TABU: A Story Of South Seas (1931)

I got intrigued after watching the silent movie, “The General” by Buster Keaton, having seen silent movies of Charlie Chaplin in my childhood I was not conscious about these kinds of silent films or never turned my attention on these. We always tend to go for innovative aspects like sound systems like DTS, Surround,, or visualization like CGI or 3D, but forget about the beginnings, the dawn the cinema. The talkies era was a pure visual medium of cinema.

So after the Buster Keaton film I was looking for a silent film and TABU: A Story Of South Seas (1931), fell into my torrent swarm.

Part 1 : Paradise

The story is the loss of ignorance or the paradise. A remote island in the South Sea of China, were the civilization haven’t affected it gives rise to a romantic tale of Matahi (Boy) and Reri (Girl). The film is divided in two parts, Paradise and Paradise Lost.

The islanders lead an ignorant, laid back life as tribal, here comes Hitu, an old warrior and a kind of guru from a neighbouring island in a small ship seeking for a virgin girl (Virgin Scared) and he names Reri as the Virgin Scared as a highest honour. The head of the island gives Reri to Hitu, heartbroken Matahi shows dissent to Hitu as no one can seek Reri as she is scared now and if any man even tries to see her, then its Tabu for them, that’s DEATH.

Part 2 : Paradise Lost

The second part, Matahi and Reri run away from the Hitu and settle in a neighbouring pearl island to a hidden life. With his sea diving capability Matahi finds pearl hunting at ease, but he is duped by a Chinese trader. Meanwhile Hitu arrives and meets only Reri, orders her to come with him else he will kill Matahi.

Unable to escape the island due to the debts to the Chinese trader, Matahi goes to the pearl hunting alone, while Reri leaves with Hitu. Matahi tries to rescue her, but Hitu sails through the waves leaving Matahi alone in the sea, presumably death to him.

Cast and crew

The cast predominantly include native islanders; they are agile, beautiful and intrigued. Tabu has a nice blend of a tribal musical notes with hip shaking dance. The film is noted for its cinematography, which won the academy award. The director of this movie is a prominent figure in the German expressionism F. W. Murnau of Nosferatu fame. Unfortunately Tabu was his last film and many of his films through the 1920 era were lost. 

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