religon and murder in a quite unusual way. In the end we learn that the very Christian Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) was lured to the island as a sacrifice. Along the way we see the two religions pitted against each other with neither the clear winner. The Sergeant and Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee) are two strongly religious men from two very dissimilar religions. While the paegans believe in multiple gods and enjoy the pleasures of life, the Christians believe in the "one true God" and frown on most of the fun things in life. When Sergeant Howe expresses his belief that he will rise to heaven and live forever at the side of God, the peagans counter with their belief that the dead return to the Earth and are reborn as trees, animals and possibly humans. To people who believe in God, this movie would seem a direct attack on one of their own. However, the atheist in me sees it differently. While the Sergeant certainly ends up with the short straw, the two characters are very much equals. The Sergeant would impose his religion on the people of Summerisle if he could and, in fact, when he overhears the school teacher discuss May Poles and phalllic symbols he informs here that he will be talking to the authorities. Of course, in the end it is the pageans who force their religion on the Sergeant.

The similarities between the two are shown in serveral scenes where both men demonstrate their strong belief in their own religon. The Sergeant is shown speaking in his church, praying before going to bed, and frequently speaks of his shock that the island's inhabitants have drifted away from Christianity. Perhaps the most telling scene is at the end when Howie tells the crowd that if the crops fail again, the next sacrifice would have to be the Lord of Summerisle himself. Besides trying to get some revenge, the Sergeant is putting himself and the Summerilse on the same level. Another similarity is that both are willing to bend the law to their beliefs. Summerisle as the Lord of the Manor has based the laws of the island on his religion. The Sergeant overhears the schoolteacher discussing the May Pole as a phallic symbol and immediately threatens her with criminal prosecution because she is teaching aspects of a religion he does not believe in. While I am not really up on English laws, I don't believe that schoolteacher was breaking any of them.

Anthony Shaffer worked with Alfred Hitcock, worked up Agatha Christie novels for the big screen and penned "Slueth" for both the stage and screen. To say that Wicker Man has a better script than most of the movies I review is a bit of an understatement. The movie presents us with a fair amount of misdirection and side trips that make much more sense on additional viewings. On the initial viewing it is very easy just to go along for the ride because the characters and their actions are interesting. The villiagers are initially presented as being different and less than cooperative, but not as being evil. As the movie progresses, the references to folk remedies build up (some are written on the chalkboard in the classroom and we see Mrs. Morrison attempt to cure a sore throat with a toad). This makes us think that maybe they would make scarifices to their gods. Shaffer drops plenty of hints that the islanders have a plan. Some characters offer him some slight hints that Rowan is still alive while others insist that she is dead and that Howie should leave the island immediately. After the subterfuge is revealed we think we are through with the shocks, we are then introduced to the Wicker Man.

There seems to be some dispute as to whether the English Druids actually practiced human sacrifice. Comtemporary Roman authors mention it but modern authors are split. Whatever the origin of the Wicker Man, it has become a popular symbol again. Burning Man is not the only yearly event to conclude with a human effigy going up in flames. I wonder how much of that can be traced back to this movie? I doubt that the movie itself is the reason for Burning Man, but it does add a pop reference to go along with the pagean reference. At any rate, when the Sergeant is brought before the Wicker Man he flat out panics, which I think is entirely forgiveable. As the camera pans over the scene we see that it is clearly intended as a pyre and that there are numerous other sacrificial animals inside. This is a pretty shocking image and to this day people think that these animals were actually burned alive. In the documentary on the disc the director talks about how people were protesting before the scene was even put on film. He states that such concerns were silly and that no one associated with the movie had any intention of burning animals to death. But this speaks to the shock that the image caused in some people. We all assume that the actor was not going to be burned to death, but the horrific image of being burned to death spills over into concern for the animals in the scene.

The story that Lord Summerilse presents tells how his Grandfather came to the island with a science background and studied the local climate and lands to design a method of farming that would work. For him, the pageanism of the islanders was a minor concern. His son embraced the religon more and his son (the current Lord Summerisle) has become a feverent believer. When confronted with failing crops, does he bring in scientists and botanists to try to understand what is going on? Oh, no, not our guy. He opts for human sacrifice. The depth of the writing makes us almost understand his motivation, but still. Science, sacrifice, science, sacrifice. They aren't really equal options are they?

If you view the movie as holding pageanism up to the light and pointing out its flaws, I think you are missing the point. These people are devout. They truly believe in their gods and what it takes to keep on the gods' good side. Sergeant Howie also believes that he knows exactly what it takes to stay on his god's good side. Religious people always look at other beliefs as being flawed and ridiculous. Howie's insistance on staying a virgin until he is married was clearly amusing to the islanders, but it also sets the Sergeant apart from them making him different and therefore easier to sacrifice. It should be noted that while Willow was testing his virtue, the Sergeant was sorely tempted. He clearly wanted to take Willow up on her invitation, but sacrificed that pleasure so that he would be able to go to heaven later. My father likes to tell the story about visiting some relatives on Ash Wednesday. At that time people would go to the local church to have some ash smeared on their forehead. When dad arrived he found them watching television and laughing at the ritual some primitave tribe was going through as a religoius event. They were completely oblivious to the fact that they were participating in a religious ritual that other religions would find insulting or just plan odd.

Willow (Britt Eckland, "Love Scenes") plays the Innkeeper's daughter. There is some backstory that was lost when the original negatives were accidently destroyed that suggests that Willow is, umm, promiscuious. Then there is the song that the bar patrons sing that pretty much celebrates that promiscuity. Willow's part in the plan is to tempt the Sergeant (whom we are supposed to believe is a virgin) with sex. While he is very tempted, he restains himself. Britt's dance is one of the more memorable scenes in the movie. It is also part of the misdirection that the writer is using to keep us offguard. In the end we realize that it was a test of the Sergeant's faith. During the dance we are mostly thinking that Britt Eckland looks really good naked.

Some movies become cult classics for odd reasons. "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is not a great film, but it is tremendous fun. "Plan 9 from Outer Space" may be reviled as the worst movie of all time but virtually everyone interested in movies has seen it. Wicker Man is one of those movies that really should be considered a classic without qualification. It never got the distribution it deserved . This may be the best B movie of all time. Certainly Christopher Lee thinks it is his finest movie and I have to agree with him on that score. Wicker Man is one of those movies that any serious film buff should see.

Perhaps giving it more attention than it deserves, I compared the original to the remake here.

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