I know a little about Indonesian culture, less than Indonesian themselves. I read "This Earth of Mankind" two years ago, although the Italian version also available in my library, I picked up the English-translated version. It was one of the best novel I have ever read, I finished the series (4 books) less than a month.
"This Earth of Mankind" by Pramoedya Ananta Toer has many layers that people, especially Indonesian can learn from. It teaches us about human rights, how dark history needs to be put into a conversation, cope with injustices, etc. Yet the movie itself, mainly focused on romance.
I watched the movie twice, in hope that I got it wrong, but I was wrong then. The movie only focused mainly on Minke and Annelies. Mrs. Ontosoroh's performance was really stunning and made me speechless, yet it seemed she's not the main character in the movie. Other casts are somewhat great though.
I have no idea why people behind this decided to do what they've done, is it because in Indonesia, great movies are always has this romantic elements? I get that, of course, Italian movies also known as "romantic" although we slowly shifted to other genres like politics. But come on Indonesia, this is a masterpiece! In so many things you can choose to highlight, why picked the romance?
I watched it with my friends, mostly Indonesian, they haven't read the books, and unfortunately they hard to grasp the meaning of the story.
I wish this movie could be better, at least 50% as good as the book itself.
