Something occurred to me while
re-watching The Wicker Man. It’s actually the closest
Hollywood has ever come to accurately portraying any form of
Paganism. It’s a film that portrays modern Pagans as performing
human sacrifices, but at least it makes Paganism more Religion than
super-power, and doesn’t have anyone invoking the Devil.
The movie deals with a very devout
Christian police officer, Sgt. Neil Howie (Edward Woodward), who
comes from mainland England to an island of Pagans over a report of a
missing girl (Geraldine Cowper). From there, a large portion of the
plot is fairly meandering, mainly because the people of the island
are so uncooperative. First, they claim that the girl doesn’t
exist. Then later, they claim that she’s dead. Meanwhile, he
scoffs at various Pagan rituals, letting everyone know at every
opportunity that he’s a judgmental jerk. But eventually, Howie
begins to suspect that the girl is still alive. And he also believes
the people are planning to sacrifice her.
The twist ending of this movie is what
it’s most known for. The girl is alive, and she was merely bait.
While it's implied they would have sacrificed her in the absence of
another option, they specifically wanted an adult virgin (Howie was
waiting until marriage), with the authority of the king (a police
officer), who was a fool and had come to the place of sacrifice of
his own free will (he dressed up as Punch, the fool, to slip into
their ritual in an attempt to save the girl). So Sgt. Howie ends up
being burned alive in the titular Wicker Man.
Many have discussed how to interpret
the main character, who is himself clearly a complete dick. He would
not be entirely out of place in the Deep South today. And while it’s
understandable that he would be bothered by Religious traditions
associated with May Day being taught in public school, he seems
equally shocked that Christianity isn’t being taught.
The tone of the movie is wildly
different from any other horror film I’ve ever seen, to the point
where I’m uncertain what to compare it to. It largely plays out as
a mystery with tension mounting, but there’s not a lot that is
genuinely disturbing. Of course, that could just be because I have a
much higher ‘Shock Threshold’ than people in the 1970s, as I
don’t consider people dressing up in strange costumes, having sex
or getting naked and dancing to be all that disturbing. However,
Sgt. Howie is clearly bothered by it.
The ending of the movie. Though, is
truly terrifying in that the entire affair is made out to seem
surprisingly logical (…for a human sacrifice performed by an insane
cult). The islanders are able to rationalize away the fact that
they’re committing murder on the basis that Sgt Howie, being a
Christian, is rewarded by dying a martyr’s death, and expects to be
resurrected anyway. The fact that they feel absolutely no guilt
about doing something so horrifying and are happily singing over his
screams of agony is unforgettable. This movie is an absolute
classic, and I would recommend it to anyone.
...Oh, and Christopher Lee is in it.
Yes, he’s awesome. Isn’t he always?
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