{"id":18955,"date":"2011-07-28T21:53:45","date_gmt":"2011-07-29T04:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=18955"},"modified":"2021-01-10T00:29:08","modified_gmt":"2021-01-10T07:29:08","slug":"tabu-1931","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=18955","title":{"rendered":"Tabu (1931)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Sacred is Reri from this time forth. She is Tabu. To break this Tabu means death.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Poster-209x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"209\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-18956\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Poster-209x300.jpg 209w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Poster-89x128.jpg 89w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Poster.jpg 227w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 209px) 100vw, 209px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA pearl diver (Matahi) falls in love with a beautiful girl (Anne Chevalier) who is soon selected as her island&#8217;s &#8220;holy maid&#8221;, and thus becomes &#8220;tabu&#8221; for any man. The young couple sneak away and sail to freedom on another island, but an elderly spiritual warrier (Hitu) continues to threaten Matahi with death if Chevalier does not return and take her rightful position.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>F.W. Murnau Films<\/li>\n<li>Native Peoples<\/li>\n<li>Silent Films<\/li>\n<li>South Sea Islands<\/li>\n<li>Star-Crossed Lovers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nDefined by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/film\/reviews\/78879\/tabu.html\">Time Out<\/a> as director F.W. Murnau&#8217;s &#8220;purest and least inhibited celebration of physical sensuality and love&#8221;, his final film &#8212; made in collaboration with documentarian Robert Flaherty &#8212; tells &#8220;a simple Pacific islands folk tale&#8221;, all done without dialogue or even inter-titles (necessary information is provided through &#8220;authentic&#8221; notes and letters written by various characters). The first half hour or so presents itself as a beautifully shot travelogue, as two gorgeous young natives (Matahi and Chevalier make a sexy, appealing young couple) flirt innocently with one another and fall in love. Soon, however, the storyline shifts into a tragic tale bearing an eerie resemblance to <em>Romeo and Juliet<\/em>; be prepared for emotional devastation. Shot in stunning black and white (by Flaherty and Floyd Crosby), the film presents a pristine vision of the South Seas, which &#8212; in a subtle yet crucial subtext &#8212; is nonetheless slowly being overrun by corrupt colonial forces. Nominated by Peary as one of the best films of the year in his <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em> book. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> This film served as the direct inspiration for King Vidor&#8217;s thematically similar <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=16943\"><em>Bird of Paradise<\/em><\/a> the following year. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Matahi and Chevalier&#8217;s appealingly natural performances<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Young-Love.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Young-Love.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18962\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Young-Love.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Young-Love-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Young-Love-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Young-Couple.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Young-Couple.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18963\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Young-Couple.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Young-Couple-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Young-Couple-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Beautiful cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Cinematography.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18961\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Cinematography.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Cinematography-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Cinematography-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Cinematography3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Cinematography3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18964\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Cinematography3.png 512w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Cinematography3-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Tabu-Cinematography3-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, simply for its historical relevance as Murnau&#8217;s final film. Listed as a film with historical importance and a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary&#8217;s book. Nominated by Peary as one of the Best Movies of the Year in his <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em>. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Historically Relevant<\/li>\n<li>Important Director<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0022458\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1931\/03\/19\/archives\/the-screen-mr-marnaus-last-picture.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.digitallyobsessed.com\/displaylegacy.php?ID=3960\">Digitally Obsessed Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/film\/reviews\/78879\/tabu.html\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Sacred is Reri from this time forth. She is Tabu. To break this Tabu means death.&#8221; Synopsis: A pearl diver (Matahi) falls in love with a beautiful girl (Anne Chevalier) who is soon selected as her island&#8217;s &#8220;holy maid&#8221;, and thus becomes &#8220;tabu&#8221; for any man. The young couple sneak away and sail to freedom on another island, but an elderly spiritual warrier (Hitu) continues to threaten Matahi with death if Chevalier does not return and take her rightful position&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=18955\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18955"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62689,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18955\/revisions\/62689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}