The youngsters Matahi and Reri are in love with each other. The old warrior Hitu announces that Reri is to be the new chosen virgin for the gods. This means she must stay untouched, otherwise she and her lover will be killed. But Matahi abducts and escapes with her to an island ruled by the white man, where their gods would be harmless and powerless.
The exquisite tragic ending -- conceived musically and rhythmically as a gradually decelerating diminuendo -- is one of the pinnacles of silent cinema.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
It is like a picture poem, with its sunshine and happiness in the beginning and its stormy drama in the end.