Bumi Manusia

This Earth Of Mankind

Novel by
Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Screenplay by
Jack Stone

FADE IN:

East Java, Indonesia.

Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city, and the capital
of the province of East Java.
1898.
EXT. PORT OF SURABAYA - DAY
The sun shines brightly. Seagulls float, suspended over clear
azure skies. Pelicans dip wing tips into the calm water,
causing the sun's rays to shimmer, and dance on the ocean's
surface that's as clear as the sky above.
The port of Surabaya is an old town that's surrounded by a
bustling harbor. Many ships propelled by the wind, like the
tides that ebb, and flow, enter, and leave, while others load
delicacies that originate from the various Spice Islands.
These exotic pleasures represent but a mere sampling of the
great variety of products that spring from the abundant, and
fascinating foreign lands that first attracted the Europeans
to the East Indies.
Scattered along the docks are goods from all parts of Asia.
There are scientific advancements, machinery, and products
from nearly every country of Europe, as well as natural
products such as rubber, coffee, sugar, and minerals. These
goods are heading to Europe, or to supply the colonies that
will soon form the nation of Australia.
Some ships carry off cattle, and other products from Java's
exceedingly exploited dairy industry. Dutch officials,
businessmen, and adventurers from all over Europe move about
the crowded docks. Some seek fortune, while others will end
up in the Dutch Colonial Army or in prison.
A Dutch Captain checks his cargo, as Arabs, Indos, Indians,
and Chinese immigrants rush about loading cargo. Every man is
hauling two or even three sacks at a time across shirtless,
and suntanned shoulders.

ON SCREEN TEXT:
MINKE, is an eighteen-year-old native Javanese, and the only
native attending HBS, an all Dutch High School. His
admittance to study in a European environment is due to his
outstanding success at primary school. However, equally as
important is the strong recommendation he received from his
grandfather, an important native official. Although Minke's
grandfather has passed away, his highly regarded position
symbolizes an important element of Javanese society, or, more
specifically, those who dominate, and marginalize it.
Minke's father, whom he only knows as the title of Father, is
a feudal Java delegate. Colonial powers want no contact with
Java's feudal rulers, so the imperialist economic forces pay
them no heed, but those of the colonial state who seek only
to manipulate them, understand the importance of educating a
small select group, so as to ensure complete dominance over
the country, its people, its culture, and its resources.
However, as Minke's mother has constantly reminded him, a
Javanese must eventually come to terms with his own identity.
END ON SCREEN TEXT.
As the men on the docks go about their duties, Minke begins
to speak.
MINKE (V.O.)
All of these people carry about aspects
of the life of their own countries, their
politics, and ideas of religion, their
philosophy of life, morality, their
prejudices, their hatreds, and surely
their imagination, and foresight. This
dynamic environment is no small problem
for the government of the Dutch East
Indies, which presides over, and exploits
it, making one of the smallest countries
of Europe, Holland, one of its richest.
In order to achieve this, special
conditions must exist for it to continue.
First, the maintenance of an attitude of
acceptance on the part of those that are
colonized as well as those that govern.
The colonizers' determination is that the
natives, especially the toiling classes
must forever remain immersed in a culture
of silence. This makes it easier to
exploit, and gives those that exploit
their rationale for exhibiting their
feelings of cultural arrogance and
superiority.
(pause)
People used to call me Minke. My own name
for the time being I need not tell it.
Not because I'm crazy for mystery.
(pause)
In the beginning, I wrote these notes

during a period of mourning. She was

gone.
INT. MINKE's ROOM - DAY
Minke lays across the bed of a room he rents in a boarding
house.
Scattered about are books, and pages of his own writings.
He's staring at, and examining the results of one of the
latest technological marvels. It is a photograph of the Dutch
princess Wilhelmina. Suddenly, and without announcement,
ROBERT SUURHOF bursts into Minke's room. Robert's a school
friend, and like Minke, he's a senior too. Robert is taller,
and his skin a shade lighter, as native, and European blood
runs through his veins.
Robert finds Minke crouched over the photo, and breaks out in
laughter, which puts Minke in an embarrassed, and compromised
position. Robert's speaking manner is even more impudent.
ROBERT SUURHOF
Oho, you philogynist, lady-killer,
crocodile! What's the good of wishing for
the moon?
Minke wants to toss Robert out of his room, but instead...
MINKE
Oh, you never know!
ROBERT SUURHOF
Forget her. There's another goddess!
Right here in Surabaya. She's beautiful
beyond comparison, easily equal to this
picture you're so enamored with.
(Robert takes the photo from
Minke's hand)
It's only a picture anyway.
MINKE
For me... bone structure and body
proportion must be in perfect harmony.
And she must have fine, soft skin. My
kind of woman must also have eyes that
shine and lips that...
ROBERT SUURHOF
(mocking)
...that are clever at whispering.
MINKE
Clever at whispering? Your words!
ROBERT SUURHOF
Yes, so when she curses you, you won't
know it.

Minke offers Robert only silence. He returns to his writing.

ROBERT SUURHOF (cont'd)
If you're a real man, a true philogynist,
then come with me. I want to see whether
you're indeed as manly as you often claim
to be.
MINKE
I've got a lot of work to do.
ROBERT SUURHOF
(in an accusing manner)
You're afraid even to descend into the
arena!
MINKE
That offends me. However, why? As I know
that HBS brain inside your head is only
clever at insulting, belittling,
disparaging, and working evil. You think
you can act in that manner because I
don't have European blood? Well... It's
on!
EXT. HBS SCHOOL GROUNDS - DAY
It's Friday, September 7th, 1898. On the other side of the
world in Holland it was Thursday, September 6th, 1898. The
same photo of Wilhelmina that Minke has in his room filled
the streets, and shops. Everywhere the people celebrated
Wilhelmina ascending to the throne. The princess was now a
queen.
Minke stands at the entrance of his room looking downward,
and across the expansive school grounds. All of Java, and the
whole of the Netherland Indies is in celebration. The
tricolor Dutch flag flutters everywhere.
Minke's school is crazy celebrating the coronation. There are
all manners of competition, and exhibitions. Young people
play soccer, softball, and perform acrobatic feats. But, none
of it interests Minke.
The world bustles with excitement. Cannons boom, as parades,
and hymns of praise fill the streets, but Minke's heart is
empty. He's tormented. He turns to go to his neighbor, and
business partner's home.
INT. JEAN MARAIS HOME - DAY
JEAN MARAIS, is a Frenchman that only has one leg. He opens
his door, and greets Minke in French forcing him to speak
French as well.
JEAN MARAIS

Bonjour, Minke.
MINKE
Qa va, Jean, I have a new order for you.
JEAN MARAIS
Bonne!
Minke enters, and hands Jean a drawing of a sitting room.
Jean looks at it with great disdain.
MINKE
(shrugs)
It's what the customers want.
"Master Minke" comes a call from next door. Minke sticks his
head out a window to sees MRS. TELINGA, his landlord waving
at him. Minke smiles.
MINKE (cont'd)
(to Jean)
I'm going. She may be serving cake!
Minke exits only to find Robert Suurhof standing in his
doorway.
EXT. JEAN MARAIS HOME - IMMEDIATELY
ROBERT SUURHOF
Ayou, we'll be going now.
At the front gate stands a new model buggy. The driver, and
elderly Javanese COACHMAN waits.
EXT. MINKE'S HOME FRONT GATE - IMMEDIATELY
Minke and Robert climb aboard.
MINKE
The rent for this carriage surely must be
more expensive than any other?
The horses began to pull away.
ROBERT SUURHOF
No fooling, this is no ordinary buggy, no
cheap kretek. It's even got springs.
(Robert bounces on his seat
causing the carriage to bounce
about)
Perhaps it's the first of its kind in
Surabaya. I'll bet the springs cost more
than the rest of the buggy put together.
MINKE
(Minke nods in agreement, a

pause and then...)

Rob, where are we going?
Robert replies in an insolent, yet mysterious manner.
ROBERT SUURHOF
A place to which everyone dreams of
receiving an invitation. Why, you say?
Well, because of the exquisite angel that
lives there. And I've had the good luck
to be invited by her older brother.
Nobody has ever received an invitation,
except this one.
(He points to himself with his
thumbs)
Coincidentally this angel's brother is
also named Robert. We met at a soccer
match. And now, I'm invited to eat bull
calves for lunch. That's what interests
me the most.
(he glances slyly at Minke)
MINKE
Bull calves?
ROBERT SUURHOF
Veal. To eat veal! But, that's my problem
isn't it? Your problem...
(he makes a noise with his
lips, his eyes sharply
examining Minke's eyes)
...is Robert's younger sister. I want to
see just how far that ever charming
philogynist manner gets you.
The steel frame of the buggy's wheels rattle on as it grinds
along the stone road of Kranggan Street to Blauran, in the
direction of Wonokromo.
ROBERT SUURHOF (cont'd)
Come, sing veni, vidi, vici. I came, I
saw, I conquered.
Minke is apparently annoyed.
MINKE
Why don't you just take it all for
yourself? The veal, and this goddess you
keep talking about.
ROBERT SUURHOF
I? For me, only a goddess with pure
European blood will do.
Minke is really perturbed now.
MINKE
So, this goddess you speak of, and whom

we're about to visit, is an Indo girl, a

mixed blood. Robert Suurhof, should I
remind you once again, that you're an
Indo as well. Must I remind you that when
your mother was about to give birth, your
his father rushed her to Perak Harbor,
and boarded the ship Van Heemskerck,
which was tied up in port at that time.
And, she had you there, on the ship.
Being born on a Dutch ship has no legal
consequence whatever. You're as Indo as I
am.
Robert ignores Minke's snub, as he doesn't look upon himself
as an Indo.
ROBERT SUURHOF
I'm Dutch!
MINKE
I understand perfectly well why you
carry on in the illusion that you're
Dutch. You strive for a position, and
salary higher than that of an Indo, let
alone a native.
The yellow stone road continues toward Wonokromo. Neither
Minke, or Robert notice the village people walking to town,
or the coronation decorations that are everywhere.
Houses, dry fields, wet paddy fields, and trees enclosed in
bamboo lattice stretch along the road, as clumps of forest
washed with silver rays of sunshine, all fly past brightly.
And far away in the distance, indistinctly visible, are the
mountains, standing silent, like reclining ascetics turned to
stone.
MINKE (cont'd)
So, we're off to a party dressed like
this?
ROBERT SUURHOF
No, I told you. I'm going to eat, you to
conquer.
MINKE
Where are we going?
ROBERT SUURHOF
(Robert points ahead)
Direct to target.
Minke boxes Robert's shoulder out of curiosity.
MINKE
Come on tell me!

Still, Robert will not say. Minke glares at him.

ROBERT SUURHOF
Don't make such a sour face! If you prove
your virility.
(he smacks his lips)
I'll respect you more than my own
teacher. However, if you fail, look out,
because, for the rest of your life you'll
be the butt of my jokes. Remember that
well.
MINKE
You're mocking me.
Robert becomes serious.
ROBERT SUURHOF
No. One day you'll become a bupati.
Perhaps you'll get a regency where the
land is arid. I'll pray that you get a
fertile one. However, if this goddess
were to be beside you as your raden ayu,
all the bupatis of Java would be in a
high fever because of their envy.
MINKE
Who said I want to become a bupati?
ROBERT SUURHOF
Me! And I shall continue my education in
Holland and become a lawyer. I'll visit
you with my wife. Do you know the first
question I ask of you?
MINKE
I've no intention of ever becoming a
bupati.
ROBERT SUURHOF
First I'll ask... Hey, philogynist, lady
killer, crocodile, where's your harem?
MINKE
Stop looking upon me as uncivilized.
ROBERT SUURHOF
Even a bupati, is but a crocodile on
land.
MINKE
I've no intention of becoming a bupati.
The buggy enters Wonokromo district.
ROBERT SUURHOF
(pointing to his left)

Look!
Minke sees a Chinese-style house with a large yard, well kept
and with a hedge surrounding it. The front doors and windows
are closed. The house is painted red all over, tacky, not
attractive at all.
MINKE
Babah Ah Tjong's pleasure palace.
ROBERT SUURHOF
Ha, you have such a way with words Minke.
It's a brothel.
The boys keep looking at Ah Tjong's house as the buggy
continues to move past it.
ROBERT SUURHOF (cont'd)
(in a serious demeanor)
Keep looking to the left. Over there...
For another one hundred and fifty meters past Ah Tjong's
house, a two-story timber structure, with extensive grounds
appear. Standing behind a wooden fence is a large sign with
the words, Boerderij Buitenzorg Agricultural Company.
MINKE
Anyone who's ever lived knows that's the
home of Herman Mellema.
Mellema's grey, wooden-shingle roof is already visible, even
from quite a distance away. Unlike Ah Tjong's, its doors and
windows stand wide open. Mellema's home has no veranda. In
its place there's a broad, expansive awning overhanging
wooden stairs, which are equally as wide. Much wider than the
front door.
ROBERT SUURHOF
That's all anyone knows of him.
MINKE
How could they know anything else? No
one's ever sees him.
ROBERT SUURHOF
But everyone knows his wife, Nyai
Ontosoroh. They call her Ontosoroh
because they can't pronounce Buitenzorg.
Anyway, I erred, which is a rare event,
she's not Mellema's wife. She's his
concubine.
MINKE
Maybe so, but everyone admires her. She
also very beautiful.
ROBERT SUURHOF
How would you know? Have you ever seen

her?
MINKE
No, but that's what everyone says.
The buggy suddenly turns toward the Mellema home. Minke sits
up startled, and looks over at Robert who has a smug look on
his face.
MINKE (cont'd)
Here?
Robert doesn't answer, he spits outside of the buggy instead.
The buggy passes through the gate, and the Boerderij
Buitenzorg sign. It heads directly to the front steps of the
Mellema estate. The home is guarded by a Madurese fighter
named DARSAM, who wears a large mustache, has a clenched fist
and carries a large machete. A few of Darsam's men are
present as well.
MINKE (cont'd)
No one dares to call on this place.
(grabbing Robert's arm)
Robert...
The buggy stops. Minke shutters. An Indo-Eurasian young man,
ROBERT MELLEMA opens the front door, and walks down the
steps. Robert is the son of Herman Mellema, and Nyai.
ROBERT MELLEMA
Hey, Rob!
Robert Mellema appears to be about the same age as the two
young men. He looks European, except he has brown skin. He's
tall, well built, and obviously strong.
ROBERT SUURHOF
Oho, Rob! I brought my friend. You don't
mind, do you?
Robert Mellema doesn't greet Minke because he's a native, he
glares at him instead. Minke looks over at Suurhof, who
grins. Minke's entering a new round of this game. He glances
at Darsam and wants to run. Minke's certain he's going to be
expelled.
ROBERT MELLEMA
(to Suurhof)
Come on in.
As the two Roberts head up the steps, Minke hesitantly
follows. Robert Mellema turns back and glares at Minke again.
Minke clearly feels uncomfortable. But, suddenly, a beautiful
younger girl in a white gown, with white-skin, refined in
manner, and having a European face, yet hair and eyes of a
native appears at the door. This is obviously the girl

Suurhof had been speaking of, and he's right. Not only does
she rival the queen, she triumphs over her. This is ANNELIES
MELLEMA, she's Robert Mellema's younger sister. Annelies
holds out her hand to Minke.
ANNELIES
Hello, I'm Annelies.
INT. MELLEMA HOME FRONT ROOM - A LITTLE LATER
The four youths sit on a rattan settee. Robert Suurhof and
Robert Mellema are engrossed in talk about soccer. Minke's
eyes poke around the large room. He takes in the furniture,
the ceiling, the dangling crystal candle chandelier, the
hanging gaslights with their copper piping, and a picture of
Queen Emma, who has just abdicated, hanging on the wall in a
heavy wooden frame. All the furnishings are expensive and
made by master craftsmen. The carpet under the settee is
decorated with a European motif. Minke's wandering eyes rest
upon Annelies's face, who's already looking at him.
ANNELIES
Are you the quiet type?
Minke hardly dares to look at her eyes. He smiles, but
quickly glances away, continuing to take in the entire
surroundings.
MINKE
No, it's just that everything here is so
incredibly beautiful.
ANNELIES
When you introduced yourself, you said
your name was Minke. Why do you not state
your family name?
MINKE
Do I really have to say?
ANNELIES
Of course, otherwise people will think
you're not acknowledged by your father.
MiNKE
I don't have a family name.
ANNELIES
Oh!
There's an awkward silence.
MINKE
(in a defensive tone)
I'm not an Indo.

