The Earth of Mankind

Java at the start of the twentieth century, under Dutch rule. Minke is the son of a noble Javanese family and one of the few native pupils at a Dutch school. He meets Annelies, the child of a Dutchman and a Javanese woman whose mother, Nyai Ontosoroh, effectively runs the estate. The relationship runs into colonial law: the Nyai is not formally married, so she has no rights over her children, and the Dutch relatives want the inheritance. Hanung Bramantyo directs from a screenplay by Salman Aristo. Iqbaal Ramadhan plays Minke and Mawar Eva de Jongh plays Annelies. It runs about three hours. The source is Pramoedya Ananta Toer's novel Bumi Manusia, the first of the Buru Quartet. The author composed it orally during the years he was imprisoned on Buru island without paper, and the book was banned in Indonesia for a long time. The subject is whom the law works for. The courtroom sections are at the centre and the legal position of the native population is shown directly. Nyai Ontosoroh is the strongest thing in it: a woman who taught herself to read, runs the business and has no rights at all. It caused argument in Indonesia; the casting of Iqbaal Ramadhan was criticised by readers and whether the novel could be adapted at all had been discussed for years. Who it is for: anyone interested in Indonesian history and literary adaptation about colonialism. Who it is not for: it is very long, compressing the novel leaves some strands unfinished, and the melodrama runs high.