THE WICKER MAN

US, 2006, 98 minutes, Colour.
Nicolas Cage, Ellen Burstyn, Kate Beahan, Frances Conroy, Molly Parker, Leelee Sobieski, Diane Delano.
Directed by Neil La Bute.

The release of The Wicker Man (without benefit of press previews but with two screenings at the Venice Film Festival) has caused more critical dyspepsia than many films in a long time. The original has a strong cult following. For most devotees this means that a remake is impossible (while plays can be represented and re-presented over the years with audiences eager to make comparisons). Robert Hardy, the director of the original, was quoted as wanting to take legal recourse, especially to have his name taken off this film and Christopher Lee was quoted as denouncing the remake vigorously.

Neil La Bute is best known for his early rather misogynistic films like In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbours. He had great success with the satirical Nurse Betty, less with his adaptation of A.S. Byatt’s Possession. He probably won’t be venturing into the horror realm after The Wicker Man.

At an entertainment level (especially for those who do not know that there was an original to be defended), it is quite watchable. The plot has been transferred from a sinister island off the Scottish coast to an island off the coast of Washington state. The lord of the island (Christopher Lee) is now a descendant of a Celtic cult of the goddess and the feminine (Ellen Burstyn). She is all smooth but sinister smiles and rhetoric compared with the solemn resonances of Lee. Otherwise, the plot (based on Anthony Shaffer’s screenplay) is much the same as the original. Some critics have mocked the strong-minded and emasculating feminism of the cult (which is believed in by some women all around the world). It is not necessarily any more absurd than the kind of neo-Druidism of the original.

One of the main difficulties for non-American audiences with this version is that Nicolas Cage is so contemporary American, in police attitudes (‘stand away from that bicycle’ is an unfortunate line!), in language and in delivery of his speeches. Edward Woodward had so much more gravitas, as did the presence of Christopher Lee (think Dracula blended with Sarumon). This gave the original a strength and dignity which the American style does not give – and this despite a stronger supporting cast including Frances Conroy and Molly Parker.

It would be interesting to read an overview and review of all the critical apoplexy.

1. The status of the classic original? The qualities of this remake? Defects? The transposition to the present, to the United States? The adaptation? The transition from men ruling Summersisle to women?

2. The original and the horror tradition, elements of horror in this film? Drama?

3. The opening Californian settings, the town and the open highway? The Pacific Islands, the coast? The community of Summersisle, the woods, the old-style houses? The musical score?

4. The story and the Americanisation? The Celtic tradition? The female goddess? The persecutions in the 17th century, the women going to Massachusetts, to Salem, the experience of the persecution of witches? The pioneers across to the west? The west, the island, the isolation?

5. Summersisle as a community of women, addressing everyone as Sister, female control, the men subservient, hardly speaking, cowering, doing the menial work? The image of the beehives? Sister Summersisle as the Queen? The men as drones? The bees as a symbol, the mead, the harvest of the honey? The issues of reproduction, the role of men and women, control? Ed and his coming to the island? His being acclaimed as the drone to be killed?

6. The background of the Celtic rituals, age-old, the books of rituals, Egypt etc? The goddess? The sacrifice of the Wicker Man?

7. The plausibility of such a commune? The United States and the various isolated communities, cults? The nature of this cult?

8. The prologue, Ed and his work, police, on the road, encountering the family, the doll thrown out of the car, his meeting the mother, her nerviness, the child throwing the doll out again? His rescuing it, the truck and the car exploding? His being off work, the visit of the fellow officer and his tension?

9. The letter, the letter from Willow? The news about Rowan, her disappearance, the puzzle about how the letter arrived? The story of Ed’s past, his decision to go to Washington State, the ferry, his nightmares and imagination with the child, the car, the burning, the truck? Discussions with the pilot, paying to go to Summersisle? Later finding the radio sabotaged, the pilot dead, the plane sunk?

10. Ed as a character, as a policeman, his manner, his standing by the law, barging into the island, his angers? His police style: stand away from the bike! The nature of his investigation, at the inn, killing the bee, the sisters’ reaction? The mead, the finding of the bees, his being pursued by the bees, the camera lifting to show the whole field in the pattern of beehives? His being rescued, awakening at the doctor’s place? His visit to the doctor, waiting till she left, the photographs, Rowan’s photo disappearing? Sister Beech and Sister Oak, the young woman at the inn, Sister Rose and Sister Thorn? His going to the school, interrogating the class, finding Rowan’s desk, her name crossed off the list, accusing Sister Rose of lies, accusing the children of lies? His meeting with Sister Summersisle, the audience with her, their discussions, her seeming sense of freedom, the explanation of the Celtic tradition and the feminine? The history of the island?

11. Ed with Willow, the meetings, clandestine, her anxiety, the photo, his fears, finding the grave, digging it up, finding the doll? Going to the pier? Ed and his nightmares, the drowning girl, swimming underwater to get the radio, its being sabotaged?

12. Willow, in herself, her plaintive style, searching for Rowan, clandestine meetings? The revelation that Sister Summersisle was her mother?

13. Sister Summersisle and her ideas, her explanations, attitude? The visualising of her room – as a Queen Bee?

14. The women, Sister Beech at the hotel, Sister Oak and her destroying of the plane and the pilot? Sister Rose and the class – and her superiority and contempt for Ed on the road? The young woman wanting to leave? The doctor and the rituals book? Sister Summersisle and the handmaidens?

15. The men, subservient, the nature of their work, in the inn, their silence, no force – present at the ceremony?

16. The build-up to the ceremony, Ed disguising himself in the bear costume? The procession and the ritual, the masks? His coming to Willow and Rowan, Willow’s revelation that she was in league with her mother, the overall plan, trapping him step by step? For the daughter, for coming to the island, for becoming the Wicker Man? His being trapped, put in the wicker cage? Rowan lighting the fire? His trying to defend himself, verbally, no bullets? His being called the drone? His being burnt to death?

17. Willow and the young woman, going to the town, seeing the two young police graduates, having the drink with them – the seduction style and the cycle starting again?