ANNELIES
Oh! No?
Suurhof examines every part of Minke's body that isn't
covered. When Minke looks up he sees Robert Mellema looking
at him too. Minke's lips become a thin, straight line. For a
moment his vision blurs, and all he can see is Annelies's
white gown, faceless, and without limbs.
ANNELIES ((cont'd)
There's nothing wrong with being a
native. Why would anyone think otherwise?
Robert Mellema looks are directed at his younger sister.
Annelies, challenges him, looking him straight in the face.
Robert Mellema then looks away.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
(more to Robert Mellema than to
Minke)
My mother's a native. She's Javanese.
(to Minke)
I don't like talking about soccer. Let's
go somewhere else.
Annelies stands, then Minke does too. She leads the way, but
the nervous Minke bumps into a stand, almost knocking over an
expensive European porcelain vase. He catches it just in
time. Both Roberts glare at him.
INT. PARLOR - IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING
Annelies, followed by Minke enters a back parlor, which is
even more sumptuously furnished than the front room. Here,
the walls are made from light brown varnished teak. In the
corner is a dining suite, consisting of a table and six
chairs. Close by are stairs leading to the second floor.
Seeing Minke's eyes fixed upon a display cabinet that stands
against a wall, opposite the dining table, Annelies leads him
to it. In it is displayed art objects he's never seen before.
ANNELIES
I don't have the keys with me. But,
that's the one I like best.
Annelies points to a small bronze statue.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
Mama says it's an Egyptian empress. If
I'm not mistaken her name is Nefertiti.
Next to Nefertiti is a Balinese carving of the East Javanese
king Erlangga, riding on the back of the mythical garuda
bird. Unlike the others, it's not made from sawoh wood, but
of a kind that Minke has never seen before. On the first
shelf there's a row of small ceramic masks, that have all

manners of animal faces.

ANNELIES (cont'd)
These are masks from the story of Sie You
Chie. Have you heard the story?
MINKE
No, no I haven't.
ANNELIES
Perhaps I'll tell it to you one day.
Would you like that?
MINKE
Very much so.
ANNELIES
Well, in order for me to do that, you'd
have to visit again.
There's a phonograph on a table with a small wheel on each of
its four legs. The lower section of the phonograph table
stores music. The table itself is ornately carved.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
Is Robert Suurhof your friend?
MINKE
Yes, we both attend HBS.
ANNELIES
My brother's very proud to have a friend
who attends HBS. Now I too can say I have
a friend who goes to HBS. You!
Suddenly Annelies turns toward the back door and calls out.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
(waiving her hand widely)
Mama! Over here. We have guests.
A native woman, NYAI ONTOSOROH, Annelies mother, enters the
home. She's wearing a traditional Javanese wrap skirt, and a
white blouse embellished with expensive lace, perhaps famous
Dutch lace made in Naarden. Nyai looks lovely and her skin is
smooth, and light-colored like that of the langsat fruit. She
also wears black velvet slippers embroidered with silver
thread. Her neat attire, motherly smile, and simple
adornments make a deep impression on Minke.
NYAI
Yes, Annelies, who is your guest?
ANNELIES
This is Minke, He's an HBS student!
NYAI

Oh, is that so?

Minke hesitates offering his hand to greet her. It's Nyai who
offers her hand first. Dumbfounded Minke clumsily accepts her
grip. This is a European form of greeting, not native.
NYAI (cont'd)
Annelies's guest is my guest as well. And
how shall I address you? Sinyo? But
you're not Indo. Are you really an HBS
student?
MINKE
Yes, I am.
NYAI
Impressive. People call me Nyai
Ontosoroh. You may call me Mama if you
wish?
ANNELIES
(laughing)
Yes, Minke. Call her Mama.
NYAI
Are you the son of a bupati?
MINKE
No, ma'am.
NYAI
Then you must be the son of a patih.
MINKE
Not the son of a patih either.
NYAI
Very well. Annelies, look after him
properly, this guest of yours.
ANNELIES
Of course, Mama.
Nyai walks up the steps to the second floor, and Minke can't
take his eyes off of her.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
I'm glad Mama approves of you. You know,
I've never had a guest before. You're the
first one. People are afraid to come
here. Even my school friends.
MINKE
Where do you go to school?
ANNELIES

You mean where did I go to school. I

attended ELS, but I didn't finish.
MINKE
Why didn't you continue?
There's a brief and uneasy silence.
ANNELIES
There was an accident. Are you Muslim?
MINKE
Why?
ANNELIES
Because if you are, then you don't eat
pork.
A well groomed MAID enters the room, and serves chocolate
milk and cakes. The servant doesn't enter cringing as she
would have before a native master. She walks in and stands
gaping at Minke in amazement.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
My guest is Muslim. Tell the cook not to
let pork touch the other food.
The maid acknowledges Annelies' statement and leaves.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
(Annelies turns to Minke)
Are you always so quiet?
MINKE
Don't you know? Really? It's because I
never dreamed I'd come face to face with
such a beautiful goddess.
Annelies goes silent, only staring at Minke with her large
eyes. Minke now regrets what he said.
ANNELIES
(hesitantly and slowly...)
Who do you mean this goddess?
MINKE
You, of course.
ANNELIES
(eyes opened wide, she turns
and shouts toward the top of
the stairs)
Mama!
(no response she turns and
shouts out the back door)

Mama!
Minke wants to run. Nyai appears at the door. Minke's heart
races.
NYAI
What's the matter now? Are you arguing
with your guest already?
ANNELIES
No, we weren't arguing.
(complaining in a sweet,
spoiled manner)
Mama...
(pointing her finger at Minke)
Imagine, Minke saying that I was
beautiful?
Nyai stares at Minke. Her head tilts a little. Then she turns
and looks at her daughter. Nyai places her two hands on
Annelies's shoulders and whispers...
NYAI
I've often told you that you're
beautiful. And extraordinarily beautiful.
There's no doubt about it. Sinyo is not
wrong.
ANNELIES
Oh, Mama!
Nyai sits next to Minke.
NYAI
I'm glad you've come, Nyo. Annelies has
never mixed properly like other Indo
children.
ANNELIES
I'm not an Indo. I don't want to be an
Indo.
NYAI
Nyo, you heard it for yourself, she'd
rather be a native. Oh, but you look
confused. Do you usually compliment girls
in this manner?
MINKE
If a girl is indeed beautiful, is there
anything wrong in stating so. There's no
one who doesn't like being complimented.
If someone is insulted because of a
compliment, it's a sign of a dishonest
heart.
NYAI

How do European girls at HBS respond?

MINKE
They say thank you.
NYAI
Annelies, say thank you.
Annelies blushes with embarrassment, and doesn't say
anything.
NYAI (cont'd)
Come on, say thank you.
(to Minke)
Wait! Say it again, this compliment of
yours, so I can hear it too!
Minke's very embarrassed, and doesn't know how to respond.
NYAI (cont'd)
I'm not allowed to hear this compliment
of yours. All right.
Nyai stands, looks at the two of them and leaves. Annelies
and Minke's eyes follow her until she disappears from view.
Then, the humiliated Minke looks at Annelies, who bites her
lip and looks away.
MINKE (V.O.)
What sort of family is this? Robert with
his frightening glances. Annelies, so
child like. And Nyai Ontosoroh, so clever
at capturing and seizing control.
Annelies places a record on the music player, it begins to
play.
INT. DINING ROOM - EVENING
Robert Mellema, Suurhof, Annelies, and Minke sit around the
dining table. A young female SERVANT, stands near the door
awaiting orders. There's more food than they could possibly
eat. The main dish is of course, veal.
Suurhof sits along side his friend, and every now and then he
looks over at Minke, and then Annelies. Annelies sits beside
Minke and serves him. Mama sits at the head of the table.
Minke examines the position of the spoons and forks, the use
of the soup ladle and the knives, carving forks, and also the
elaborate dinner service. It's all perfect. The white steel
knife seems to have been sharpened not on stone, but on a
steel grinding wheel. There are no scratches. The position of
the napkins, the finger bowls, and the glasses in their
silver cases could not be faulted.
Nyai eats gracefully. Suurhof, greedily as if he's not seen
food in several days. Minke hesitates even though he's very

hungry. Annelies hardly eats because of the attention she

pays to serving Minke.
Nyai stops eating, and so does Minke, and Annelies. Suurhof
continues eating and seems to ignore Nyai completely.
NYAI
(to Minke)
I read that ice can now be manufactured
with machinery.
MINKE
It's true, at least according to the
newspapers. It seems just about
everything will be made by man someday.
NYAI
Everything? I doubt that's possible.
ROBERT MELLEMA
(to Robert Suurhof)
Rob, let's go outside. I'm finished.
The two Roberts stand, and leave without saying a word.
MINKE
Forgive my friend, Mama.
Nyai smiles, nods to Minke, and stands.
NYAI
If you'll excuse me...
Nyai leaves too.
ANNELIES
Mama must continue working. I have work
to do as well.
MINKE
What do you do?
ANNELIES
Would you like to see?
MINKE
What about my friend?
Annelies stands.
ANNELIES
My brother will invite him to go hunting.
He always hunts for birds or squirrels
after lunch. Come on, come along with me.

Minke stands too, and once again follows behind Annelies like
a child following his mother.
INT. MELLEMA ESTATE - IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING
Passing through the back door, Annelies and Minke enter an
area containing steel-hooped wooden barrels. On top of the
largest one is a churning machine. People work without making
a sound. Now and then wiping their foreheads with a white
cloth. Each wear a white headband, and white shirts with
sleeves rolled up above their elbows. Not all are men. Some
are women because the batik kains can be seen below their
white shirts. The woman also wear breast-cloths, under their
calico colored shirts. One by one Minke looks them over.
They only pay attention to him for a moment. Annelies
approaches each in turn. They greet her in sign without
speaking.
ANNELIES
You're amazed to see women working aren't
you?
Minke nods.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
They're wearing the same uniforms as the
workers in Holland, but here, we may only
give them calico.
Annelies pulls Minke by the hand and leads him out into an
open area where produce is drying.
EXT. MELLEMA ESTATE - IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING
Several workers are turning soybeans, shucking corn, peas,
and peanuts. The workers stop and greet them by nodding and
lifting their hands. All wear bamboo farm hats. Annelies
claps her hands and holds up two fingers. A moment later a
child approaches with two bamboo hats. Annelies put one on
Minke's head, and one herself as well.
Annelies and Minke continue to walk several hundred meters
along a path laid with river gravel. Far off along the same
path Minke can see the two Roberts, each with a rifle slung
over their shoulder.
MINKE
What work is it that you do?
ANNELIES
Everything... except the office work.
Mama does that herself.
MINKE
What sort of office work does she do?
ANNELIES

Everything. Administration. The books,

trading, correspondence, banking...
Minke stops in his steps. Annelies also. He stares at her in
disbelief. She pulls at his hand, and they walk on toward a
row of cattle pens.
INT. COW PENS - IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING
Minke covers his face in an attempt to block the stench of
cow dung as they enter the cow pen. Annelies laughs.
The row of pens are long. In each one workers are busy
looking after feed and drink for dairy cows. Lifting up the
edge of her satin dress, Annelies approaches several cows and
pats them on the forehead. She talks to them in a whisper, as
if they were her children. Minke observes from the distance.
Annelies has an easy manner entering the pens and talking
with the animals, and in a satin gown at that!
Here too there are women workers. They're sweeping, rinsing
down the pen floors, and scrubbing them with long-handled
brushes. Annelies stops and begins whispering with a female
worker about her own age. They both glance at Minke, as if
sharing a secret. Another young female worker, MINEM is
leaving the pen carrying two empty zinc buckets. Her face is
pretty, and like the others she's wearing a breast-cloth and
kain. She's barefoot, and wet. Her breasts are firm and full,
and by themselves attract attention. She bows, and glances up
at Minke from under her forehead, and smiles invitingly at
him.
MINEM
Greetings, Sinyo! Checking up on things?
MINKE
Uh, yes.
Annelies approaches.
ANNELIES
How many buckets a day are you getting
from your cows, Sis Minem?
MINEM
The usual, Non.
The girl moves on.
ANNELIES
(appearing impatient, and
speaking to Minke)
I can still collect more milk than any of
them. Let's go to the fields. How about
the stables, do you prefer riding?
MINKE

Riding? As in a horse? You know how to

ride a horse too?
ANNELIES
How else could I keep on top of fields as
large as these?
EXT. MELLEMA FIELDS - IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING
As they step from the pens, large, seemingly endless fields
appear before them. There are peanuts, corn, and all manner
of crops growing in neatly manicured rows.
ANNELIES
The land here is good. It can produce
three metric tons dry weight of peanuts
per hectare. If we hadn't proved it
ourselves people would never have
believed it. Even the leaves and stems
are good for fertilizer, and cattle
fodder.
Annelies looks hard at Minke.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
You're not interested in any of this are
you? Then, let's go race the horses.
Agreed?
Before Minke can answer, she pulls him by the hand, dragging
him along as she runs.
INT. HORSE STABLE - A LITTLE LATER
Annelies leads Minke into a large, broad stable that contains
coaches, carriages, wagons, and buggies. Saddles, with all
sorts of stirrups, hang along the interior walls. Seeing
Minke's amazement, Annelies points to a carriage adorned with
shining brass, and carbide lights.
ANNELIES
Have you ever seen such a beautiful
buggy?
MINKE
Never, never have I.
Minke walks toward the carriage, but Annelies pulls him along
again, into a long, wide stable where there are three horses.
She approaches a gray-colored one, embraces its neck, and
whispers something in its ear.
ANNELIES
(speaking softly)
Her name is Bawuk.

