Theatrical release poster
The Wicker Man is a 1973 British folk horror film directed by Robin Hardy starring Edward Woodward and more notably Christopher Lee, who at the time was best known for his work with Hammer Horror most notably playing the role of Dracula in, you guessed it... Dracula. The film centres around Police Sergeant Neil Howie (Woodward), a devoted Catholic Christian who finds himself investigating the disappearance of Rowan Morrison, a young girl who lives on the secluded Scottish isle of Summerisle after receiving an anonymous letter about the case. Whilst the film received quite a fair share of positive reviews, the original theatrical version suffered from excessive cuts, lowering the run-time whilst harming the films narrative, although in recent years the film has become a cult-classic for many with a directors cut and a shorter but still extraordinary final version in 2013 remastering the film to still hold up both visually and also ideologically.
Ideology wise, the film was very unique and visionary of its time, exploring themes of paganism and reflecting on the beliefs of followers of world religion (in the films case, Christianity) and the self-centeredness that comes with this worship. It's themes have enabled the film to still hold up, not just critically, but socially as more people have come to question religion as the amount of atheists have surged more recently, as well as peoples "different" religious beliefs being accepted. These themes are explored through the films main protagonist, Howie, or perhaps antagonist, lemme explain...
The film immediately starts with no explanation, just our lead neatly in uniform singing along to hymns at Church and reciting a psalm, as he stands behind a stained glass window almost beaming down on him already tell us he is a firm believer of Christianity and is very strict about his religious practises and those around him. Once the opening credits are over the rest of the film is Howie venturing along the island as he watches in disgust over the community that has been built away from his beliefs and his society, as he questions immorally their paganist practises of young ladies roaming around the island naked and the lack of Christian symbolism. The only thing Howie fairly criticises is the saneness of this community, who don't appear upset over this missing girl he is investigating over as they don't recognise his confusion over the situation. The films ideology here reflects on the viewer, as it makes them come to terms religion itself and how confusing it actually is and that it is something we shouldn't take at first-hand, yet unlike Howie and his immediate idea to discredit the paganist ideology and Gods, we should be open to accepting these beliefs. It is without a doubt that the symbolism we see in the film is weird and unnatural, but in the long-run they aren't actually harming anyone on the outside and isn't to the extent of being extreme. Until...
The ending, which requires a significant spoiler, so take that how you will although I will place it down below if you wanna check it out as it is that interesting and still great. Anyway, the ending where Howie realises his free will has led him here, a game of the hunted leading the hunters, he is placed into the Wicker Man figure and slowly antagonising, yet hauntingly burnt alive as the community he has dehumanised over his days on the island chant along in hope of a good harvest the next year. Whilst this scene is very extreme, it is an overall test of Howie's assurance over his Christian beliefs and allows the audience to reflect over it. This scene is brilliant for many reasons, and not for the fact just like the rest of the film it doesn't need to conform to any horror cliché, but ideologically too and this is through as previously mentioned, Howie's free will. This is tested throughout the film most notably when he resists having sex with a woman who isn't married to him, showing mentally how far he has conformed to his Christian belief. It is only when he is physically challenged when the tables turn on him. As it's when the fiery pit blazes decrepitly towards him he starts to prayer, trying to show his affiliation and determination to his beliefs, but as this is happening he starts to fumble his words and panic, until the floor he cradled on caves in and the film ends with a pain-screeching, intense scream as the sun sets. It all happens so fast yet its the dread that makes it so slow, and all of this tells us ideologically how he slowly realises the religion he has harshly supported has meant nothing for his entire existence, and the the free will it's given him has ultimately been pointless, as it leads to his demise and the paganist followers beneath him live to see another day. We somewhat feel sympathy for Howie as we can understand how he feels in this situation and the dread he must feel, yet a further reading will make you criticise him, as again he had no right to be afraid if his religion was surely going to give him eternal paradise, and if he hadn't been taught to be so critical of other followers, then he would've realised how his life has been built on lies and how much freedom he could've actually had. This is without a doubt one of my favourite films and one I love to discuss since the message is so personal as a fellow atheist, in fact I might just re-watch it as soon as possible to see whether my views and opinions have changed.
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