A young Polynesian girl is chosen to be sacrificed to the gods, only to be saved by her lover who attempts to escape from the fate of their tribal taboo. Germany, Hollywood, Polynesia – Murnau's cinematic journey traversed national and cultural boundaries. His final destination, like Gauguin’s, was a spiritual-erotic natural paradise crippled by superstition and gradually consumed by Western civilization. Shot entirely in Tahiti, Tabu ranks among the best works of Eisenstein, Griffith and Dovzhenko. Just a few days before its premiere, Murnau was killed in a car crash.