Annelies strokes the horse's forehead. Then, in a serious

manner, while continuing to embrace Bawuk's neck, she glances
at Minke, but speaking to the Bawuk.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
We have a guest. His name is Minke. It's
not a Javanese name, nor Islamic, not
even Christian. I imagine, it's an alias.
Do you believe his name is Minke?
Speaking like a horse, Annelies said.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
Nah!
One of the other horses nays, and Annelies laughs. She goes
to the other two horses and caresses them as well.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
Bawuk has been given great love ever
since she was small. Mama would be angry
if I paid her a visit and didn't give her
any attention. You must be grateful to
everything that gives life, she says.
MINKE
Why don't you believe my name is Minke?
It wasn't my idea to call me that. It
started when I didn't know a word of
Dutch. Mr. Rooseboom, my first teacher,
was always cross with me. I could never
answer his questions because I didn't
understand what he was saying. So, I just
usually ended up crying. I was stuck in
the first class for two years. I was
seated between two Dutch girls, who were
always making trouble and annoying me. On
one occasion, one of them pinched my
thigh as hard as she could. I screamed in
pain. Mr. Rooseboom's eyes popped out. He
yelled "Quiet, you monk... Minkee. From
that day, everyone's called me Minke.
ANNELIES
Well, Minke is a better than monkey.
MINKE
Not much!
ANNELIES
I like it. It fits you.
(pause)
Let's visit the villages. There are four
on our land. All the family heads work
for us.
EXT. MELLEMA ESTATE - A LITTLE LATER

As Minke and Annelies walk along, villagers greet them

kindly, calling Annelies Non, or Noni.
MINKE
How much land do you have?
ANNELIES
One hundred and eighty hectares.
MINKE
One hundred and eighty?
Annelies stops. She's listening intently.
ANNELIES
Did you hear that?
MINKE
What?
ANNELIES
An echo!
MINKE
You're teasing me now. But, really... You
own horses, and cows and one hundred and
eighty hectares...
ANNELIES
And paddy fields.
MINKE
And I suppose a forest too.
ANNELIES
(pointing off in the distance
to a large wooded area)
Yes, in fact. We do. That one over there.
MINKE
What for?
ANNELIES
For fire wood of course.
MINKE
And I suppose you also own mountains? And
the sea. Tell me about them too?
Annelies pinches Minke.
ANNELIES
Now, you're teasing me.
MINKE

And volcanoes, no doubt, so you can catch

their flames if they erupt.
ANNELIES
Iiiih!
(she pinches Minke again only
this time harder)
They come along a drainage ditch and Minke jumps over it.
Annelies picks up her dress as high as she is able and jumps
across. Minke catchers her by the hand, and pulls her close,
kissing her on the cheek. She looks startled, her eyes open
wide, and examines him. He kisses her again.
MINKE
The most beautiful girl I have ever met.
Your skins, so smooth. Never have I seen
skin as beautiful as yours.
Annelies doesn't answer. She signals with her hand that they
should return home. They walk silently for quite some time.
Then Minke notices that Annelies' feet are bare.
MINKE (cont'd)
Your sandals have been left behind.
Annelies doesn't care. She she doesn't answer either. She
doesn't even look back. Instead she increases her pace.
MINKE (cont'd)
Are you angry at me?
She continues to walk in silence. The Mellema home is visible
from far off, and high above the roofs of the other
structures. Minke suddenly sees that Nyai is watching them
from an upstairs window. Annelies, continues walking, but
with her head down. She does not notice that her mother's
eyes follow them until the roofs of the factory buildings
blocked Nyai's peering eyes.
INT. MELLEMA HOME FRONT ROOM - A LITTLE LATER
Annelies and Minke enter, and sit on the front-parlor settee.
Annelies sits quietly, leaving frozen Minke's previous
question. Suddenly Annelies leaps up and enters another room.
As Minke sat alone, he becomes more and more anxious. To make
matters worse, Darsam comes to the door and looks in. Darsam
looks at Minke hard, and then continues on.
Annelies returned carrying a large paper bundle.
ANNELIES
It's late. That door is your room.
(pointing toward the back at
one of the many doors)
Here are sandals, a towel, and pajamas.
(pointing to another door)

You can bathe in there. I have work to

do.
Before leaving, she goes to the bedroom door, opens it, and
invites Minke to enter without saying a word. Minke stands,
and defeated, he walks toward the open door, turns and looks
at Annelies as if to say, "I'm sorry." Gently Annelies pushes
him into the room, hands him the bundle, and closes the door.
INT. MINKE'S GUEST ROOM - IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING
Minke turns toward the room and places the bundle on a table
near the bed. He takes in the beauty of the room, and then
turns towards the bathroom, which is yet another luxurious
experience awaiting him.
INT. GUEST BATH - IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING
Never has Minke seen such a large, clean, and beautiful
bathroom. The walls are lined with thick mirrors. Wherever
his eyes are directed, they always look back at him. The
floor is made of cream porcelain tiles.
The bluish water that was already awaiting him in the
porcelain-lined bathtub calls out for him to enter.
DISSOLVE:
INT. GUEST BATH - IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING
The clear water washes away Minke's sweat, fear, and anxiety
as he baths.
INT. PARLOR - SAME EVENING
Minke steps from his guest room. His hair is wet, and his
eyes immediately meet Mama who is apparently waiting for him.
She offers him a chair with her hand. Without saying a word,
he sits down beside her.
NYAI
Is Sinyo interested in business?
MINKE
I'm already trying my hand at it.
NYAI
What sort of business?
MINKE
Furniture. The latest styles from Europe.
I visit the ships when they bring
newcomers from Europe. I also go to the
homes of parents of my school friends.
NYAI

And school work? You're not being left

behind are you?
MINKE
Never!
NYAI
Interesting. Those who endeavor are
always interesting. Does Sinyo own his
own furniture workshop? How many
tradesmen?
MINKE
I have a partner. He's a wonderful
artist.
NYAI
Did you come here today to sell us some
furniture?
MINKE
But if you feel it's necessary, I'll
bring them another time. Furnishings, for
example, as in the palaces of Austria,
France or England. Renaissance, baroque,
rococo, Victorian. But, that was not my
intention today at all.
NYAI
(looking straight at Minke)
Then tell me Nyo, what exactly was your
intention of coming here today?
Minke is once again forced into an uncomfortable and
compromising situation. But, suddenly, down the stairs
descends Annelies, in a batik kain, and a traditional laced
kabaya blouse. Her sanggul bun hairstyle is a bit high,
revealing her long white neck.
NYAI (cont'd)
Ah!
Annelies neck, arms, ears, and bosom are decorated with a
pattern of green-white emeralds, pearls, and diamonds.
MINKE
You look more beautiful than Jaka Tarub's
angel in the legends of Babad Tanah Jawi.
Annelies smiles nervously as if embarrassed. The adornments
she is wearing are indeed overdone, and far too extravagant.
But, Minke knows that she dressed in this manner just for
him, and he alone.
NYAI
(whispering to Minke)
She's dressed up just for you.

(turning her attention to

Annelies)
From whom did you learn to dress, and
adorn yourself in that manner?
ANNELIES
Ah, Mama!
NYAI
Sinyo was ready to go home. It's
fortunate I stopped him. Otherwise, he
would have really missed out on this.
ANNELIES
Mama!
NYAI
Well, what about it, Nyo? Have you
forgotten your adopted European custom?
MINKE
What words are appropriate for beauty's
beauty?
NYAI
Yes, fit to become queen of the Indies,
isn't she?
Outside a YOUNG BOY lights a gas lamps, and the sun begins to
set.
MINKE
You do look lovely Annelies, but... I
think I should be going home. It's
starting to get late.
But, servants are preparing the dining table, and at that
moment the two Roberts enter with their guns.
NYAI
(to the Roberts)
You must be hungry.
ROBERT SUURHOF
Yes, I am.
EXT. MELLEMA ESTATE - EVENING
The back parlor light, covered by a milk-white glass shade,
shines dimly. From the window, Nyai, her children, and their
guests can be seen, all gathered at the dining table.
INT. DINING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
No one speaks as eyes move about from plate to bowl, and from
bowl to dish. Spoons, forks, and knives clink as they touch

plates. Nyai has had prepared a most fantastic meal for her
guests.
MINKE
I've never been served such a wonderful
meal. Thank you Mama.
Minke kicks at Robert Suurhof from under the table. Robert
looks up at Minke from his plate, and gives him a hard look.
ROBERT SUURHOF
Oh, yes. This meal is wonderful. Thank
you very much.
The front door can be heard opening, without a knock, or
announcement. A pendulum clock is the only other sound. Nyai
turns her head, and focuses on the sound. Minke looks up at
Nyai, who is looking in a very concerned manner toward the
front room. Robert Mellema glances in the same direction. His
eyes shine with pleasure, and his lips betray a satisfied
smile. Minke glances at Annelies. Her head tilts downward
with her eyes raised high, clearly she's straining to hear.
Minke stops eating, spoon in midair and focuses his hearing
on the area behind me. Nyai has already stopped eating.
Shoes can be heard walking, deliberately scraping along the
floor. Their sound becomes clearer, closer. Robert Suurhof
stops putting food in his mouth. He too puts the silverware
down on his plate. The dragging steps continue to move
closer, drowning out the tick-tock of the pendulum clock.
Robert Mellema continues to eat as if nothing was out of the
ordinary.
Finally Annelies glances behind. Her eyes blink, startled.
Her spoon drops, and it clang to the floor. Minke tries to
pick it up, but a SERVANT GIRL runs over grabbing at it
instead. The servant quickly moves away with her back to the
wall.
Annelies stands to confront this person who's making everyone
tense. Minke places his spoon and fork on the plate and,
follows Annelies's example. He stands and turns. Nyai also.
A shadow, splayed out by the front-room lamps, grows longer
and longer. The dragging steps became clearer and clearer.
Suddenly, a European man emerges tall, obese, too obese. His
clothes are rumpled and his grayish-white hair is a mess. He
looks in the direction of the dinner table, and stops for a
moment. HERMAN MELLEMA stares straight at Minke as he
continues to walk toward the table, dragging his feet all the
while.
Herman Mellema stops in front of Minke. His eyebrows are
bushy, almost white, and his face frozen like chalk. For a
moment Minke's eyes fall to Herman Mellema's shoes, which are
dusty, and unlaced. His rumpled clothes look loose, and worn.
His hair, uncombed and thin, covers his forehead and ears.

Robert Mellema continues eating, looks up for a moment and

says...
ROBERT MELLEMA
Hello, father.
Quickly, Minke lifts his eyes and offers a feigned greeting.
As polite as possible...
MINKE
Good evening, Mr. Mellema.
Herman Mellema growls out a response...
HERMAN MELLEMA
(crudely and heartless)
Who gave you permission to enter my home
you monkey!
Annelies holds back sobbing. Suurhof put his shoes into
action and stands as well. The ogre in front of Minke pays
Suurhof no heed. Minke tries to stand firm, but he begins to
tremble. The servant girl races out of the dining room and
into the kitchen.
HERMAN MELLEMA (cont'd)
You think because you throw on some
European clothes, mix, and speak a little
Dutch you're one of us? You're still a
monkey.
NYAI
(shouting)
Close your mouth! He's my guest.
Herman Mellema's eyes shift to Nyai. Nyai points a clawed
finger to a door.
NYAI (cont'd)
I'll not have this. Do I need to call
Darsam?
The tall-fat man growls again, and turns, dragging his feet,
to a room that's adjacent to the one Minke had previously
occupied. Mellema turns to stare once more, and then
disappears into the room.
ROBERT MELLEMA
Rob, let's go outside. It's too hot in
here.
Without another word both Roberts flee from the table, as
Annelies begins sobbing.
NYAI
(to Annelies)

Be quiet, Ann.
(to Minke)
Forgive us, Minke. Please, sit down.
Minke, and Annelies sit down. Annelies covers her face with a
silk handkerchief trying not to weep. Nyai keeps her eyes on
the door where Herman Mellema has just entered.
NYAI (cont'd)
(still in a rage, and to
Annelies)
No need to be ashamed in front of Sinyo.
And you, Nyo, never forget this. I'm not
ashamed. Sinyo shouldn't be either. I
once was his faithful nyai. And he was a
brilliant man. Now, he can only shame his
descendants.
Satisfied, Nyai sits. But, the look on her face remains hard
and sharp. No one resumes eating.
NYAI (cont'd)
Forgive me that I must offer a defense in
my humiliation. After all, what would
become of all this?
(she motions with her hand
referring to all of the
seemingly beautiful
surroundings)
We'd be reduced to destitution. It's the
Europeans who have taught me to act in
this manner. The Europeans themselves.
Annelies begins crying again. Nyai
toward the window. From behind the
ends in a bunch of tassels. A bell
servant girl who vanished upon the
reappears.

stands, and walks slowly

door she pulls a cord that
rings in the distance. The
arrival of Herman Mellema

NYAI (cont'd)
Please, clear the table.
(she turns her attention to
Minke)
Go home Nyo. Now!
MINKE
Yes, I should go.
NYAI
Ann, your guest is leaving. Wipe away
those tears, and see him his way.
ANNELIES
Forgive us, Minke. Please, forgive us.
MINKE
There's nothing to forgive. I've had a
wonderful day with you Annelies. Thank

you, so much.
NYAI
When the holidays arrive, come and spend
some time here, Nyo. Don't hesitate.
Nothing like what you were just subjected
to will ever happen again. I promise you
that.
Minke, not sure what to say, says nothing. He bows his head.
NYAI (cont'd)
Darsam will escort you in one of our
carriages.
Nyai sits back down. Soon, Darsam arrives in black shirt and
pants. His East Javanese destar headband sits atop his head,
and a short machete is fastened at his waist. Darsam's thick
black mustache is twirled up high.
NYAI (cont'd)
(to Darsam)
See to it that this young man is escorted
home safely. Take our finest dokar.
Darsam stands straight, and silently looks at Minke without
blinking, as if he wants to memorize the young man's face.
NYAI (cont'd)
The young master is my
Annelies's guest. Take
let anything happen on
with your very life if

guest. He's
him home. Don't
the way, guard him
needs be.

Darsam raises his hand without speaking, bows his head, and
leaves. Minke exits as well.
EXT. MELLEMA ESTATE FRONT STEPS - NIGHT
Minke, walking down the steps, turns to Annelies who's
standing at a window. She's wiping away tears from her face.
NYAI
(racing down the steps toward
Minke)
Wait! Sinyo, Annelies is happy that you
came to visit her today. You, of course,
don't have a lot of time with your
studies, and your business. I know that.
Even so, try to visit her often.
MINKE
I'll surely think about it. Thank you for
such a generous invitation.
NYAI

Yes, Nyo, think about it.

The dokar can be heard coming along beside the house. Minke
and Nyai walk to the front of the house, and find the two
Roberts sitting silently, looking out into the darkness. The
carriage stops in front of the steps. Suurhof and Minke go
down the remaining steps, and board the carriage.
MINKE
Good night, and thank you very much.
The carriage begins to move.
NYAI
Stop!
The carriage stops.
NYAI (cont'd)
Minke, come down here.
Without stopping to think, Minke climbs out and approaches
the steps. Nyai descends one.
NYAI (cont'd)
Annelies told me, Nyo.
(Suurhof is watching)
Don't be afraid to answer truthfully. Is
it true, you kissed my daughter? It is
true?
Minke is silent, but his expression betrays him. Nyai motions
for Annelies to come out. She does, and stands next to her
mother.
NYAI (cont'd)
Kiss Annelies in front of me. So that I
may know that my daughter isn't lying.
Minke kisses Annelies on the cheek.
NYAI (cont'd)
I'm pleased that someone with your
character has chosen to kiss my daughter.
Now, go home.
Minke enters the carriage, and his eyes meet Suurhof who says
nothing. The carriage rattles onward, grinding the pebbles in
the street, as the carriage's carbide light splits open the
darkness, and disappears out of view.
EXT. MINKE'S HOME FRONT GATE - LATER SAME NIGHT
Darsam remains vigilant until Minke makes his way to the
Telinga's front door. Robert Suurhof eyes Minke as well.
Minke turns back to the carriage and, the carriage swiftly

leaves, escorting Suurhof home. Minke watches as the carriage

continues on.
INT. MINKE'S ROOM - A LITTLE LATER
Minke doesn't turn on the light. He goes straight to bed and
lies down. The glow from a light that's outside of his room
reflects onto his face. The sounds of celebration of the
coronation continue somewhere far off. Minke closes his eyes
and whispers...
MINKE
Annelies. Annelies... Annelies!
FADE TO BLACK.
EXT. ELS SCHOOL - DAY
Schools out for the day. Children exit in small groups as
they head home.
MAY MARAIS, the five-year-old daughter of Jean Marais runs
out of the building, and up to Minke who's wearing his own
school uniform. He carries books, and walks briskly. Without
a word of exchange, and without breaking stride, May takes
Minke's hand as they walk together.
Minke and May reach the Marais home. May enters the gate, as
Minke continues on to the workshop.
EXT. JEAN MARAIS WORKSHOP - A LITTLE LATER
In the workshop Jean's absorbed in a drawing, and ignoring
Mrs. Telinga who's gossiping in his ear.
MRS. TELINGA
Young Master! Young Master... Of course
Young Master likes the daughter.
Everybody says Nyai's daughter is
absolutely gorgeous. But no one dares go
there. No one dares! Young Master should
be more cautious. And you know what else
people say...
Jean looks over at Minke as he enters, and Mrs. Telinga
abruptly stops speaking. Jean roles his eyes, and shakes his
head.
MINKE
(to Mrs. Telinga)
Annelies, happens to be a very sweet
girl.
MRS. TELINGA
(interrupting)
Annelies? Is that her name? Oh, such a

lovely name, but oh, such a pity.

