In 1973, writer/director Robin Hardy teamed with Christopher Lee to create the cult classic "The Wicker Man." His companion piece to that film, "The Wicker Tree," has finally hit theaters 39 years later. In it, young gospel singer Beth and her cowboy love interest Steve leave Texas to preach door-to-door in Scotland. After being rejected, they are welcomed with joy and enthusiasm to Tressock, the border estate of Sir Lachlan Morrison. They assume their hosts simply want to hear more about Jesus. How innocent and wrong they are.
I had the wonderful opportunity to talk with Mr. Hardy in great detail about both "The Wicker Man" and "The Wicker Tree."
One thing I like about the films is how they don't tear down Christianity. I love the way no matter what is happening to the Christian characters, they won't deny their faith. Most Christians I would imagine don't see that point. They see a movie where a pagan group kills Christians and throw stones at it. Do you find that the case?
It's strange you should say that. The people who organized the tour of the first movie around the United States [were] students for whom the distribution of [the film] was a project. They were brilliant, imaginative, and motivated in this case. When we got to the "Bible Belt" they said we should invite the priests and the ministers to a prayer breakfast after seeing the film and ask them to discuss it with Christopher and me. That's what happened.
We went to these prayer breakfasts which are, I must say, a uniquely American institution and fascinating for us. They very much came out with a general agreement that the virtue of the film was that they discuss the whole idea of resurrection seriously. When Howie says, "I believe in the resurrection," it's a very strong sequence. I gave him this speech which he says in the wicker man.
It's a speech that Sir Walter Raleigh made before his execution. He said, "Do not deliver me into the true fires of Hell, dear Lord." He knew he was about to be burned. "But give me that everlasting bliss which is being with you, Jesus." The priests and ministers loved this. They realized the pagan point of view was being put fairly strongly too. [However], they hadn't seen a film so vividly describe the Christian idea of sacrifice, death, and the afterlife. Christopher says, "We're giving you a unique gift these days of a martyr's death." A martyr's death guarantees you Heaven. It's all there and it's there in the second film.
What do the Christians deal with in "The Wicker Tree"?
I would say the Christian message in the second film is underlined by [Beth's] unflagging belief that she's being guided by God. The cowboy's feelings are rather similar. They also hold to the more fundamentalist viewpoints. Like in the car when they're asked if they really believe in this extreme fundamentalism belief that everyone's going to bleed to death that hasn't been saved or born again. I don't know how that plays in the U.S., but obviously there are parts of the country where it plays perfectly well. I would think that there are many parts of the U.S. where that is almost shocking fundamentalism.
It's worse in Europe. It's not only shocking but ridiculous, risible, and laughable that anyone could really believe that. It's like believing what some of the Native American tribes believe. When they eat people they consumed the value of their souls.
I think we use a light touch on that because they're obviously fundamentalists. I don't know how many people go in for the silver ring thing [promise ring of no sex before marriage] in the U.S. It must be fairly mainstream. I think it's mainstream in parts of the country. It's possibly more in Texas than it would be in New York. That's true of many things, politics not excluded. I put these things like ingredients of a plum pudding because I think it makes them more interesting. There's more to think about and it's tastier. I could have attacked fundamentalists but I think lots of other people have done that so it's not really my place. We just hint on it.
For more articles by Eric Shirey, check out:
'The Wicker Tree' as Polarizing as 'The Wicker Man'Christopher Lee Returns for 'The Wicker Tree'
'The Woman in Black' Wins With Old-School Terror
Eric Shirey is the founder and former editor of Rondo Award nominated movie news websites MovieGeekFeed.com and TheSpectralRealm.com. His work has been featured on Yahoo!, DC Comics, StarWars.com, and other entertainment websites. Eric has interviewed and worked with actors like Harrison Ford, Brooke Shields, Gerard Butler, Brendan Fraser, Selena Gomez, and many more.
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