The Wicker Man (Essay Sample)

The Wicker Man
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The Wicker Man
A lot of work and time is required to turn an idea into a film, especially if it is to be successful. The creative process is likely to take a long time to bring the vision of a director and scriptwriter to life on screen. As expected, there are many challenges faced in the film business such as low funding and bad reviews from critiques. However, this does not stop film makers from trying to get their films seen by as many audiences as possible. Despite the humble beginnings of a film, it can end up being one of the greatest motion pictures of its time and genre. This paper looks into the film The Wicker Man from the perspective of its production, reception, and re-release as one that brought many mixed reactions from various groups and people.
Plot of the Film
The film focuses on the pagan worship cultures of a community living on an island. The community’s crop was failing and they saw the need to offer a human sacrifice to their gods. The human sacrifice is the star of the film, a Christian detective named Howie who went to the island after a missing child’s report was filed. He was chosen because of his status as a middle-aged virgin. The community barred him from leaving the island in order to put their plan into action. At first, Howie thinks that the community’s plan is to sacrifice the missing girl to the gods. However, he realizes that he is the intended sacrifice to be offered to the gods when he realizes that the missing girl was a ploy to get him to the island. The film ends at this point.
Colorful Production and Exhibition History
The creators of the film are Anthony Shaffer (scriptwriter), Robin Hardy (director), and Peter Snell (producer). The trio came up with the film after its initial adaptation from a novel failed to be movie worthy. The complete script was presented to British Lion, and was received with great enthusiasm. However, the movie was to have a low budget due to the financial trouble that British Lion was having. The amount assigned was $450,000. Filming was done in Newton Stewart, Scotland with 25 locations around the same vicinity (Steve-p.org, 2015).
The crew had to get creative due to the low budget. Therefore, they did not film on an island. However, this was a non-issue as the fact was not so obvious when one watched the movie. In addition, it was autumn in Scotland yet the scenes required the setting to be that of summer days. Therefore, they faked the summer using plastic apple trees and other paraphernalia to bring the effect of summer (Steve-p.org, 2015).
Colorful Production
The rituals performed in the film were actual representations of the pagan rituals that took place in Britain and Western Europe (Franks, 2005,2). This was revealed by the director, Robin Hardy, who did a lot of research into this aspect to be able to put most of the rituals and practices in one place for the purposes of criticizing them. The rituals covered a long historical period in order to reach the different cultures and eras that practiced them such as Nazism, and Dark Age Practices (Franks, 2005, 2). For these to come to life, extensive props were used. These involved masks, costumes, and even a wooden wicker man stick. All these brought out the depth of the beliefs of this community that, at first, looked ordinary but had underpinnings of pagan rituals.
Exhibition History
There are many hints from different historical times that are reflected in this film. This is in the characters, the costumes, and the visual effects. One thing that stands out is the display of pagan times that existed before Christianity came. This is presented as an oddity in the modern world where one expects to find pagan history and practices in books alone. Therefore, one does not expect to find these practices in the streets being done by seemingly reasonable people. This is an oddity that was captured by Detective Howie’s surprise to find that people in the Island were practicing paganism, which he had read about in a history book. Another thing that stands out is feudalism, which is displayed by Lord Summer Isle’s summoning of his minions (Gulatz, 2006,7). This is because he uses a bell to summon them, which is clearly an aspect of feudalism where lords had servants at the disposal of their masters.
The Film’s Reception
The Long Version of the Film
The motion picture’s showing in Cannes Festival as a non-competing one led to a few purchases by some foreign territories. This was the long version that led Christopher Lee, one of the cast members, to declare that it was one of the worst that he had ever seen.
The Short Version of the Film
This version was the least liked by people. One of its critics, Paul Giovanni, found the short version silly and laughable as compared to the long one. When the film was shown to some critics, who presumably never saw the long version, they gave it some reasonable reviews. The reviews were neither too scathing nor praising. The flick was shown in some college theatres as well and earned a favorable review in Variety, a theater in Atlanta.
My Response to the Film
I think that the ideas of the film were brought out well, especially the superficial normality displayed by the island community. The other aspects, such as the disbelief of the pagan rituals happening in a modern setting despite the presence of many religions that are considered valid, was clearly brought out. The authority of Lord Summer Isle was also troubling as well as the islanders’ belief that the sacrifice would actually work. I found the ending of the movie as appropriate. Seeing Howie realize that he is to be sacrificed and trying to convince them not to do it was telling. I disagree with Christopher Lee’s opinion that it was a bad motion picture. I agree with the assertion from Warner Bro’s representatives that it was one of the greatest cult films of its time.
The Generic Identity of the Film
It seems to me that the film is a philosophical exploration of religion a...