Movies - The Wicker Man

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	Movies - The Wicker Man

The Wicker Man is a cult 1973 British film containing thriller, horror and musical elements, directed by Robin Hardy, written by Anthony Shaffer. The film stars Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt and Britt Ekland. Paul Giovanni composed The Wicker Man soundtrack, a recording cited as a major influence on neofolk and psych folk artists.

In 2004 the magazine Total Film named The Wicker Man the sixth greatest British film of all time.

Brightlight Pictures is currently producing a remake of the film set in Maine instead of Scotland; the reprised version stars Nicolas Cage and Ellen Burstyn. Robin Hardy has expressed confusion over the remake .

Plot

Sergeant Neil Howie (Woodward), of the West Highlands Constabulary, is sent an anonymous letter recommending that he investigate the disappearance of a young girl, Rowan Morrison, on the remote Hebridean island of Summerisle. He flies out to the island and during his investigations discovers that the entire population follow a neo-pagan religion under the island's owner Lord Summerisle (Lee), worshipping the sun and engaging in other rituals.

Howie, an extremely devout and conservative Christian, is increasingly shocked by the islanders' behaviour; he is also both attracted and repulsed by the alluring and overtly sexual Willow (Ekland), the landlord's daughter. He has no assistance in his search from the islanders, who initially deny Morrison even exists, and then say that she recently died. Howie persists and uncovers evidence suggesting the girl was a victim, or perhaps is soon to be a victim, of human sacrifice. Delving deeper into the island's culture, he disguises himself as Punch, a principal character of the May Day festival, in an attempt to uncover the details of the ceremony. But the islanders are not fooled, and at the end of the festival it is revealed that the girl is alive and unhurt: the letter was part of a ploy to bring Howie to the island in order for him to be the sacrifice, which they believe will restore the fertility of their fields.

As Howie is seized by the islanders, Lord Summerisle drolly notes that the sacrifice will be especially efficacious since the engaged Howie is a virgin; like Punch, is simultaneously wise and a fool, comes as a King (a representative of Her Majesty's government), and comes to the place of sacrifice of his own free will. Howie admonishes Lord Summerisle that if his sacrifice does not work, the next year, the islanders will have no choice but to sacrifice their king - Lord Summerisle himself. But Summerisle appears absolutely certain that sacrificing Howie will work. Howie is forced into the belly of a large hollow wicker statue of a man, which is set on fire. In the final shot of the film, the islanders surround the burning wicker man and sing the Middle English folk-song Sumer Is Icumen In while the terrified Howie shouts out Psalm 23 and implores divine vengeance on the island and its inhabitants.

Problematic release

The film was produced at a time of crisis in the British film industry. The studio in charge of production, British Lion Films, was in financial trouble and was bought out by millionaire businessman John Bentley. In order to convince the unions that he wasn't about to asset-strip the company, Bentley needed to get a film into production quickly. This meant that The Wicker Man, a film set during early summer, was actually filmed in October; in order to look convincing, artificial leaves and blossoms had to be glued to trees in many scenes. Christopher Lee was extremely keen to get the film made; he and others worked on the production without pay. By the time of the film's completion the studio had been bought out by Michael Deeley. At a private screening, he described the film as one of the worst 10 films he'd ever seen. Cuts were made and a copy of the film was sent to American film producer Roger Corman in Hollywood to make a judgement of how to market the film in the USA. In Britain, the film was cut again and eventually released as part of a double bill. Despite Lee's claims that the cuts had butchered the film's continuity, the film met with critical acclaim and won first prize in the 1974 Festival of Fantastic Films in Paris. Sometime thereafter, the original negatives and the only print of the first cut of the film were 'lost'.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Wicker Man ]

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