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‘Bumi Manusia’: Love, race and identity in colonial times
While decidedly imperfect, the movie adaptation of Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s Bumi Manusia (This Earth of Mankind) justifies its epic length by delivering absorbing drama mainly propelled by Sha Ine Febriyanti’s excellent performance.
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Swept away: An adaptation of Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s novel, 'Bumi Manusia' (This Earth of Mankind) follows Minke (Iqbaal Ramadhan), a young minor Javanese royal, who falls in love with Annelies Mellema, the daughter of a Dutchman and his concubine, Nyai Ontosoroh. (Falcon Pictures/-)
I
n the late 19th century Dutch East Indies, people’s social status was defined by the amount of European blood running through their veins.
Even Minke (Iqbaal Ramadhan), a young minor Javanese royal, felt the pinch of racism and colonialism. He can’t step foot in a Dutch club, which bears a sign: “Pribumi [native] and dogs banned from entering.”
Despite his brilliant mind and status as a regent’s son, Minke is considered as a lesser man by his Dutch and Indo (mixed blood) schoolmates at the elite Dutch-run Hogere Burger School (HBS).
But what Minke experienced – as depicted in the silver screen adaptation of Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s novel, Bumi Manusia (This Earth of Mankind) – is nothing compared to all the trials and tribulations endured by Nyai Ontosoroh (Sha Ine Febriyanti).
As a teenager, she was sold by her father to a Dutchman named Herman Mellema. She grew into a composed, self-educated concubine who successfully runs Mellema’s dairy and plantation businesses.
Their paths cross and Minke becomes romantically involved with Nyai Ontosoroh’s daughter Annelies Mellema (Mawar Eva De Jongh), an innocent Indo girl with a simple yet impossible wish of becoming a pribumi just like her mother.
Minke’s romance with a concubine’s daughter puts her at odds with his aristocratic family and the Dutch authorities.
