Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931)

Film: Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931)

Stars: Matahi, Anne Chevalier, Bill Bambridge, Hitu

Director: FW Murnau

Oscar History: 1 nomination/1 win (Best Cinematography*)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

We will be doing another week of reviews that blend the old (we'll have some of the latest OVP viewings I've been doing, including one today) and the new, though with the latter we're going to be moving into 2021, as while there are still a handful of 2020 films that I might see in connection with next week's Oscar nominations, for the most part I'm done, and am now just getting situated with the remaining 2021 contenders as we finally hit the last leg of this extended awards season.  Today we'll be going back to the beginning of the Oscars with Tabu, the final movie made by celebrated film director FW Murnau, whose movies Nosferatu and Sunrise are generally considered to be among the greatest movies of the 1920's.  Tabu is a movie without a lot of peers (it is unique to films of this era in its gorgeous artistry & avant-garde approach), and one that I knew little about, which is odd as it feels like the sort of movie that cinephiles are rediscovering.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie centers around three figures.  The first is Hitu (Hitu), who has come to one of the islands in the South Pacific (Bora Bora) to deliver a message-a maiden sacred to the Gods has died, and therefore Reri (Chevalier), a virginal beauty of the city, must replace her.  As a result, she is "tabu" (forbidden), and no man must look upon her with desire.  This is a problem for Matahi (Matahi) who is desperately in love with her (and she with him).  The two decide to run away together, and live briefly in a French colony, but there they realize that not everyone who seems to help them has good intentions, and in fact they are taken advantage of due to their not knowing about customs of the French (specifically they have no concept of buying things on credit, and as a result amass an enormous debt), and people want to take the valuable pearls that Matahi has dove for.  In the end, their love story becomes a tragedy, as Hitu finds Reri and kidnaps her, and in his pursuit after her, Matahi drowns, with Reri doomed to spend her life alone & beyond love.

A two-part drama, it is billed as a docufiction film, though it seems almost completely to be filmed as an acted drama, though one with non-professional actors, so I'm not entirely sure where the "docu" part comes in here.  The film itself is basically Romeo & Juliet motif, with a young man in love with a woman whom he cannot be with, and must endure tragedy to actually see each other.  It's interesting, and some scenes are truly moving, but it's not always spectacular...though again this is a case where we might be seeing formative work so I'm judging on a curve & giving it four stars because the scenes that are great are really incredible.

One of those scenes is late in the film, when Matahi is trying to reach Reri by boat.  The entire film is amazing, particularly in the way it uses underwater cinematography (likely one of the reasons that it won the deserved Oscar), but it's the last scene that really gets me.  As Matahi is swimming to try & be with his beloved Reri, Hitu cuts the rope, and we see Matahi get further away from both shore & boat, inevitably going to drown or have to abandon her forever.  Instead of abandoning her, saving her life, he continues reaching out to her.  Just minutes after literally fighting a shark (there was definitely a real shark filmed in these scenes) to be with her, he dies, floating into the ocean along with any chance she has at escape.  It's a powerful, heartbreaking tragedy on top of a film that has given us a damning indictment on the male patriarchy & capitalism already.