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.