Saw Tabu: A Story of the South Seas, a silent, black and white film from Murnau. It follows two lovers in the idyllic pacific islands. They defy the decree of the mountain-god that the girl be sacrificed to the gods, bringing the Tabu down upon their heads. The Tabu seems to be some kind of self-fulfilling prophecy of doom, personified by a white-haired dude who haunts them and may be imaginary. The film was made in the 30s and features much picturesque ethnic dancing and, well, tits. It's a little exploitative at parts, but the film's heart is obviously in the right place. The characters are taken seriously and treated with respect. Later on in the film, the lovers join a pearl-diving company and although their wage-slavery is at first depicted as kind of happy-go-lucky, it soon becomes apparent that they are being taken advantage of.
The film is short and well done. It's sometimes brutal and sometimes evocative. All-round this is quite a good film. It isn't even very racist, which is amazing for a film from the 30s about tribal people. Well, not racist so far as I know anyway. It may well be that some of their actions were "Americanized" or even further exoticized for western audiences. Part of the appeal is supposed to be that we're seeing these men and woman in their natural habitat. A pre-credits crawl informs us that these area ll indigenous actors. How authentic their actions are is unknown to me.
Alas, although the movie is quite good and interesting, I was put to sleep, as usual, by the silent film. This is my fault entirely, but I report it as a warning for the similarly short-attention-spanned.
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