MINKE
Mrs. Telinga, do you mind if I have a few
words alone with Mr. Marais? I... I have
some business to discuss regarding an
order.
MRS. TELINGA
You want to get rid of me? If you want to
get rid of me just say so. Fine...
Fine... I know when I'm not wanted.
Mrs. Telinga begins to leave, then turns to Minke.
MRS. TELINGA (cont'd)
You don't seem to mind my presence when I
have a fresh made chocolate cake, or a
juicy lemon pie waiting to be carved up.
There's no response as Minke, and Jean stare at her.
MRS. TELINGA (cont'd)
Ok! I'm going, I'm going.
(turning back to Minke one last
time)
You want to talk about that nyai's
daughter Annelies, and don't want me to
know about it. That's it. Isn't it?
There's response again, as Minke, and Jean continue to stare
at her.
MRS. TELINGA (cont'd)
Oh...
Perturbed, Mrs. Telinga leaves. Minke turns to Jean.
MINKE
Jean, you're my oldest and dearest
friend. You're also my partner in
business. So, I feel it's only proper
that I ask you...
Jean interrupts Minke by handing him a furniture order signed
by someone named Ah Tjong. Minke inspects it.
MINKE (cont'd)
Ah Tjong?
JEAN MARAIS
I suspect it's the one who owns the
brothel next to Nyai Ontosoroh's. But,
the order's for European furnishing.

Jean plays with his pencil, as he sketches.

MINKE
I need to interrupt you. I'm sorry.
Minke sits on a chair at the drawing table.
JEAN MARAIS
Do you know the meaning of sihirv?
Jean shakes his head no.
MINKE
Guna-guna?
JEAN MARAIS
Ah, black magic. The Africans practice
it.
MINKE
I feel like I'm under a spell.
Jean puts his pencil down on the drawing paper, and stares at
Minke. Then, he calmly speaks...
JEAN MARAIS
You're in trouble. You've fallen in love.
MINKE
No, I'm not in love. She's certainly
attractive, and enchanting, but in love?
No!
JEAN MARAIS
You're really in trouble. It's serious
when you can't admit you've fallen in
love. You want to have her, but you're
afraid of what people will say.
(Jeans laughs)
Pay heed to what other people think. But,
only if they're correct. If they're
wrong, why pay any heed at all? A person
must known when to act justly, beginning,
first of all, with their thoughts, then
in their deeds. Hold off on judging that
family. Go and visit this Annelies two,
or even three more times. Then you'll be
able to decide for yourself if this girl,
and her family deserve the reputation
that follows them.
MINKE
You think I should go back?
JEAN MARAIS
I think you should find out for yourself.
Anyway, you don't need to chase after new

orders for now. Look, there are still

five portraits that have to be finished.
And this...
(he pats his current sketch)
I'm going to finally paint something that
I've been long dreaming of doing.
Minke looks at the sketch that lays in front of him. It's a
Netherlands Indies soldier wearing a bamboo hat and sword.
The soldier is thrusting his foot down onto the stomach of an
Acehnese fighter. The soldier is pressing his bayonet onto
the black shirt of is victim, and from under it emerges the
breast of a young woman. The eyes of the woman are wide open.
Her hair tumbles in bunches over fallen bamboo leaves. Her
left hand is resisting as she tries to rise. Her right hand
powerlessly holds a dagger.
Above them both, like an umbrella, is a cluster of bamboo
bent downward by the power of a strong wind. It's as if only
those two are alive, one who is to kill, and the other who is
to be killed.
MINKE
This is vicious, Jean. You always talk
about beauty. Where's the beauty in this?
JEAN MARAIS
This picture's very personal, not
intended for public display. Its beauty
is in the memories it holds.
Jean's obviously pained as he stares at his work. Minke
understands.
MINKE
You're that soldier aren't you?
Jean turns away, and slowly shakes his head yes.
MINKE (cont'd)
You killed a woman?
Jean shakes his head yes, again.
MINKE (cont'd)
But, I recall you saying you freed her?
JEAN MARAIS
Yes, I did.
MINKE
Then she must have been grateful?
JEAN MARAIS
She was not grateful. She demanded I kill
her, but I could not.
Jean answers dispiritedly, as if his words were not directed

at Minke, but at his own past, which was now far beyond his
reach.
JEAN MARAIS (cont'd)
Later, her younger brother snuck into the
camp, and stabbed her with a poison
tipped dagger. And as she laid dying, he
was killed by the other soldiers. And as
he died, he shouted to hell with you
infidels.
MINKE
Why, did he kill sister?
JEAN MARAIS
His sister surrendered. It simply was not
acceptable.
MINKE
She was a prisoner?
JEAN MARAIS
At first. Then, no. Because she had a
child. My child.
MINKE
A child?
Now, he understands.
MINKE (cont'd)
Jean!
JEAN MARAIS
Don't ever repeat this story to May.
Suddenly Minke, overcome by emotion runs from the workshop.
INT. JEAN MARAIS HOME - IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING
The door to the home opens, and May is fast asleep on a
wooden divan. Minke picks her up, and kisses her face again
and again. Startled, May looks up at Minke. She doesn't say a
word.
MINKE
May! May!
(he picks her up)
Jean appears at the door.
MINKE (cont'd)
Jean, tell me it isn't true?
Jean, his chin now resting on his hand, gazes out of the

house, and into the distance. He doesn't want to answer.

MINKE (cont'd)
You often speak regarding the love you
still have for that woman. That's why you
advise me to go to Annelies. Isn't it?
JEAN MARAIS
Love is beautiful. Very beautiful. But
even so, disaster eventually follows.
But, as it is with all unavoidable
disasters, you must dare to face its
consequence.
MAY
Will we go for a walk, Papa?
JEAN MARAIS
(brightly)
We will go for a walk! But, only after
you bathe.
Jean leads May into the bathroom, and pats her on the bottom
as she enters to take a bath.
MINKE
Jean, I'm not sure I love this girl.
JEAN MARAIS
There is no love that appears suddenly,
because love is a child of culture, not a
stone dropped from heaven. You must test
your own heart. It's clear from what
you've told me that her mother is very
fond of you. Even only after this first
meeting. I don't believe in black magic.
Perhaps it does exist, in simple forms.
You, yourself said this nyai manages a
spectacular operation. Someone like that
isn't going to believe in such things
either. She'd believe in the strength of
one's character.
MINKE
Thank you, Jean. Would you like to take
May for a walk this afternoon yourself?
JEAN MARAIS
It's not time. People will stare. One day
she'll hear someone say, look at the
legless foreigner, and his motherless
child! No, she mustn't have her soul
scarred by some unnecessary pain. They
come soon enough.
MINKE
Ah, you've never been one for self pity,
and loathing. You just need to create a

painting. One that's so powerful it'll

force France to acknowledge your
greatness as an artist.
May enters the room, wet hair, and ready for a walk. She
takes her father's hand.
JEAN MARAIS
May, I still have work that must be
finished. I can't go with you.
May frowns.
JEAN MARAIS (cont'd)
Don't frown like that, darling. Now, go
with Uncle Minke.
Minke takes May by the hand and they exit the home.
EXT. JEAN'S FRONT GATE - IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING
Minke turns back to see Jean, standing in the threshold of
his doorway, smoking a cigarette, and staring off in the
distance.
FADE TO BLACK.
MINKE (V.O.)
Jean Marais once studied at the famed
Sorbonne in Paris. However, he abandoned
the lectures, and poured all his soul
into painting instead.
EXT. LATIN QUARTER - NIGHT
Montage. A younger Jean Marais with two legs, in classic
french style, barters with a tourist who's interested in
purchasing one of Jean's paintings.
MINKE (V.O.)
He lived in the Latin Quarter, and hawked
his paintings on the street. His works
sold well, but never caught the attention
of society, or that of the most
particular Parisian critics.
Montage. A younger Jean sits on a street corner working on a
wood carving, as people who are full of life, and energy
pass, stop, and watch his effortless work. Jean occasionally
looks up, and offers a well practiced smile to the onlookers.
MINKE (V.O.)
Half a decade had passed. His spirit
became restless.
Montage. Jean walks along a crowded street, alone, except for

his companion, a bottle of wine. A group of teenagers pass

and mock him. Jean pays it no mind as he takes another sip.
MINKE (V.O.)
Jean began to loath his surroundings, and
the mobs of those who marveled at his
work. By now, he was bored with Paris,
with society, and with Europe.
He longed for something new that might
fill life's barrenness.
Montage. Jean in Morocco, Libya, Algeria, and Egypt.
MINKE (V.O.)
He left Europe for Morocco, then Libya,
Algeria, and finally Egypt. He still
wasn't able to find that something he
sought, yet could not identify. He was
never satisfied, always anxious and
agitated.
Jean's in the midst of a painting. He doesn't like how things
are turning out. He takes a brush, and with great frustration
jabs at the painting, and smears it altogether. Finally, he
throws his paints at it, smashes it. Now, satisfied, he walks
off, leaving his belongings in a heap.
MINKE (V.O.)
Unable to create the painting of which he
dreamed. He left Africa too!
Montage. Jean on a ship, heading for an unknown port in
Indonesia.
MINKE (V.O.)
By the time he arrived in the Indies, his
money had run out. As with so many other
men, the only road open to him was to
join the Dutch Indies Army.
Montage. Jean emotionless, standing in a line of other
outcast soldiers, mercenaries for hire. Jean at training, and
then on a military vessel parting for Aceh.
MINKE (V.O.)
Soon he departed for the front line in
Aceh.
Montage. Battle scenes between a variety of men in Dutch
uniforms, clearly of different nationalities, aiming and
firing guns, and exploding cannons, used to fight against
barefoot natives with spears. It's a slaughter.
MINKE (V.O.)
As in a dream within a dream, Jean
existed within his army unit, but within
himself. He had almost no contact with
anyone except through orders he'd receive

by Dutch officers, in a language he

didn't understand, and was unwilling to
learn.
Montage. A Dutch officer screaming commands to Jean, who,
with emotionless face, and hardness in his eyes, either
ignores the officer, or is incapable of understanding.
MINKE (V.O.)
As Jean watched those Aceh warriors fight
against unmeasurable odds, he began to
admire and love their noble character.
JEAN MARAIS (V.O.)
The Acehnese had great ability. It was
only their weapons that were inadequate.
They defended what was rightfully theirs.
They were mindless of death. All of them.
Even the children! Even in defeat, and
facing death, they fought on. Those
mercenaries, soldiers of debt, Swiss,
Germans, Swedes, Belgians, Russians,
Hungarians, Romanians, Portuguese,
Spaniards, Italians, and from almost all
the nations of Europe were nothing more
than rubbish who had been discarded from
their own countries. These were those who
had given up hope, bandits on the run,
running from debts, or bankruptcy due to
gambling or speculation, now, mere
adventurers all, stood quietly over the
slaughter of the people of Aceh.
Montage. Death scenes of villagers, and young foreign
soldiers, and the violence of senselessness.
JEAN MARAIS (V.O.)
They fought back with all their abilities
and with all their inabilities as well.
Daggers and spears defeated against
rifles and cannons.
Montage. A sea of death, carnage and destruction as the
sounds of fighting wanes.
Jean walks past a sea of mercenaries, some in tears, some
wounded, mostly in a state of perpetual shock. Both Ache
warriors, their families, and mercenaries litter the battle
zone. Jean tosses his weaponry aside. A baby cries. Jean
turns toward it. The child's young mother, dressed in black,
Jean's woman, lays next to it, dead. A boy not much older
that her lies dead next to her. Some of the mercenaries turn
to look at the child as well. Jean shelters, then picks up,
and cradles the infant MAY in his arms. As he begins to walk
away, a young SOLDIER gently touches Jean's arm, he too wants
to have a look, and know that the child is well. But, Jean
stops, and stares almost madly, and pulling away from the
soldier, a boy who is barely out of his teens.
The young man takes one step back. Jean continues through the

gray smoke, that mingles with the thick humidity, and the
inhumanity.
SLOW CROSS FADE.
EXT. BLUE SKY - DAY
Kites that look like crabs flutter in the wind.
MAY
Look! Up there. Kites. They look like
crabs!
MINKE
Crabs don't belong in the sky, May. They
belong to the sea. Let's go home.
INT. JEAN MARAIS WORKSHOP - EVENING
Jean is crouching over his drawing table. He looks up as
Minke and May enter. May approaches her father.
MAY
We say crab kites. They were above the
clouds.
Jean nods attentively. Minke moves closer to take a look at
the finished picture of May's mother, and the Dutch soldier.
JEAN MARAIS
Well, that's wonderfully odd. Crabs in
the clouds.
MINKE
It's getting late. I'm off for home.
EXT. MINKE'S BOARDING HOUSE - EVENING
Minke climbs over the hedge into the front yard of the
boarding house. He discovers Darsam waiting for him, and
holding a letter in his hand.
DARSAM
Young Master. Nyai awaits your reply.
Darsam will wait.
Minke takes the letter, opens it and begins to read.
NYAI (V.O.)
I hope this letter finds you well. I'll
get straight to the point. Annelies had
fallen into daydreaming.
She doesn't want to eat, and much of her
work is going unfinished, or being
incorrectly performed. Sinyo, how
grateful I would be if you would consider
my difficulties. Annelies is the only
helper I can't count on. I cannot handle

all of this work alone. Not only that,

I'm also worried about Annelies's health.
It would mean so much to us both, if you
would come and visit. Even if only for a
little while. She misses you, and speaks
of nothing else.
MINKE
(folding the letter closed)
I'll return with you to Wonokromo.
EXT. MELLEMA ESTATE FRONT GATE - NIGHT
Annelies looks gaunt, and greets Minke silently on the front
steps. Her eyes shine. Minke's presence brings life back to
her face. Nyai emerges from the doorway.
NYAI
You've come at last!
Darsam lifts Minke's suitcases down from the carriage.
INT. PARLOR - IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING
Annelies leads Minke into the room where he had stayed
before. Darsam brings his suitcase in as well.
ANNELIES
Let me put your clothes away properly.
Minke lays his suitcase on the bed and Annelies begins to
busy herself. Inside the suitcase are three unopened letters.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
Mas? There are unopened letters here.
MINKE
Yes, I'll read them later.
Annelies brings them over to him.
ANNELIES
You should read them now, they might be
important.
Minke places the letters on a pillow.
EXT. GARDEN - NIGHT
In the front of the Mellema estates, near the entrance is a
beautiful garden with a natural pool, and a few white geese
chatting away. A stone bench stands at the edge of the pool.
Annelies leads Minke along a cement path hemmed in on either
side by a green lawn. They sit on the stone bench. Annelies

takes hold of Minke's hand, in a natural manner.

