The Wicker Man (2006 film)

The Wicker Man
Film poster
Directed by	Neil LaBute
Written by	1973 screenplay: Anthony Shaffer Screenplay: Neil LaBute
Produced by	Nicolas Cage Randall Emmett Norm Golightly Avi Lerner Joanne Sellar
Starring	Nicolas Cage Ellen Burstyn Kate Beahan Frances Conroy Molly Parker Leelee Sobieski Diane Delano
Cinematography	Paul Sarossy
Edited by	Eric Boyd-Perkins
Music by	Angelo Badalamenti
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	1 September 2006
Land	Germany/USA
Sprache	Englisch
Budget	$35,000,000

The Wicker Man is a 2006 remake of the 1973 British film of the same title. It was written and directed by Neil LaBute, and stars Nicolas Cage, and Ellen Burstyn. The plot roughly follows the same outline as the original film, though there are several differences (see below).

Plot summary

Edward Malus (Cage), an American police officer, receives news from his ex-fiancée Willow that her daughter Rowan (Erika-Shaye Gair) is missing. He persuades a seaplane pilot to take him to the mysterious Summersisle. He inquires about Rowan, but no one gives him a satisfactory answer about her. He also sees a man carrying a large bag dripping with a dark red liquid, but he cannot ascertain the bag's contents.

Visiting a café run by Sister Beech (Diane Delano), he continues his inquiries and it is revealed that he is allergic to bee stings. A few minutes later he meets Willow, who advises him not to believe the other islanders' answers about Rowan, and that they regard her (Willow) with suspicion.

The following morning, Malus discovers that there is a shortage of honey, the island's chief product. He also notes that a series of framed photographs of girls resembling Rowan ends with a broken frame and missing picture. Beech informs him that the pictures, taken at an annual festival, had been broken the previous night.

He then heads for a classroom and sees that all of the schoolgirls bear a close similarity to Rowan. The teacher, Sister Rose (Molly Parker), tries to stop him from seeing the class register, but he does, and sees that Rowan's name in the registrar is crossed through. Rose tells Malus that Rowan burned to death. He heads for the ruined church, and finds a fresh, unmarked grave - presumably Rowan's.

Malus next calls on the local photographer, Doctor Moss (Frances Conroy). He finds the missing photograph. While leaving, he trips and falls in a field of beehives, goes into anaphylactic shock and passes out after being stung several times.

When Malus wakes up, Dr. Moss informs him that they revived him the "old-fashioned way".

Malus then meets Sister Summersisle (Burstyn), another elderly woman. She introduces herself and apparently she is treated like a god on the island. Before leaving, Malus asks her if he can dig up the grave where Rowan is presumed buried. However, the grave contains only a burned doll. Meanwhile in the churchyard, he finds Rowan's sweater, but fails to find her.

The next morning, Malus tells Willow everything that he found and Willow accidentally reveals that Rowan is Malus' daughter, too. Malus also asks how the doll got burned, to which Willow replies she does not know.

As Malus is running through the woods, he stops Sister Rose as she is cycling downhill wearing a crow mask. She tells him that she is preparing for the ritual of Death and Rebirth. He then takes her bike at gunpoint and returns to his lodgings and commences a search for Rowan. He discovers that the pilot who brought him to the island is now dead.

Suspecting that Rowan might be involved in the ritual, he disguises himself in a bear costume and follows a parade led by Sister Summersisle.

They arrive at the grounds and Malus sees Rowan tied to a large tree, about to be burnt. He unties her and they flee the pursuing sisters. Rowan leads Malus through the woods and returns to Summersisle, Malus sees her thanking Rowan for her help - everything had been planned from the beginning. Malus tries to fend off the large crowd only to find that Willow had taken the rounds out of his Beretta. The crowd then assaults him and takes him to the Wicker Man, in which they sacrifice him in order to bring back their honey harvest.

