The Wicker Man (1973) – 4/5

Oh, island in the sun… what a wicked movie!

„The Wicker Man“ is a British English-language movie from 1973, so this one indeed has its 50th anniversary this year, but this was not the reason why it was shown on the big screen again. The reason was rather that it got included as part of a film series on Britain best or most memorable movies, so I don’t know maybe the inclusion had to do with this anniversary, but honestly also without this special date, the film would have fully deserved being picked there. I saw quite a few of these films and when I watched it a little over a day ago, it was maybe my favorite from all the films I have seen (which were many). In the end of the retrospective, it may not be my number one favorite, but it will be up there with the best for sure. But let’s look at the basics first. Here I should really say „British film“ and not „English film“ because it is set on a Scottish island. Only the very beginning takes us elsewhere. It is also not a long film at slightly over 1.5 hours and the director is Robin Hardy and this is probably his most known career effort. You can pretty much say that this film is among the most known for everybody who worked on it. The includes writer Anthony Shaffer as well, who was nominated for a BAFTA for another film not much later and the second writer is David Pinner and he is still with us in 2023, hopefully also whenever you read this review. This film scored some solid awards recognition, but it came considerably later. Even the biggest awards body for films from this genre needed until 1979 to gave it the honor(s). And this was still some of the earliest awards recognition It received. I think as the film is getting closer to the 100k-ratings mark on imdb, this cannot really be considered a cult film (well, it totally could from another perspective) or genre movie anymore, but it is becoming more and more mainstream. I was baffled by how full the room was during my screening. Almost no place free anymore.

Those who did not know the film, me included, were maybe wondering why it was called like this. But they/we were only wondering until approximately ten minutes before the end when we saw the Wicker Man and what it meant. This was maybe the moment when I definitely changed my mind from giving this 3 out of 5 only to giving it 4 out of 5. What a powerful presentation and also amazing camera work there this very moment. And what an amazing construction too. You will never forget it once you see it I am sure. No problem that it is not included until around the 80-minute mark at all. Until then, you will get many other memorable moments though. Most of these have a perhaps even bigger impact on rewatch. When you know what is up with those guys on the island, then you will see them in a fully different light. This applies to literally everybody, even those at the very beginning who kinda welcome the protagonist there on the island. This was also pretty smart. The way they act as if they do not want him on the island made him just more curious and dedicated to find out about the mystery going on there. His several threats about the mainland apparently never really worried anybody as we know now as we also know they would never let him off the island again. Two things I was wondering about though were what was up with this young woman trying to seduce him, but they surely would not want anybody to take his virginity to make sure he would be as pure as it gets when the hour of sacrifice approach. And the second question was perhaps how they could be so sure that he would stay conscious and knock out the pub owner it was I think. Or maybe they had the alternate plan to just carry him there if he had really been unconscious.

Another brief moment or quote I should say that stayed on my mind was when he went to the missing girl’s mother a second time and tells her what „they“ have in mind with her daughter and that she is still alive probably. Well, the mother responded by asking who he means with „they“ and any caring mother would have asked about the daughter of course, so just one of many occasions where you realize that something is terribly wrong with these people. The irony is also priceless how they say several times that maybe it’s a good thing that he will not be on the island for the big celebration when they know the opposite is the case. Other bizarre moments include what is written on one tombstone about an animal’s semen or also the breastfeeding mother standing there. They of course never let him out of sight. At least one local from the island is always there to make sure all goes according to plan. The ending was really gruesome and horrific then. You could say that, even if the man believes in afterlife because of his Christian religion, it is a case of evil defeating good, evil killing good really. In a way you wondered how they find a way to save him, but if they had, it would have been absolutely realistic. I mean it was almost satisfying to watch how they fueled the hopelessness there by letting him try really everything there, say everything, give it the reasonable approach. He described the problem of the poor harvest from a biological perspective when he said that nothing is meant to really grow on the island. You can also see this metaphorical in a way that there is no good, no hope on this island or also how he makes the connection to the leader of the locals being potentially the next victim the following year. And so on.

I must also get to the cast still: There are not too many people I am familiar with here, but a few deserve being mentioned. The lead actor is of course Edward Woodward, also no longer with us, and he is mostly known now for the small screen success he had many years later, but in terms of theatrical releases, this is a definite contender again for his most known work. The really big name here though that almost everybody will recognize when seeing him is Christopher Lee. Once again, Lee plays the primary antagonist, even if this is not clear right away like with his Dracula performance(s). It also takes a long time for him to really enter the movie. But when he does, he really gives a captivating performance. No surprise he found some awards recognition for his turn here. He always seems focused and in control and even wise at times, but then again when we see him leading the celebration, he seems downright insane. You can also never be sure until a certain point if the people are really evil or just weirdos. Just look at the escalation with these swords there cutting off a head and then we see that it was just the head of the costume. The elaboration on the fish costume that somebody else is wearing was also interesting, the reasons behind the costume. But yeah, in the end, it could not be any clearer and there were many other indicators. I mean they did not want to make it all so obvious that the main character would call support to the island, but they also could not neglect and deny the deity they were praying to. The scene at the classroom stays also pretty memorable there, not just the insect there that is a fitting metaphor for the central character, but all the stuff that the woman teaches those girls or also when we find out or actually the main character finds out that nobody in this room is cooperating. He was not a bad police officer, that much is safe. He probably found out much more in these few hours/days than most others would have found out. Where was his gun though?

One quick step back from me here to the cast and I thought Lindsay Kemp had great screen presence whenever he was on. May he rest on peace. Still with us is Britt Ekland and fittingly, she was united with Christopher Lee on the man’s Bond movie performance and once again he plays the villain. By the way, in this film here, he really looked a lot like Sacha Baron Cohen at times. Anybody else thought so? Diane Cilento is also in here and she was already an Oscar nominee at this point, the only one from the cast? Her nomination came for Best Picture winner „Tom Jones“ from a decade earlier. But today, we shall talk about „The Wicker Man“ and the film’s popularity and appreciation after all these years becomes visible through the fact that there is a remake with Oscar winners Nicolas Cage and Ellen Burstyn that apparently did not turn out good though and also there is an even newer film called „Midsommar“ that takes the action from „The Wicker Man“ to Sweden and is not an actual remake, but has many parallels. So yeah, this 1973 film keeps inspiring filmmakers many decades later. I can see why. I really enjoyed the watch overall and as I stated at the very start, this is a film that probably only gets better on rewatch and even Lee’s (character’s) marvelous hair here deserves being appreciated for at least a second sitting. The use of costumes was also interesting, also the use of masks. We can see how much it freaks the main character out on one occasion when he barks at these two girls that they should finally take down their masks, cat masks it was I think and they follow, but do not seem particularly cooperative and this applies to everybody in the film basically. Until the very end. There the missing girl is found indeed and the moment how she does not seem scared at all and surprisingly quickly cooperates with the main character made me think that something was wrong there. He did not recognize, but yeah she was just putting on a show and this ending then also made clear the words from the beginning when the protagonist informs us and the locals that he was requested personally by somebody from the island to deal with this case. Now we know why. Nothing is coincidence here. Neither is my high rating. I could go on and on about the memorable aspects of this film, but you get the message. Unless you really hate psychological horror films, this is a film you must not miss out under any circumstance. I highly recommend the watch.