MINKE
I've been thinking a lot about you
lately.
ANNELIES
(agreeing)
It's true!
MINKE
Where's Robert?
ANNELIES
Why ask that?
Minke senses something's wrong.
MINKE
Where's your father?
ANNELIES
Are you still afraid of him? Forget that
horrible night. He's rarely home. If he
is, he sleeps a while, then vanishes
again. That's why Mama and I look after
everything.
MINKE
Where does he go?
ANNELIES
No one knows where he goes. And we never
ask either. We never speak. This has been
going on for as long as I can remember.
He used to be so kind. Every day he found
time to play with us. Then, suddenly, one
day Mama came to school, and took me
away. I've never returned. And from that
day on, I've had to help with the
business.
MINKE
Was Robert also taken out of school?
ANNELIES
No, he wasn't. Unlike I, he didn't want
to remain in school, but he didn't want
to work either. Now, soccer, and hunting
and horseback riding, is all he's
interested in.
MINKE
Why doesn't he help with the business?
ANNELIES
Because he hates natives. For him, there

would be no greater joy than to be

European, and for all natives to bow to
him. Although he doesn't want to work,
he'd like to control the business. He'd
like everyone to work for him, including
Mama and me. But, she won't bow to him.
MINKE
He looks on you as a native too?
ANNELIES
I see how hard Mama works, and with no
help from Robert or father, and she's a
native, and my mother too. So, I'm native
as well. Why shouldn't I be?
Minke continues to listen.
MINKE
Why are you telling all of your family
secrets to me?
ANNELIES
Who else would I tell? You're my first
guest ever. I'm ready to tell you
everything. And you mustn't feel
restrained either.
Annelies hesitates, and then kisses Minke on the cheek.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
I have work to do.
Annelies leaves Minke alone.
Minke touches his cheek where Annelies has kissed him. He
then listens to the sounds of toil coming from over the
garden wall. He hears the racket from the rice factory, and
the sounds of the milk carts coming and going. He hears the
banging, and clatter of the buffalo carts as they take things
to and from the warehouse. He hears the threatening pounding
as peanuts are separated from their shells.
He especially notices the sounds of workers joking, and
laughing as they toil.
MINKE (V.O.)
What a strange and mysterious world I had
fallen into.
INT. MINKE'S GUEST ROOM - LATER
Minke enters the room, opens a notebook, and begins writing.
There's a knock at the door.
MINKE

Yes?
Nyai opens the door, and enters.
NYAI
I can't tell you how happy we are that
you have arrived. See, Annelies has begun
to work again, her liveliness has
returned. Sinyo's arrival is not only
helping our business, but more
importantly, Annelies. Forgive my
frankness, but she loves you.
INT. PARLOR - LATER SAME NIGHT
Minke, Annelies, and Nyai are passing away the night
listening to Austrian waltzes on the phonograph. Nyai is
reading a book, and Annelies, near Minke.
MINKE
I'd like to tell you about a friend of
mine. Is that all right?
Nyai puts down her book and looks at Minke.
MINKE (cont'd)
My friend, his name is Jean Marais. I'd
like you to meet him someday. He's a
Frenchman. He's my business partner, and
a great artist. He also has a daughter
named, May.
NYAI
What of the mother?
MINKE
The mother is dead.
ANNELIES
Oh, that's terrible. I can't imagine life
without a mother.
MINKE
Jean once fought against the Indonesia
people in Aceh. One day his platoon
received orders to attack a village at
Blang Kejeren. They arrived at dawn, some
distance from the village. The soldiers
let off shots into the air to frighten
away the villagers. When they arrived at
the village it was empty. The platoon
started destroying the homes, and
smashing whatever they could. The
villagers had become so impoverished
during the twenty years of war, that
there really wasn't anything the soldiers
could take as souvenirs. Corporal Telinga
ordered all the houses to be burned.

Precisely at that moment, the Acehnese

came into view. Men and women, like
columns of ants, all dressed in black,
appeared out of nowhere and attacked
Jean's platoon. Telinga's soldiers ran
from the village, but Jean got caught in
a bamboo trap. A sharp wooden spike
pierced his leg. The wooden spike was
pulled out of Jean's leg, but he fainted.
They all ran away. Jean was lucky because
two soldiers carried him away as well.
His leg became infected, and he lost it.
It was cut it off just above the knee.
NYAI
That's a terrible story. Bring the child
to visit someday, I'd like to meet her.
ANNELIES
Yes, I'd too like to meet her as well.
MINKE
Mama, permit me to ask. Which school did
you graduate from?
NYAI
I've never been to school.
MINKE
How's that possible? You speak, read, and
even write in Dutch.
NYAI
Life can give nearly anything to those
who are willing to receive.
MINKE
Jean said that Acehnese women used to
descend into the battlefield, ready to
die beside their men. So too in Bali. In
my own place of birth, women peasants
worked side by side with men in the paddy
fields. None of them had any schooling,
yet none of them are like you. You remind
me of a native student that attended my
school. She's the daughter of the bupati
of Jangulat. She's the first native woman
to write in Dutch. Her writing has even
been published in magazines in Batavia.
She was only seventeen at the time. Many
of the European students denied the
accuracy of this. How was it possible
that a native girl could write and
articulate so clearly, let alone have
them published in a scholarly magazine?
NYAI
Your first mistake is believing that
women are unable to do things that men

can't do. Let me ask you this.

Nyai stands, and begins to exit the room. She stops at the
door.
NYAI (cont'd)
Could you bare the pain of giving birth
to a child? I've yet to meet any man that
could withstand that.
Minke feels foolish.
NYAI (cont'd)
Good night. You are coming along Annelies
are you not?
ANNELIES
Yes, Mama. Good night Minke.
MINKE
Good night.
Annelies stands, and as both she and Nyai exit the parlor...
MINKE (V.O.)
I could not restrain my curiosity, to
know who this extraordinary person, this
Nyai Ontosoroh really was.
INT. BATHROOM - LATER SAME NIGHT
Annelies is finishing changing into her nightclothes, and
brushing her hair. She puts out the candles, and exits the
room.
INT. NYAI'S BEDROOM - IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING
Annelies charges into Mama's room without knocking. Nyai sits
at her table reading. Nyai looks up at Annelies, and closes
her book.
NYAI
Why aren't you asleep yet?
ANNELIES
I want to sleep with you tonight.
NYAI
A girl as old as you, still wanting to
sleep with her mother?
ANNELIES
Let me!

Nyai smiles, and gestures toward the bed.

NYAI
Over there!
Annelies jumps into the bed like a little girl. Mama stands,
locks the bedroom door, and pulls down the mosquito net, and
then puts out the candle. The pitch darkness of the room
changes to reveal soft lighting that glows in through the
window.
ANNELIES
Mama, have you ever been happy?
NYAI
Even if for only a moment, everyone's
been happy at some point in their life.
ANNELIES
Are you happy now?
NYAI
What does it matter if I'm happy or not?
All there is now is worry. It's you I
worry about the most. I don't want you to
suffer the loneliness I suffer through,
without acquaintances, without friends,
let alone any close friends.
Annelies, perhaps you don't feel it, but
I've been deliberately harsh with you, so
that in the future you won't have to be
dependent on a man, if, may it never
happen, that man turns out to be like
your father.
ANNELIES
When did you feel happiness? I mean, true
happiness?
NYAI
There were many such years. Do you
remember when I came and took you away
from school? That was when everything
changed, when it all ended. You're grown
up now, it's time you know what really
happened. I've been meaning to tell you
for quite some time anyway. So, this is
as good as any. Are you too tired to
hear?
ANNELIES
I'm listening.
NYAI
Your father once said, a mother must pass
on to her daughter everything she'll need
to know. In those days I respected every
word that he spoke. They were my beacon.

Then he became the opposite of everything

he had ever taught me.
ANNELIES
Papa was a clever man?
NYAI
Not only clever, but kind. It was he who
taught me about farming, business, and
looking after livestock. At first, he
taught me to speak Malay, then to read
and write, after that, Dutch. Then he
taught me to deal with the bank, lawyers,
about trade, everything that I've now
been teaching you. He not only taught me,
but patiently tested everything I learned
from him.
ANNELIES
Why did he change so much?
NYAI
He became someone else, an animal that
couldn't even recognize his own children.
He lost all his goodness, his cleverness,
his intelligence, his skills. Something
happened. He was destroyed in an instant.
Nyai doesn't continue her story immediately.
NYAI (cont'd)
At the time, I thought of taking him to a
mental hospital. But, what would people
say about you later? If your father was
proven to be mad and under custodial
care, his business, his wealth, and his
family would be under the control of an
executor appointed by a court. Your mama,
being just a native, would have no rights
over anything, even my own children. All
our backbreaking efforts, even never
taking a holiday would have been in vain.
And giving birth to you, would have been
in vain as well, because the law wouldn't
acknowledge my motherhood, just because
I'm a native, and not legally married. Do
you understand?
ANNELIES
I never knew the troubles you faced had
been so great.
NYAI
Even permission for you to marry would
not come from me, but from an executor.
By involving the courts, his condition
would become public knowledge, you, Ann,

your fate then... No!

ANNELIES
But why would I suffer?
NYAI
Don't you understand what would happen if
everybody knew you were the daughter of a
man who was deemed legally insane?
Annelies hides her head in the crook of her mother's arm.
ANNELIES
Will I go mad as well?
NYAI
His madness is not hereditary. But people
may not understand that.
ANNELIES
Let me look after Papa. I'll care for
him.
NYAI
He doesn't know you.
ANNELIES
But he's my papa.
NYAI
Shhh! Pity is only for those who are
conscious of their condition. The closer
you are to him, the more your life is
threatened by ruin.
Annelies is frightened to hear these words. They both go
silent.
ANNELIES
Tell me how is it that you ended up with
Papa?
NYAI
All right, but don't be shocked. You're a
spoiled child compared to me when I was
younger.
DISSOLVE:
EXT. TULANGAN VILLAGE - DAY
A young boy, PAIMAN and even younger girl, SANIKEM play
amongst other village children.
NYAI (V.O.)
I had an elder brother, Paiman. He was
born on the market day of Paing, so he

was named with the first syllable Pai. I

was three years younger than he. I was
named Sanikem.
INT. TULANGAN VILLAGE FACTORY - DAY
Sanikem's FATHER is toiling away on books, accounting and
company records.
NYAI (V.O.)
People said that my father was very
industrious, and he was respected as the
only person in the village who could read
and write. But he wasn't satisfied with
just being a clerk in the factory.
He dreamed of a higher post, even though
the job he held was quite a respected
one. He desired terribly to be the head
cashier of the factory, and noting more.
EXT. TULANGAN FARMLAND - DAY
Village farmers work vigorously on large swathes of fertile
land.
NYAI (V.O.)
He no longer needed to hoe the ground, or
plow, or labor, or plant or harvest.
Although he worked diligently, he never
received a promotion. So he resorted to
other means.
INT. TULANGAN VILLAGE HUT - NIGHT
A village MAGIC MAN performs rites and incantations over
Sanikem's father.
NYAI (V.O.)
He went on rice fasts. No results. He
even went as far as using a dukun magic
man, and ascetic practices to cast a
spell on Tuan Besar Kuasa, the great,
powerful Tuan, the company administrator,
to come to our home, so my father could
shower him with gifts, and praise. Also
to no avail.
EXT. TUAN BESAR KUASA'S HOME - DAY
Sanikem's father performs various forms of labor on Tuan
Besar Kuasa's home.
NYAI (V.O.)
On the other hand, he often visited the
tuan's house, not on official business
but to perform labor in the back of the
house. How he humiliated himself and his

dignity for this man whom he owed

nothing. Tuan Besar Kuasa was a bachelor,
as was usually the case with newly
arrived Europeans. People said my father
once tried to offer him a woman. This
tuan not only rejected the offer, but
threatened to sack him.
EXT. TULANGAN VILLAGE SQUARE - DAY
Montage. Sanikem's father, and MOTHER being ridiculed by
local villagers on the street, and in the village shops.
NYAI (V.O.)
After that my father became the object of
public ridicule. My mother grew thin and
frail as she was subjected to hurtful
taunts. Maybe he'll end up offering his
own daughter some would say. They meant
me!
INT. SANIKEM'S CHILDHOOD HOME - DAY
Sanikem sweeps the floor. She hears a noise at the front door
and immediately turns to it in obvious fear.
NYAI (V.O.)
From then on I never dared leave the
house. My eyes were always looking to the
front room to see if there was a white
skinned guest.
EXT. TULANGAN VILLAGE SQUARE - DAY
A Tayub Dance Festival is in progress.
NYAI (V.O.)
Unlike the other Dutch men, Tuan Besar
Kuasa didn't enjoy participating in the
tayub dance festivities.
INT. PROTESTANT CHURCH - DAY
Kuasa (face unseen), is sitting in the pews of a small
church, and listening to a preacher's sermon.
NYAI (V.O.)
Instead, every Sunday he went to
Sidoardjo for devotions at the protestant
church.
INT. SANIKEM'S CHILDHOOD HOME - DAY
Sanikem is working in the kitchen. She peeks through the
kitchen door into the living area where her father, and

mother are entertaining guests.

NYAI (V.O.)
When I turned thirteen I was only
acquainted with the kitchen, back parlor,
and my room. All our lady guests said I
was beautiful, the flower of Tulangan,
the blossom of Sidoardjo. And if I looked
at myself in the mirror, I found no
reason not to agree with their flattery.
My mother, I never knew her name, was a
pretty woman. My father was handsome too.
Even though people hated him, proposals
of marriage to me came in often. He
refused all of them. There was no doubt
that he had special plans for me.
INT. SANIKEM'S CHILDHOOD HOME - DAY
Sanikem's father rejects a marriage proposal. Her mother sits
silently near her father.
NYAI (V.O.)
By the time I was fourteen, I was already
considered an old maid. But, my father
and he alone determined everything. When
it came to marriage, a girl never knew
beforehand whether her husband would be
young or old. And once married, the girl
had to serve this man, whom she had never
met before, with all her body and soul,
and for all her life, until she died or
until he became bored and got rid of her.
The husband could be a criminal, a
drunkard, or gambler. No girl would know
until it was too late.
INT. SANIKEM'S CHILDHOOD HOME - NIGHT
Sanikem's father is busy preparing the home for a special
guest. TUAN BESAR KUASA, enters Sanikem's home. She peeks
through her bedroom door trying to get a glimpse of this
large and looming figure who was sitting across from, and
chatting with Sanikem's father.
NYAI (V.O.)
One night, Tuan Besar Kuasa, came to our
home. My father was rushing here and
there giving orders to mother and me to
do this and that, and then canceling them
with still other orders. He had me put on
my best clothes. I was indeed suspicious.
INT. SANIKEM'S KITCHEN - NIGHT
Sanikem's mother is weeping in the corner of the kitchen.
NYAI (V.O.)

Nothing had happened yet, but my mother

was already crying in a corner of the
kitchen.
INT. SANIKEM'S CHILDHOOD HOME - NIGHT
Sanikem serves coffee and cakes, but does not dare to look at
this tuan directly, (who still remains faceless).
NYAI (V.O.)
My father ordered me to serve strong
coffee, milk, and cakes. I didn't know
what Tuan Besar Kuasa's face was like. It
was not proper for a well-mannered girl
to lift up her eyes and face a male guest
unknown to the family, especially if he
was white. I kept my head down, placing
the contents of the tray on the table.
Even so, his trousers were visible. They
were made from white drill cloth. And his
shoes were big, and long. I felt the eyes
of Tuan Besar Kuasa pierce my hands and
my neck.
FATHER
This is my daughter, Tuan Besar Kuasa.
Tuan Besar Kuasa responds with a heavy, and deep voice.
TUAN BESAR KUASA
It's time she had in-laws.
Frightened, Sanikem withdraws to the kitchen to await orders
that never come. She places her back against the wall and
cringes. The front door can be heard opening. Sanikem runs to
the kitchen door to see what is happening. She watches as
Tuan Besar Kuasa, and her father exit. She runs to the living
room window, and continues to watch them walk away from the
home. Sanikem's mother's crying becomes even more pronounced.
The father returns to his home, as Sanikem runs back into the
kitchen. He calls Sanikem into the front room.
FATHER
Sanikem!
Sanikem's mother races into the living room.
MOTHER
(pleading)
Don't, papa, don't!
Sanikem slowly exits the kitchen.
FATHER
Sanikem, put all your possessions into
your mother's suitcase. Dress yourself

well, neatly, attractively.

