I visited the studio where this movie was filmed.
Back in 2021, I visited a place called “ Studio Gamplong”. The place is similar to Hollywood set and it’s where many Indonesian blockbuster film takes place including The Earth Of Mankind. I have never released any of its picture online yet but today, along with the movie that I’ll be reviewing, I will show you some of the pictures I got from there. But first, I’ll review the movie that’s adapted from a popular novel back on its day, “ The Earth of Mankind” by Pramoedya Ananta Toer. The movie was released back in 2019 as a historical romance directed by famous Indonesian director, Hanung Bramantyo. It starred Indonesian famous actors such as Iqbaal Ramadhan and Mawar Eva De Jongh as the protagonist. The movie has a lot of dutch dialogue and it runs for 3 hours. This film is available on Netflix.
The story sets during Indonesian colonial rule where the natives or called “Pribumi” was considered the lowest class. It follows the life of Javanese man who was part of the elite of the time and studied at a Hogere Burger School (HBS), a school where only European, half European and minority of native elites that can attend the place. Minke, whose real name is Tirto Adhi Soerjo is the main narrator and the protagonist of the story. He received the nickname because his teacher mentioned that he was like a monkey, in a racist way, and students along with his friends ended up calling him Minke.
One day, his friend, a half dutch student called Robert Suurhof invited him to a place that belongs to Nyai Ontosoroh, the concubine of a dutch man called herman Mellema. They were going to see Annelies Mellema, the daughter of the Mellema family who is beautiful. Annelies is half dutch but she would preferred to be acknowledged as a Javanese woman instead a half-dutch/European. Meanwhile Suurhof was there because he is friend with Robert Mellema, the brother of Annelies. The brother disdain natives and thinks highly of Dutch and he was prideful of being half-dutch.
During that visit, Minke falls in love to Annelies and vice versa. But their love story isn’t necessarily a smooth sailing one. They come from different class, family background and rules that only favors the dutch. In the movie, they fought to be together but tragically separated by the law that favors the dutch. Though they get married but Annelies ended up having to leave Indonesia and Minke was left alone with an open-ended ending.
Since the book is part of trilogy, it was rumored to have another one but even today, I have yet to see any development on that. I really hope they make a sequel to this movie because it was terrific.
Personally, it was surreal to watch all the rooms I ever been to and I was there. It was amazing how they turn the set into this well-crafted movie that discuss colonialism. The story itself was quiet heavy and I think that one has to really understand that time to truly understand the story.
But even when seen into the simplistic romance lens, it was moving. It was the story between two people with opposing world and though they were against all odds, they were not getting the closure they needed. You will sympathize with the characters and their development in the story. And to sum it all, it was dramatic too.
Though the story centered around the love between Minke and Annelise, there are more characters in it that also adds conflict and spice to it. These supporting characters were used to convey the lives during colonial rule in the country. They feature different classes and how it lives their lives day to day.
Unfortunately, when I was visiting the studio, the train was about to stop operating and I couldn’t hop on it. But now, here are the pictures that I’ve been keeping for two years now. Since I saw that there are people uploading the pics from there, I reckon that it’s fine by now. I have to say that when I was there, the place wasn't that popular. But it was already gaining more and more exposure. To me, the best part of the place was definitely the train and the tracks.
This track was also featured in the film. The thumbnail of this post is the train that was used in the movie.
This is how it looks like inside the train
In the past, I was also visiting old town of Semarang where some Indonesian blockbuster was filmed. But this one was definitely a Hollywood-like set, a mini studio where you can feel like inside a movie and take great pictures. There were more sites in this compound but they aren't part of the film. I will be showing you some of it below.
That one above is a prison set used to film colonial themed film.
Meanwhile above is a set that I often see whenever I watch movies at the cinema. There were some opening scene of ads before any film starts and that one is featured over there.
While I was at the studio, I only visited the main complex especially the part where The earth of mankind was made. There were a lot more that I haven't got to check out because it was about to rain and I was already exhausted. Now that I finally watched the movie, it was another experience itself.
The place is really unique and I definitely want to see it again. Have you ever visited any film set? Oh and don't forget to check out the film, it's a good one.
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
I haven't seen this movie but looking at the setting, it sounds promising. Personally , I haven't been to a film set but if I could choose one, that would be all set from GOT. Hehe
This one is quite long and historical too.But I would say it's pretty nice. Also, GOT set is definitely awesome. Mine would be LOTR and the one in New Zealand,Wellington.
I have never visited such a place, but I heard that many old western (cowboy) movies were filmed in Spain, around Almeria... We were passing by, but didn't have time to pay a visit... maybe next time... I suppose that I should do a "preparation" by watching movies and then go to visit it... :)
I have picked this post on behalf of the @OurPick project which will be highlighted in the next post!
You should check it out and let us know! I recall a few good ones is also filmed in Spain. I would definitely visit those places if I were you 😁