Holidays: May Day

 

The Wicker Man (1973)

Devout police sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) travels to a private, remote, Scottish island to investigate the disappearance of a schoolgirl.  He is disgusted to find a colony of pagans, practicing nude rituals and public sex, who are hiding the truth of the missing girl.

Sergeant Howie (played with appropriate frustration by Woodward) is unpleasant from his first moment onscreen.  He is inflexible, self-righteous, cruel, and willing to break the law he keeps yelling he is there to uphold.  Told differently, this could be a horror story about a man surrounded by evil, but that isn't this story.  This is the story of a fool who enters paradise and can't see it.  He is not outraged that somewhere there must be a murderer; he is outraged that the murderer, and the other islanders, have not accepted their "proper" place in society, that they do not believe as he believes.  And in this, Howie is far too much like the average man.

Even without the theme, this is an enjoyable film.  The mystery is engaging, and who can be unhappy about a nude fertility dance from Britt Ekland.  Christopher Lee makes an excellent pagan lord of the manor, and his exchanges with Howie contain most of the best lines.
 

Lord:   I am confident your suspicions are wrong, Sergeant. We do not commit murder here. We are a deeply religious people.

Howie: Religious? With ruined churches, no ministers, no priests... and children dancing naked!

Lord:   They do love their divinity lessons.

Howie: But they are...are naked!

Lord:   Well, naturally. It's much too dangerous to jump through fire with their clothes on.

Howie: And what of the true god, whose glory, churches and monasteries have been built on these islands for generations past? Now sir, what of him?

Lord:   He's dead. Can't complain, had his chance and in modern parlance, blew it.

There are a few flaws as well.  The end speeches from Howie go on too long.  The film has multiple songs (enough for the director to call it, only partly joking, a musical); some work, some don't.  None will send you racing for a soundtrack.

This isn't Halloween viewing, but think about it for May Day.

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