Nearly fainting, Sanikem begins to carry out her father's
order. Sanikem's mother is weeping terribly now, and
continues in her protest, as the child's father takes no
notice.
INT. SANIKEM'S CHILDHOOD BEDROOM - IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING
Sanikem packs her best clothing, six batiks in a brown, and
dented metal suitcase, and carries the suitcase into the
living room.
INT. SANIKEM'S CHILDHOOD HOME - NIGHT
Suddenly, a carriage pulls up at the front of the home.
FATHER
Look at this home, Sanikem. From today
forward it is no longer yours.
EXT. VILLAGE STREET - A LITTLE LATER
Father, the mother weeping, and Sanikem, in a state of
disbelief ride in the carriage.
NYAI (V.O.)
I was ashamed, that man was not fit to be
a father. It was unfortunate, but I was
his daughter, and there was nothing I
could do about the situation at hand.
Neither the tears nor the pleading words
of my mother could prevent the disaster
that was already nearly complete. I, who
didn't yet understood the world that
surrounded me, didn't even possess my own
body.
The carriage stops in front of Tuan Besar Kuasa's stone
house. The trio all get down. The father carries Sanikem's
suitcase, as she doesn't even dare to look around her. Kuasa
exits, and Sanikem catches a glimpse, but immediately looks
downward, and away from him. Tuasa invites the family to
enter.
NYAI (V.O.)
It became clear just how big this man
really was. Perhaps three times as heavy
as father. His face was reddish. His nose
protruded greatly, enough for three or
four Javanese noses. The skin on his arms
was coarse like an iguana's skin, and it
was thick with yellow hair. I gnashed my
teeth, and bowed my head down further.
His arms were as big as my legs. This was
the man that I would be surrendered to.

INT. TUAN BESAR KUASA'S HOME - NIGHT

Father and mother sit on a sofa. Sanikem in a chair in the
far corner. She clutches her suitcase.
Kuasa takes out an envelope from his pocket, and hands it to
father. He also takes out a piece of paper. Father puts his
signature to it. Father then opens the envelope, and counts
twenty-five guilders, representing father's sale of Sanikem
to this man.
NYAI (V.O.)
The document was a promise that my father
would be made head cashier. A position he
desired, even more so than the love of
his own daughter. This is the ritual
whereby a child is sold into slavery by
the hands of her own father. I knew that
there would be no one able to take up my
cause.
FATHER
Sanikem, you must never leave this house
unless you have the permission of Tuan
Besar Kuasa himself. You may not return
to our home without his permission
either.
Saniken does not look up at her father as he speaks these
words. Tears roll down her face. Father and mother stand, and
exit. The sound of the carriage pulling away is all that can
be heard. Sanikem is left on the chair, bathing in her own
tears, as she trembles in fear.
Looking up, and through blurry tears Saniken finally sees
this Tuan Besar Kuasa, who gently takes the suitcase from
her, and carries it into a room. He exits the room and
approaches her. He pulls her hand, ordering her to stand.
TUAN BESAR KUASA
Stand.
Sanikem's kain is soaking with sweat, and tears. Her legs
tremble terribly, as if her bones, and sinews come loose from
their joints. Kuasa picks her up as if she were an old
pillow, and carries her in his arms into that room.
INT. SANIKEM'S ROOM - NIGHT
Tuan Besar Kuasa puts Sanikem down on a beautiful, clean bed,
powerlessly. She faints.
FADE TO BLACK.
INT. SANIKEM'S ROOM - NIGHT
When Saniken opens her eyes, she sees Kuasa has opened her
suitcase, and is putting her clothing into a large wardrobe

of female clothing that already exists.

Tuan wipes the suitcase with a cloth, and puts it inside the
bottom section of a set of drawers, and closes it. Tuan then
turns to see that Sanikem is conscious.
TUAN BESAR KUASA
Don't be afraid.
Sanikem closes her eyes tightly. Tuan picks her up and
carries her around the room like an oversized wooden doll. He
takes no notice of her wet kain. His lips touch her cheeks
and her lips. She can hear his breath, which blows hard into
her ears. She dares not cry. She dares not move. Her whole
body is soaked in a cold sweat. Finally, Tuan stands Sanikem
on the floor tiles. He lets go, and she nearly faints again.
Tuan catches her when he sees that she's slumped, and is
about to collapse again. Tuan picks Sanikem up, and hugs and
kisses her.
NYAI (V.O.)
I can still remember his words, though I
didn't then understand them.
TUAN BESAR KUASA
My darling, my darling doll. My darling,
darling.
Tuan stands Sanikem up. She sways, and he guards her with his
hand so she won't fall again. Sanikem finally sways, falling
headlong onto the edge of the bed, unconscious.
FADE TO BLACK.
EXT. TUAN'S BATHROOM - SAME NIGHT
Tuan walks Sanikem to the back of the house, where her father
had toiled doing labor. He's taking her to the bathroom. With
signs, he orders her to bathe, and to scrub with scented
soap. Sanikem carries out all of Tuan's orders.
Tuan waits for Sanikem outside the bath house. She exits
soaking wet. He has a pair of sandals in his hands, and puts
them on her feet. They're very large for her feet.
NYAI (V.O.)
Those were the first pair of shoes I had
ever worn. He called them sandals. They
were made of leather, and very heavy as I
recall.
INT. SANIKEM'S ROOM - NIGHT
Tuan carries Sanikem to her room, and sits her in front of a
mirror. He rubs her hair with a towel until it's nearly dry.
NYAI (V.O.)
I would learn that cloth is called a

towel. One of the first words that he

taught me.
Tuan then puts scented oil on Sanikem's hair, and begins to
comb it. He tries to set her hair into a bun, but can't, so
she does it herself. Tuan instructs Sanikem to change
clothes, and observes all her movements.
NYAI (V.O.)
I felt I no longer had a soul, like I was
a shadow puppet in the hands of the
master.
After Sanikem finishes dressing, Tuan powders her face. Then
puts a little lipstick on her mouth. Next he calls to his
MAIDSERVANTS.
TUAN BESAR KUASA
Come!
Two MAID SERVANTS enter the room.
TUAN BESAR KUASA (cont'd)
Look after my nyai well!
After giving the order to his servants, Tuan leaves. They
tend to Sanikem, taking turns making a fuss over her.
NYAI (V.O.)
I was now a concubine. His caring actions
drove away some of my fears. But, those
two women babbled on, and on about how
lucky I was to be taken as a nyai. My
heart wished to run. But from whom could
I seek protection? I didn't dare. I was
in the hands of someone very powerful,
more powerful than my father. More
powerful than all the natives in
Tulangan.
DISSOLVE:
INT. SANIKEM'S ROOM - NIGHT
Sanikem sits bundled in the darkness of the corner of the
room. Suddenly, she hears the sound of footsteps approaching.
She shudders, as Tuan enters the room.
NYAI (V.O.)
The lamp, which the servants had lit
earlier in the evening, threw the light
onto his clothes, all white and dazzling.
He came to me, and then picked me up, and
laid me down on the bed. I dared not
breathe, afraid that I might enrage him.

FADE TO BLACK.
NYAI (V.O.)
I don't know how long he was with me. I
didn't know any of what was happening to
me. As soon as I regained consciousness,
I knew I was no longer the Sanikem of the
previous day.
INT. NYAI'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Nyai is sitting in the corner of the room, as she had when
she was cowering from Tuan Besar Kuasa. Annelies comes to
her, lies next to her, and lays her head on her mother's lap.
NYAI
My father sold me like one might sell a
horse. The name of Sanikem disappeared
forever. I would later learn that the
name of Tuan Besar Kuasa, was Herman
Mellema. Your father.
(to Annelies)
Are you already asleep yet?
ANNELIES
No, how could I?
NYAI
I'm telling you this because you must
marry properly. My child will not be sold
to anyone. I will fight to preserve the
dignity of my child that my mother was
incapable of defending. Life as a nyai is
very difficult. Just a bought slave,
whose only duty is to satisfy her master.
In everything! Then, on the other hand,
she has to be ready at any moment for the
possibility that her master, her tuan,
will become bored with her, and kicked
out onto the street, an outcast from
native society, and unwanted by the
Europeans.
Annelies is still intently listening to her mother, and takes
hold of her hand.
NYAI (cont'd)
Herman Mellema could return to the
Netherlands at any moment, and forget
everything about Tulangan. Including me.
I prepared myself for that eventuality. I
learned to be thrifty, to save. Within a
year I had saved more than a hundred
guilders from the shopping money he gave
me. If your father decided to get rid of
me, I'd have enough money to take to
Surabaya and begin to trade in whatever I
desired. Ever since he arrived in
Tulangan, he kept dairy cattle from

Australia. I was taught how to look after

them during the day, and in the evening I
was taught to read and write. Eventually
we moved to Surabaya. Then he bought a
large piece of land in Wonokromo, our
place now. The cattle were moved here. At
that time I began to feel happy. He
always paid attention to me, asked my
opinion, and invited me to discuss
everything. Gradually I came to feel I
was equal to him. Everything that I had
learned during that year had restored my
self-respect. But, I readied myself to be
dependent on no one. Father visited, but
I refused him. My brother Paiman visited
as well, but it was always the same, he
would always ask for help. The last time
he came was to report that the company
cashier had died in a cholera epidemic
along with all the others. I learned that
my mother had died earlier, who knows of
what.
Nyai stands and looks out the window.
NYAI (cont'd)
I began to understand that I was no
longer dependent on your father. On the
contrary, he was dependent on me. I began
to take a role in making decisions on all
matters. He was a good teacher, and I was
an obedient pupil. I knew everything he
was teaching me would, one day, be of use
to me and my children.
Annelies has walked over to her mother and is squeezing her
mother's arm tightly.
NYAI (cont'd)
Why are you squeezing my arm? I've raised
you to be a business woman. You shouldn't
be so sentimental. Even fowls defend
their chicks against the eagle in the
sky. Tuan spent most of his time away
looking for customers.
Our business began to flourish. He began
to pay me for my labor, as well as for
the years that had already gone by. With
that money I bought a rice mill, and
other plants, and then the equipment.
Since then the business was no longer
Herman Mellema as my master, all of it
became mine.
DISSOLVE:
EXT. MELLEMA FARMLAND - DAY

A young Nyai stands next to the tall Herman Mellema.

NYAI
Am I like a Dutch woman yet?
HERMAN MELLEMA
It's not necessary. It's enough that you
are as you are. Even thus, you're more
clever than all of them. All of them!
NYAI (V.O.)
But, one day, our happiness was horribly
shaken, rocking the very foundation of my
life.
EXT. COURT HOUSE - DAY
Herman Mellema and Nyai enter a courthouse. There purpose is
to have Robert, and Annelies acknowledged as the children of
Herman Mellema.
NYAI (V.O.)
In the beginning I thought that
acknowledgment would give my children
legal recognition. But it wasn't so. Your
brother and you remained illegitimate,
but were permitted to use his name. The
court's decision also meant that the law
did not recognize you as my children.
Though it was I who gave birth to you.
According to the law, you are the
children of Herman Mellema alone. On that
day, you remained illegitimate, obtained
a father, but lost your mother. Following
that, Tuan wanted you both to be
baptized. I wasn't even allowed to go
with you to church.
INT. PROTESTANT CHURCH - DAY
Two YOUNG CHILDREN stand before a Catholic PRIEST with Herman
Mellema. The priest refuses the baptismal right. The confused
children look up at their father, not knowing what to do.
NYAI (V.O.)
The priest refused to baptize you.
HERMAN MELLEMA
According to the Europeans, you didn't
even have the right to receive the
absolution of their Christ.
INT. NYAI'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
NYAI
You could only be baptized if we were
married. I began to press your father to

marry me. I urged and urged. Your father

became enraged, the first time he'd ever
shown me that side of him. He refused to
marry, and never explained why. So,
according to the law, you and Robert are
illegitimate. And you've never been
baptized either. And too, the title nyai
will follow me forever, for all my life.
EXT. SURABAYA DOCK - DAY
Tanjung Perak, Surabaya's harbor is under the state of
repair. A team of harbor engineers arrive from the
Netherlands. MAURITS MELLEMA is one amongst the group.
INT. MELLEMA OFFICE - DAY
A younger Nyai is reading a newspaper and learns that a
Maurits Mellema, an engineer in a team of experts has arrived
at Surabaya. As she's reading the article, a large, and
beautiful government carriage pulled by two horses arrives at
the Mellema estate. Nyai notices as Maurits Mellema alights
from the carriage. Maurits coat is white. His clothing is
also all white. He wears the uniform of a marine officer,
including a marine cap, but there are no marks of rank on his
sleeves or shoulders. His body is straight, and his chest
broad. The silver buttons on his shirt gleamed with pictures
of anchors.
Nyai races from her office, heading straight for the front
door. Maurits walks up the steps, and without hesitation
knocks powerfully on the door several times. Nyai places her
back to the door. It's apparent she's in a state of near
shock. Nyai begins to shake her head violently from left to
right, No. No. No!
Maurits' face is clearly identical to Herman Mellema. His
father! Nyai prepares herself and then opens the door.
Without hesitation...
MAURITS MELLEMA
Where's Tuan Mellema?
(more an order than a question)
Nyai doesn't invite him in, she leaves Maurits standing at
the door.
NYAI
And you are Tuan who?
MAURITS MELLEMA
Where is Herman Mellema.
(he says even more roughly)
NYAI
(to one of the house servants)
Fetch Tuan.
Through the gap left by the open door Nyai watches as Herman

approaches the front door

dressed in field clothes,
expression is immediately
is nailed to the floor as

from the rear of the estate. He's

and wearing sandals. His warm
replaced by a look of shock. Herman
he sees Maurits.

HERMAN MELLEMA
(to Maurits)
Maurits. Maurits! You've become so
dashing.
MAURITS MELLEMA
Engineer Maurits Mellema.
Herman is taken aback at receiving the correction.
HERMAN MELLEMA
Please, come in.
Maurits stands firm.
MAURITS MELLEMA
I didn't come here to socialize. My
mother, Mrs. Amelia Mellema-Hammers,
after you left in such a cowardly manner,
had to work, breaking her back to sustain
me, to educate me, until I would graduate
as an engineer. By then, I and my mother
had long resolved any hope of your
return. As far as we were concerned, you
were dead, swallowed up by the earth.
Through the gap in the door, the side of Herman's face is
visible. He raises his hands. His lips move but no voice
comes out. His cheeks tremble uncontrollably. Then his hands
fall.
MAURITS MELLEMA (cont'd)
You left behind the accusation that my
mother had been unfaithful. I, her son,
have shared in her feelings of
humiliation. You never gave my mother the
opportunity to defend herself or her
honor. Who knows to whom else you have
passed on or told your dirty accusations.
By coincidence I'm now serving in
Surabaya. By coincidence I also read in
an auction paper an advertisement
offering dairy goods, and milk produced
by Boerderij Buitenzorg with your name so
prominently displayed.
HERMAN MELLEMA
(weakly)
She could have gone to the court any time
she liked if she wanted a divorce.
MAURITS MELLEMA
Why should it be she, when it was you who

made the accusations? In those days my

mother couldn't afford to hire lawyers.
Now her son is ready and able, yes, even
to hire the best.
(pressing further)
Remember this well. I did not come here
are a weakened, and abandoned son seeking
the love of his father, but that of a
destroyer to ruin your very life.
Nyai stands trembling behind the door as she listens to the
unbelievable words of Maurits.
MAURITS MELLEMA (cont'd)
I've already hired a detective who has
given me a very detailed, and trustworthy
account of...
(gesturing regarding the
estate)
All this.
Almost in a trance like state Nyai moves from the door,
looking intently at Herman.
MAURITS MELLEMA (cont'd)
I know what's in every room of this
house, how many workers you have, how
many cattle, how many hectares of paddy
and how many tons of crops you get from
these fields. I know how much your annual
income is, and how much is in your bank
account. And the most fantastic thing in
all this concerns the foundation of your
way of life, you who accused my mother of
unfaithfulness. Legally, sir, you are
still the husband of my mother. But you
have gone ahead and taken a native woman
as your bedmate, not for one or two days,
but for years! Night and day. Without a
legitimate marriage. You, sir, have been
responsible for the birth of two bastard
children!
Nyai almost faints, as her lips begin to tremble. She moves
slowly toward Maurits, prepared to claw his eyes out.
MAURITS MELLEMA (cont'd)
You have committed sin with this woman,
and she with you.
NYAI
You have no right to talk about my
family.
MAURITS MELLEMA
I have no business with you, nyai.
NYAI