Differences from the original

• While the original film was set in Scotland, the remake takes place in the USA, on a small island off the coast of Washington (though filming actually took place in Canada). Instead of Neil Howie, a Scottish police sergeant, the protagonist in this movie is Edward Malus, an American officer with a fictional version of the California Highway Patrol. Unlike Howie, Malus has no jurisdiction on the island he visits, and is searching for Rowan in his personal capacity.
• Malus is not a virgin, unlike Howie, as it was thought that the idea of an adult virgin in modern American society was too far-fetched.
• Ellen Burstyn replaces Christopher Lee as the lead antagonist. Writer and director LaBute rewrote the role for Burstyn as the head of a matriarchy, to give the film a 'feminist slant'.
• In this version, the islander's main crop or fertility is honey. In the original, the islander's main fertility is apples.
• In the original, the musical piece "The Tinker Of Rye" was performed by Dr. Theodore K. Gerbilstomper, but later replaced with a score written by Paul Giovanni and performed by Michael Cole and the Wicker Man Ensemble.
• In the original, the name of the islanders' festival is the May Day Festival. In this version, the islanders' festival is called the Day of Death and Rebirth.
• Unlike the original film, in the 2006 movie Rowan is revealed to be the protagonist's daughter.
• Whereas Howie in the 1973 film was portrayed as abrasive and judgemental and was the butt of his colleague's jokes, Malus is presented as popular and likeable with several close friends.
• Malus is not overtly religious. Where in the 1973 film Howie's deeply held Christian beliefs and their conflict with the islanders' religion provided the thematic and narrative thrust of the movie, the remake attempts to portray Malus' distaste for the islanders via his dislike of their matriarchal society and its repression of men.

Similarities to the original

• In both movies, when Edward arrives in Sister Rose's classroom, and asks the whereabouts of Rowan, she responds with the same line: "If she existed, we would know of her."
• In the end of both movies, all of the islanders wear all kinds of costumes and masks for their festivities.

Reception and criticism

The original film's director, Robin Hardy, has expressed skepticism over the Hollywood remake. Hardy had his lawyers get his name removed from the remake's promotional materials. According to Hardy, he was given writing credit for the screenplay, when he had not received any for the original. Christopher Lee, who played Lord Summerisle in the original film, said about the remake: "What do I think of it being played by a woman, when it was played by a man in 1972, as part of a Scottish pagan community, and now it's played by a woman with the same name? What do I think of it? Nothing. There's nothing to say."

Film critics mostly gave unfavorable reviews. Movie review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes summarized that The Wicker Man remake was "puzzlingly misguided" and as of August 2007 the film holds only a 15 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However some film critics, such as Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly, saw the film in a more positive light, with Gleiberman saying that director Neil LaBute brought some "innovation" over the original film.

It was nominated for five 2006 Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Nicolas Cage), Worst Screenplay, Worst Remake or Rip-off, and Worst Screen Couple (Nicolas Cage and His Bear Suit).

The movie has garnered a cult following as an unintentional comedy, with several scenes being posted on YouTube boasting repeated shots of Nicholas Cage brutalizing various women throughout the film.

Box office

As of November 16, 2006, the worldwide box office receipts totaled $32,259,395 worldwide with $23,649,127 of the receipts earned in North America.[3]

DVD release

A DVD was released on December 19, 2006, with an unrated alternate ending included. In the alternate ending, Malus is held down and his legs are broken at the knee. A wire mesh helmet is placed over his head and live bees are poured in. After he passes out, the helmet is removed and he is revived with a shot of adrenaline in the neck from his med-kit. Throughout all this, he keeps asking how can he be a good sacrifice if he does not believe in their religion. The movie proceeds along the lines of the theatrical version except the credits begin after the wicker man's burning head falls off. The "6 months later" scene is missing.

Trivia

• The film is dedicated to late musician Johnny Ramone, who introduced Nicolas Cage to Robin Hardy's original film.
• The main characters, Edward Malus and Willow Woodward refer to the original film's lead actor, Edward Woodward.
• A maypole was seen briefly in the background, behind Nicholas Cage as he was walking.
• A 'Missing' poster, featuring the face of Woodward, can be seen in the police station during the first half of the movie.
• The principal exterior filming was done on Bowen Island, British Columbia, Canada.
• The movie was originally rated R for extreme violence, disturbing images, language, and thematic elements, but director Neal LeBute wanted a broader audience, so they cut most of the scenes out, some of which have been included in the unrated version of the DVD, to deem it PG-13.
• Although there is an unrated version of The Wicker Man, there are about four minutes of additional cut footage that are not shown in the unrated DVD.
• The Rifftrax for the film was released in early March, 2007.
• Many characters' names are plant related, or have a nature connection. Malus is the genus name for the apple and crabapple.

External links

• Official site
• Official trailer
• The Wicker Man at IMDb
• The Wicker Man at Rotten Tomatoes