Rawana (1933)

Plot Summary

On a trip to the Dutch Indies, a Dutch steamer calls at the harbour of Colombo. Shortly before the arrival of the ship at Batavia, a Chinese steward throws some packages out of a porthole. The packages are fished up by smugglers and taken to a lonely spot on the coast. From there the packages are transported by car to a dingy shanty. There the opium is packed in tins and eggshells and then sold to opium dens in Batavia. Two missionaries visit an opium den and hear from some of its inhabitants how and why they became addicted. A sick man explains that he uses opium to deaden his pain; another addict smokes the stuff to sharpen his wits. Particularly touching is the story of a young man who, some years earlier, was lured into the den by an attractive young girl who was an accomplice of the smugglers and who encouraged him to smoke opium in order to forget his sadness. The film ends with an appeal to the youth of the Dutch Indies to rid their country of de demon drug.

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