This is my house. Speak like that out on

the street, not here.
Nyai signals to Herman that Maurits must go. Herman doesn't
have the power to support her. He stands unbelieving what he
is witnessing, jaw agape. He stumbles, holding himself up
barely by one of the structural supports.
MAURITS MELLEMA
Herman Mellema, you, sir, have committed
a blood sin, a crime against blood!
Mixing Christian European blood with
colored, native, unbeliever's blood! A
sin never to be forgiven!
NYAI
Go!
Maurits continues to ignores Nyai. She moves forward to
approach, and address his arrogance face-to-face. Maurits
moves back as if to be disgusted by being approached by her.
MAURITS MELLEMA
You now know what you really are, and
what I know that you are.
Maurits turns his back, descends the steps, gets into the
carriage, and doesn't glance back, or say another word as it
pulls away.
NYAI
So this is why you have never married me.
(shouting at Herman)
This is the European civilization about
which you've been teaching me all these
years? What you've been glorifying to the
heavens? Night and day? Checking into
people's private lives and homes,
insulting them, so as to come and
blackmail them? Blackmail! Why else does
one investigate the affairs of others
for?
Several workers appear wanting to know what has happened.
When they see Nyai berating Herman so furiously, they all run
away. Nyai pulls at Herman, scratching his chest. Herman
remains silent through it all. He doesn't feel anything. But
the hurt in Nyai is clear. She strikes out looking for a
target.
NYAI (cont'd)
What are you thinking about? Don't you
want to know my pain? What? Are you
remembering this wife you never told me
of?
Tired of pulling and scratching, Nyai begins to cry. She
collapses, and sits exhausted, like old clothes dropped on a

chair.
NYAI (cont'd)
When will my humiliation end? Must
everyone be allowed to walk all over me?
Can't you understand, that he has not
only humiliated me, but also our
children?
When Nyai finally lifts her head, she sees Herman still
standing, without blinking, stupefied, looking out toward the
main road. He takes a step, very slowly, and then calls out
slowly, as if afraid of being heard...
HERMAN MELLEMA
Maurits! Maurits!
Herman walks out the door, down the stairs, and crosses the
front yard. When he reaches the main road, he turns toward
Surabaya, and heads towards it on foot.
NYAI (V.O.)
From that moment on, my respect, my
admiration, and my loyalty to that man
vanished forever.
DISSOLVE:
INT. NYAI'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Nyai sits alone in her room, clutching a tear soaked pillow.
Finally, a much younger Annelies comes up the stairs, holding
the hand of Darsam. They enter Nyai's room.
DARSAM
Nyai, Darsam has looked after everything.
I've done as you have asked.
Nyai doesn't hear his words. She cares not for the business.
NYAI (V.O.)
I dismissed fifteen workers on that very
day. It was they who sold me out for a
handful of change, even some for nothing,
except for the hope of a future favor
that may, or may never come.
INT. MINKE'S GUEST ROOM - EARLY MORNING
In the morning darkness the tick-tock of the pendulum clock
reigns over the room as Minke is fast asleep. Suddenly,
there's a knocking on the door. Startled Minke opens his eyes
and goes to the bedroom door. Mama is standing on the other
side.
MINKE

What's time is it?

NYAI
(Nyai gestures to the settee)
It's four. Someone's looking for you.
Nyai moves her candle closer to reveal a POLICE OFFICER
sitting on the settee. He's barely noticeable in the early
morning gloom.
POLICE OFFICER
Tuan, Minke?
MINKE
Yes?
POLICE OFFICER
I have an order to take you with me
immediately.
The officer holds out a letter. It's a summons from the
police station from the town of Minke's birth. The document
is approved by the police station at Surabaya. Minke's name
is clearly stated therein. Mama reads it as well.
NYAI
What have you been up to, Nyo?
MINKE
Not a thing.
(pausing to reflect on recent
actions)
Not a thing.
Annelies enters the room. She's wearing her long, black
velvet gown. Her hair is a mess, and she's still bleary-eyed.
NYAI
(to the officer)
What's he being charged with? It's not in
the summons. He has the right to know.
POLICE OFFICER
I have no information. If it's not stated
in the summons, then no one may be told,
including the person involved.
MINKE
It can't be done like this. I'm a Raden
Mas, I can't be treated in this way.
(waiting for a response but the
office doesn't know how to
respond)
POLICE OFFICER
No one can deny that, Tuan Raden Mas
Minke. My orders are only to fetch you.

Please get ready. We must leave quickly.

We must be at our destination by five
o'clock this afternoon.
ANNELIES
Mas, why do they want to you?
MINKE
He won't say.
NYAI
Ann, prepare Minke's clothes and bring
them here.
(to the officer)
He can bathe and breakfast can't he?
POLICE OFFICER
Of course, Nyai, there's still a little
time.
Minke suddenly notices that Robert is watching from within
the darkness of his bedroom doorway. A yawn is Robert's only
response.
CUT TO:
Showered, Minke returns to the front room prepared to leave.
He finds coffee and cakes ready for him. The officer is
enjoying breakfast, behaves politely, and doesn't appear to
have any enmity towards anyone. Annelies, holding Minke's
suitcase, approaches him, unable to speak. She puts the
suitcase down, and grabs hold of Minke's hand, and holds it
tightly. Her own hand trembles.
NYAI
Eat something before you go.
MINKE
I don't feel like eating.
(to Annelies)
I hope to be back soon. There must be
some mistake.
Minke turns to exit as the officer stands. Annelies still
doesn't let go of his hand. The officer picks up Minke's
things and carries them out. Annelies grips Minke's hand even
tighter as he follows after the officer.
EXT. MELLEMA ESTATE FRONT GATE - EARLY MORNING
Minke kisses Annelies on the cheek, and frees himself from
her hold. She still doesn't speak. The carriage is not a
police carriage but a hired one. Minke and the officer climb
aboard, and leave in the direction of Surabaya. Annelies
begins to cry.
NYAI

Quiet, Ann.
ANNELIES
Don't torment me like this. Do something.
Do something!
NYAI
What should I do? Can we just do whatever
we feel? You think he's you toy? A doll?
Do something, do something! Of course,
I'm going to do something.
Nyai leads her distraught daughter inside.
INT. ANNELIES ROOM - LATER SAME MORNING
Annelies has withdrawn into silence. It's clear she has not
slept. Nyai stands at the door, and watches her daughter
intently. As the sun slowly begins to rise, Darsam arrives to
open the doors and windows.
NYAI
(ordering Darsam)
Bring Robert to me immediately.
INT. PARLOR - A LITTLE LATER
Robert enters, and rubs his eyes. He stands silent,
disinterested with dull eyes.
NYAI
What do you know of this? Who have you
sending your poison pen letters to?
Robert doesn't answer. Darsam moves a bit closer to him.
DARSAM
Answer, Nyo.
ROBERT MELLEMA
(viciously to Darsam)
I've got nothing to do with any anonymous
letters.
DARSAM
Answer to Nyai, not to me.
ROBERT MELLEMA
I've not written anything.
NYAI
I always try to believe what you say.
But, why is it that you hate Minke so?
ROBERT MELLEMA

I've got no business with that native.

NYAI
It's because he's a native that you hate
him?
ROBERT MELLEMA
What's the point of having European
blood?
NYAI
I, your mother, a native, ask the native
in you, to go to the Surabaya police
station, and find out what's happened to
Minke. Go by horse, and be quick.
DARSAM
(ordering)
Go, Nyo!
Without answering, Robert Mellema turns, and walks toward his
room, dragging his sandals behind. He enters his room, and
closes the door behind him.
NYAI
(to Darsam)
Warn him!
Darsam enters Robert's room. Nyai checks Annelies's
temperature again. She's clearly fallen ill. Robert storms
out of his room, prepared to leave. He exits the home.
NYAI (cont'd)
(to Darsam)
Put the sofa in the office, so I can
watch over her. Then fetch Dr. Martinet.
(to Annelies)
I won't forbid you from loving him. But
for now, please be patient.
ANNELIES
(eyes closed)
Where's your cheek? Here, Mama, so I can
kiss it.
Nyai bends towards Annelies lips, and she kisses her mother's
cheek.
NYAI
Don't fall ill. Who will help me?
EXT. MELLEMA ESTATE FRONT GATE - MORNING
Robert races off on horseback without looking back.

INT. NYAI'S OFFICE - LATER

DR. MARTINET enters. He's fortyish, polite, quiet, and
friendly. He's dressed all in white except for a gray felt
hat.
In his right eye is a monocle attached to a gold chain in the
top buttonhole. He examines Annelies for a moment, and then
gives her some medicine.
DR. MARTINET
(to Nyai)
I'll come back this afternoon. See to it
that she has some breakfast. Keep her
away from any noise or commotion. Sleep
is her best medicine.
EXT. ROAD TO SURABAYA - MORNING
Aimlessly riding along, Robert turns towards Surabaya. Only
traders from the villages are out walking in straight lines
and carrying on their backs produce for the markets. From
behind a hedge on the right of the road, a voice calls out a
greeting. It's BABAH AH TJONG.
BABAH AH TJONG
Regards, Sinyo Robert.
Robert pulls his horse up, and has a look over the top of the
hedge. He sees a Chinese man, in striped pajamas smiling
sweetly at him. Babah Ah Tjong has very little hair so that
even his pigtail is very thin. When he smiles, his cheeks
pull upward, and his eyes became even more narrow and
slanted. Even his mustache is thin, and long, drooping
impotently at the ends of his mouth. Ah Tjong's beard is just
as thin, and out of a birthmark, a part of his beard forms a
tassel, darker than the rest.
BABAH AH TJONG (cont'd)
Greetings, Nyo.
ROBERT MELLEMA
(politely and nodding with a
smile)
Greetings, Babah Ah Tjong?
BABAH AH TJONG
How are things with Nyai?
ROBERT MELLEMA
We finally meet.
BABAH AH TJONG
How are things with Tuan?
ROBERT MELLEMA
I haven't seen my father around for a
long time.

(looking toward Babah's home)

The door's open today. The windows too.
What's going on? Something special?
BABAH AH TJONG
It's a good day, Nyo. A day for pleasure.
Come and see for yourself.
Robert turns his horse into Babah Ah Tjong's yard, and
watches as the pigtailed man claps his hands. Robert
dismounts as a SINKEH, a full-blooded, immigrant Chinese, the
gardener, comes running, and takes the horse from him, and
leads it around to the back of the house.
Robert and Ah Tjong walk together along the rocky path toward
that building whose doors, and windows are never opened.
Robert then looks up, and all around him at the strange gaudy
site. They enter.
INT. BABAH AH TJONG'S - IMMEDIATELY
The front stairs vanish behind a curtain of coconut-husk
cords. The front area, which has no veranda, is very large,
and furnished with a number of carved teak settees. In one
corner there's a brown-spotted bamboo settee. The walls are
decorated with different-sized mirrors that have red Chinese
calligraphy on them. A carved wooden partition closes off the
mouth of the corridor in the middle of the building. Several
large empty porcelain vases decorate the room. They stand on
legs with a dragon curled around them. There exists no floor
decorations. Neither is there a picture of Queen Wilhelmina.
Ah Tjong leads Robert to the bamboo settee, which consists of
three chairs, and a long bench that faces the front
courtyard. Tjong sits, and then motions for Robert to sit in
a chair opposite him.
BABAH AH TJONG
We've been neighbors for a long time now,
and you've never visited before.
ROBERT MELLEMA
How could I? The doors and windows are
always closed?
BABAH AH TJONG
How could this place be kept shut to one
such as you?
ROBERT MELLEMA
This is the first time I've seen it open.
Where do you go when it's closed?
BABAH AH TJONG
(laughs)
What will you drink, Nyo? What's your
usual? Whiskey, brandy, cognac? Chinese
wine perhaps? White, red, warm, cold? Or

Malaga wine? Or dry?

ROBERT MELLEMA
Ah, Babah, as early as this?
BABAH AH TJONG
With fried peanuts, heh?
ROBERT MELLEMA
I agree, Bah, agree completely.
BABAH AH TJONG
Good! It's pleasing to receive a guest
like Sinyo. Handsome, dashing, not shy,
young... Sinyo has everything. Wealthy...
Wah!
Ah Tjong claps his hands haughtily, without moving his head,
without turning, just like a sultan. From behind the
partition emerges a Chinese girl, MIN HWA, in a long,
sleeveless gown. Her gown is split, exposing her thigh. Her
hair is braided into two pigtails. Robert stares wide-eyed at
the alabaster-skinned girl. His eyes can't turn from the
split in her gown until the girl comes up close to put the
whiskey bottle, glasses, and fried peanuts on the table. The
girl then stands up straight in front of Robert.
BABAH AH TJONG (cont'd)
This is Miss Min Hwa. Nyo, look this girl
over.
Robert is acutely embarrassed. He can't speak. His eyes and
face shift away as if in a tug of war between a demon and the
angelic appearing figure before him.
BABAH AH TJONG (cont'd)
Just out from Hong Kong.
Min Hwa bows, put the tray on the table, and sits on the
chair near Robert.
BABAH AH TJONG (cont'd)
It's a pity though, Min Hwa can't speak
Malay or Dutch or Javanese. Only Chinese.
What can one do? Why is Sinyo so silent?
She's next to you now. Come on, Nyo, you
don't need to be shy with Babah.
Min Hwa presses the whiskey glass to Robert's lips, and he
takes it hesitantly. Ah Tjong smiles sweetly, deliberately
encouraging Robert. She laughs friskily, throwing her head
back, mouth open, revealing her pearl teeth, except for one
which is gold. Robert becomes even more unsure of himself as
the seductress moves her chair closer. Seeing Robert go pale
and the glass in his hand nearly fall, Min Hwa pushes the
glass up to his lips again. Robert swallows without
hesitating. Suddenly he starts coughing. Whiskey sprays all
over Ah Tjong and Min Hwa. They aren't angry, they laugh

happily.
BABAH AH TJONG (cont'd)
Another glass, Nyo?
Min Hwa pours more whiskey into the glass, and at once orders
the Robert to drink up. He refuses, and wipes his mouth. He's
even more embarrassed now.
BABAH AH TJONG (cont'd)
(teasing)
Come on, Sinyo, you aren't going to
pretend you've never drunk whiskey
before? You don't like whiskey? You don't
like Min Hwa?
Ah Tjong waves his hand, and the girl leaves, disappearing
behind the carved partition. Ah Tjong claps again. Now
another Chinese girl, SIE SIE appears, wiggling as she walks,
adorned in a silk shirt, and bright-colored pants. She
strolls up to the bamboo settee carrying a bamboo tray on
which are various delicacies. Sie-Sie puts it on the table,
on top of the tray left by Man Hwa. This new beauty bows to
Robert, and smiles enticingly. As the delicacies are being
laid out Min Hwa enters again, bringing a glass of water on a
glass tray. She puts it before Robert. Then sits down again
on the same seat as before.
BABAH AH TJONG (cont'd)
Ah, Nyo, there are two now. Which one do
you find more interesting? Come on! This
one is Sie Sie.
EXT. BABAH AH TJONG'S - CONTINUOUS
Several carriages began arriving at the front of the house.
The guests, all men, come straight in. Some wear Chinese
garb, others pajamas. All have pigtails. Without
acknowledging the host, they sit down straight away and begin
busily chatting, laughing, and gambling. Ah Tjong pays no
attention to his newly arrived guests. Sie-Sie begins to
seduce Robert, straightening his shirt and belt, pinching the
crease on his shirt. Babah keeps observing it all and
continues to laugh. Robert shrinks up still further.
BABAH AH TJONG
It seems as if there are none to please
you, Nyo.
Ah Tjong waives his hand to order Min Hwa, and Sie-Sie to
serve his other guests. Babah breaks into laughter again, as
he enjoys seeing the youth in his confusion.
BABAH AH TJONG (cont'd)
You're a hard one to please!
Ah Tjong claps four times. Robert bows his head. From behind
the partition another woman appears, a Japanese woman, MAIKO

who has her hair in a bun. She walks swiftly, taking short,
quick steps with her toes pointed inward. Maiko is wearing a
Kimono with large flowers on it, and her face is reddish,
round, and her lips are lipsticked, and always smiling. She
has much more grace than the other women, and immediately
sits straight down alongside Ah Tjong.
BABAH AH TJONG (cont'd)
Look, Nyo. Here's another one!
Robert gets up the courage to look at the Japanese woman.
BABAH AH TJONG (cont'd)
This is Maiko. Just two months out from
Japan.
Maiko begins to speaks, but Ah Tjong put his hand across her
mouth.
BABAH AH TJONG (cont'd)
This is my most special one. Do you
understand? But, Sinyo can have her if
you like.
Ah Tjong motions for Robert to move next to her. Like a dog
scared of his master's stick, Robert stands and slowly moves
over to sit on the bench, with Maiko squeezed between them.
BABAH AH TJONG (cont'd)
So, Sinyo likes this one. In that case
I'll leave it up to you.
Ah Tjong quickly departs as Robert's eyes follow him. Ah
Tjong mixes with his other guests who play cards, billiards,
or mah-jongg. Ah Tjong walks around slowly, checking each
table. Then he returns to Robert.
BABAH AH TJONG (cont'd)
Yes, it's difficult, isn't it? We live in
a world of a thousand tongues.
Maiko doesn't understand Malay, let alone
Dutch. How come Sinyo has never mixed
with Japanese ladies before?
ROBERT MELLEMA
I've never even seen one before, Bah.
BABAH AH TJONG
A loss, Nyo, a loss for a youth with
money. In nearly every Chinese pleasure
house you'll find a Japanese miss. You've
never been to places in the red light
district? In the Kembang Jepun? In
Betawi? Indeed you've really missed out,
Robert... A pity.
Ah Tjong summons Robert with an emperor's flourish, and the

three of them leave the room, Babah out front, Robert behind
him, and Maiko at the rear. Ah Tjong's pigtail sways a bit at
each step as it sweeps across the back of his pajama shirt.
They pass through the carved partition. Maiko continues to
walk in those short, quick steps. They enter a corridor
that's hemmed in on the left and right by rooms. Here and
there, young Chinese girls stand talking to each other.
They're all elaborately dressed, neatly made up, and greet Ah
Tjong with great respect, then Robert, but not Maiko. Robert
pays attention to every one of them. Short, tall, thin, fat,
well built and even one that is frail. They all wear
lipstick, and smile or laugh.
BABAH AH TJONG (cont'd)
Pretty girls are life's pleasure. Sinyo
can take whichever he likes, as long as
the door is left unlocked.
Ah Tjong opens a door so Robert can see inside. Its furniture
is as good as that in his own room, and just as clean, only
the bed is more beautiful.
BABAH AH TJONG (cont'd)
For Sinyo here is a king's room, a room
of honor.
Ah Tjong opens another door.
BABAH AH TJONG (cont'd)
Beautiful isn't it?
Robert has no opinion except to agree. Ah Tjong enters.
Robert, and Maiko follow.
BABAH AH TJONG (cont'd)
The best furniture, Nyo. Just recently
designed by a famous French craftsmen.
The most expensive furnishings in the
building. In the corner is a little
cupboard, on top of that little table
there's whiskey and sake, whatever Sinyo
likes. Settee, sofa, and divan.
(pointing out each in turn)
Such a beautifully carved wooden bed
makes for restful, and pleasant sleeping.
Yes, Maiko?
Maiko answers with a bow.
BABAH AH TJONG (cont'd)
Nyo, enjoy yourself!
Robert's eyes follow Ah Tjong as his pigtail disappear behind
the door. He turns, and looks at Maiko.
INT. TRAIN CAR - MORNING

The officer sits in a state of muteness, while facing Minke.

Minke sits next to the window. There are just a few other
passengers in the car. Three European men, and a Chinese man.
They all appear bored.
A tobacco plantation appears, shrinks away, and then
disappears into the distance. Paddy fields after paddy
fields, planted with crops, almost ready to be harvested pass
endlessly. Minke slowly closes his eyes and falls asleep.
EXT. TRAIN CAR - SAME MORNING
The train crawls on slowly, spouting thick black, dusty
smoke.
INT. REGENCY OFFICE - DAY
An office stripped of wall ornaments, and devoid of
appropriate furniture is without a single occupant. All the
furniture is rough, made from teak, and unvarnished, with the
appearance of not having been measured for need, and without
any plan of use, just thrown together. It's just slightly
more luxurious than a chicken coop. Minke looks about and
discovers that there are no instruments of torture. Just ink
bottles on each table.
POLICE OFFICER
Please sit down.
The police officer leaves Minke alone, and for the second
time he waits. The sun sets. The officer still doesn't
appear. The grand mosque's drum begin to beat, followed by a
sad call to prayer. Outside, the street lanterns are being
lit by lamp men.
The office becomes darker, and mosquitoes gang up and attack
the room's only occupant. Minke's clothes stick to his body
from the humidity. Suddenly the door opens and MINKE'S FATHER
enters. Minke is astonished.
MINKE'S FATHER
(after a long hard look)
You feel humiliated to have to reply to
my letters?
MINKE
A thousand pardons, no.
MINKE'S FATHER
And your mother's letter, why didn't you
answer that either?
MINKE
My father, a thousand pardons.
MINKE'S FATHER
And the letter from your elder brother?

MINKE
I haven't been home. I wasn't there to
receive them.
MINKE'S FATHER
You think we're blind, ignorant of the
date you moved to Wonokromo? Do you think
we do not know that you took with you all
of our letters, which are still unread?
(angrily)
Bored of playing around with girls of
your own age, you're now holing up in a
nyai's nest? What do you want to become
of you? Don't you know it's dangerous to
take up with a nyai? If her master goes
into a rage, and you're shot dead by him,
or perhaps attacked with a dagger, or a
sword, or a kitchen knife, or strangled,
how will it be? The papers will announce
who you are, and who your parents are.
What sort of shame will you bring upon
your parents? If you haven't thought
things through as far as that...
Minke looks as if he's ready to leave this family, just as
Nyai has left hers. Then...
MINKE'S FATHER (cont'd)
Haven't you read in the papers that
tomorrow night is my celebration for the
appointment as a bupati?
Have you already forgotten your duties as
my child? Now, pay attention. Tomorrow
night you'll act as interpreter. Don't
shame me, and the family in public before
the assistant resident, controller, and
neighboring bupatis.
MINKE
Yes, father.
MINKE'S FATHER
You're able to interpret on my behalf are
you not?
MINKE
Yes.
MINKE'S FATHER
I was beginning to worry that the
controller would be carrying out that
task. Imagine how it would look at my
appointment, with all the important
officials as witnesses, if one of my
son's wasn't present? Once in a while
please your parents. It isn't that
difficult is it? Perhaps you don't
understand that your parents are clearing
the way to a high position for you. You,

glorified as the cleverest in the family.

MINKE
Yes, my father.
MINKE'S FATHER
This is how your road to high rank will
be cleared.
MINKE
Yes, my father.
MINKE'S FATHER
It was shameful, having to ask the help
of my assistant resident, having you
arrested like a common thief? Now, go to
your mother, and kneel before her, though
I know you're already resolved to forget
her.
(another hard look)
And, sever your relations with that nyai,
one who doesn't already know when she's
well off!
Minke makes the sign of obeisance. Then, walks on half legs,
assisted by his hands, crawling off, carrying the burden of
his indignation on his back, like a snail.
EXT. MINKE'S HOME TOWN - SAME DAY
There are no natives in the bupati's building wearing shoes.
With his shoes in hand, Minke walks alongside the visitors'
gallery, and finally enters the inner courtyard. The gloomy
lanterns show the way to the kitchen. Minke's ELDER BROTHER
appears and suddenly notices Minke.
ELDER BROTHER
It seems you've forgotten politeness as
well, and have not gone quickly to kneel
before mother? Come with me...
Minke's brother frowns as if he were the guardian in charge
of all family matters. Minke, following his brother
reluctantly, enters the bupati's building, passing several
doors. Finally, in front of one door, Minke's brother says...
ELDER BROTHER (cont'd)
Enter there, you!
Minke knocks slowly on the door, and then opens it. He finds
his MOTHER sitting in front of the mirror combing her hair. A
tall oil lamp stands on a stand beside her.
MINKE
Mother, forgive me.

Minke kneels before her, and kisses her knees.

MOTHER
So you've come home at last.
(she lifts Minke's face like a
four year old child)
People say you're entertaining a rich and
beautiful nyai. You're no doubt ready to
shoulder the consequences. They say
you're doing well at school too. You're
truly the clever one? Yes, that's a male
for you. As rabbits they'll eat all the
leaves, and as cats they'll eat all the
meat. What do you have to report to your
mother? My waiting is not going to be in
vain, is it?
MINKE
Next year I will graduate.
MOTHER
Your father was terribly worried about
you. He was growing angrier every day.
One day you'll also reach the same
heights. You surely will become a bupati
one day.
MINKE
Mother, I don't want to be a bupati.
MOTHER
No? If you graduate you can become
whatever you want.
MINKE
I only want to be a free man. Not giving
orders and not receiving them either.
MOTHER
Ha! If there is a place like that, this
is the first I've heard of it.
INT. MINKE'S BUPATI ROOM - A LITTLE LATER
Minke enters the room only to discover that his brother's
already occupying it, and sitting near a table lamp, reading
a book. Minke passes his brother who doesn't lift his head
from the book. Minke glances at what he's reading, and
becomes enraged when he notices it's his own personal diary.
Minke quickly seizes it.
MINKE
Who gave you the right to touch this?
The elderly brother stands, staring at Minke wide-eyed, and
says...

ELDER BROTHER
Indeed, you're no longer Javanese.
MINKE
Perhaps you don't understand that notes
like these are personal?
The brother sits back down, remains silent, and observes
Minke in a controlled rage.
MINKE (cont'd)
Or is this the practice of officials in
training? Fiddling in other people's
affairs and violating the rights of
anybody they please? Aren't you taught
the new modern form of civilization?
Or do you want to become a king who can
do as he pleases, like your ancestors'
kings?
ELDER BROTHER
And is this what the new civilization
means? To insult people? To insult
government officials? Even you, yourself
will become one someday!
MINKE
A government official? The person you're
facing now will never become one.
ELDER BROTHER
Come on, I'll take you to father, and you
can tell him that yourself.
MINKE
Not only tell him, with or without you,
but I'm quite able already to leave
behind this whole family. And you! You
touch my things, violating me in that
manner, and don't have the decency to
apologize?
ELDER BROTHER
I should order you to crawl and make
obeisance to me.
MINKE
Only a buffalo-brain would think in that
manner. Illiterate!
Suddenly, Minke's mother enters the room.
MOTHER
You meet for the first time in two years,
and already carry on like village
children?

MINKE
I'll fight with anyone who violates my
privacy. Even if it is my older brother.
ELDER BROTHER
Mother, he's admitted to all of his evil
doings in his diary. I was going to
present it to father, and he got afraid
and went amok.
Minke picks up his things.
MINKE
It's better I return to Surabaya.
MOTHER
No! You've received a task from your
father.
MINKE
(looking at his brother)
He can do it.
Mother gestures for the elder son to leave the room. After
glaring at Minke, he finally does.
MOTHER
Your brother is not an HBS student.
MINKE
If I'm needed here, then why am I treated
so rudely?
MOTHER
My son wasn't a rebel like this before.
What has become of you?
MINKE
Your son didn't know right from wrong
then. I only rebel against that which is
wrong.
MOTHER
That's the sign you're no longer
Javanese, not paying heed to those who
are older, those who have greater rights
to yours, those who have more power.
MINKE
I only respect those who strive to be
closest to what is true.
MOTHER
Javanese bow in submission to those who
are older, and more powerful. This is how
you achieve nobility of character. You
must have the courage to surrender.

Perhaps you no longer know these songs?

MINKE
Those are the songs of the misguided.
MOTHER
Travel along the road you hold to be
true.
But don't hurt your parents, and those
you think don't know everything that you
do. When I was pregnant with you, I
dreamed a stranger came and gave me a
dagger. Since then I've known, the child
in my womb held a sharp weapon. Be
careful in using it. Don't you yourself
become its victim.
DISSOLVE:
INT. RECEPTION AREA - DAY
The portrait of Queen Wilhelmina hangs on the wall behind the
podium. The Dutch tricolors hang everywhere. Tricolor ribbon
also stream out from the portrait to all parts of the
pavilion. People are preparing the reception area to
celebrate Minke's father's appointment. The best gamelan pure
bronze orchestra is preparing to perform. The harmony is pure
East Javanese. Banyan-tree leaves, and greenish-yellow
coconut fronds transform the dry, barren walls into something
refreshing, impelling people to enjoy their beauty. Eyes are
drawn by the play of flowering colors in yellow, blue, red,
white, and purple.
INT. RECEPTION PREPARATION ROOM - EVENING
The big night in Minke's father's life has arrived.
NICCOLO MORENO, a renowned decorator is brought in from
Surabaya. He carries with him a large chest of decorating
tools. Arranging decorations, and ornamentations is a skill
all of its own. By his own hands, Moreno takes Minke's
measurements.
Minke, is then dressed in an embroidered vest, stiff, as if
made from tortoiseshell. He can't even bend over in it. The
stiff leather collar dissuades his neck from turning about.
Indeed the intent is that his body should be straight and
stiff, not turning around frequently, eyes straight ahead
like a true gentleman. A batik sarong with a silver belt is
placed on Minke, bringing out the dashing East Javanese
character.
A batik blangkon headdress, a mixture of East Javanese and
Madurese styles is placed upon Minke's head. Then a
ceremonial sheathed short sword, a keris inlaid with jewels
becomes part of the outfit. Finally, a black outer upper
garment, like a coat with a cut in the back so the audience
may admire the beauty of his keris finishes the outfit. A bow

tie guides the onlookers eyes to their target. Yet, hot

perspiration begins to soak his back and chest.
In the mirror Minke finds himself looking like a victorious
knight right out of the legendary eleventh-century prince,
Panji stories. From under his shirt protrudes velvet cloth
embroidered with gold thread. In the mirror he looks dashing
and handsome. Minke becomes aware of the sounds of the East
Javanese gamelan, which cradled the evening's atmosphere, He
awakes from his reflection, looks in the mirror again, and
smiles with satisfaction.
DISSOLVE:
INT. RECEPTION AREA - NIGHT
The guests have arrived. Father and mother come forth.
Minke's brother's in front, and he behind them. As soon as
they enter the reception area in the pavilion the assistant
resident approaches because that's part of the program.
All stand in respect. MR. ASSISTANT RESIDENT walks straight
to father, offers his respects, and then bows to mother. He
shakes hands with Minke's brother, and then Minke. The
gamelan plays a song of welcome, flaring up, and filling the
reception area, and people's hearts.
The pavilion's packed, faces shine with pleasure from the
light of the gas lamps. Behind them in the compound, on woven
mats, sit rows of village heads, and officials. The gamelan
becomes silent, as if controlled by some supernatural power.
The Dutch national anthem, Wilhelmus, is then sung. People
stand, yet very few join in the singing. Some gaze, perhaps
swearing at that strange and aggravating melody. As the
"anthem" ends, suddenly, the gamelan resumes its tumultuous
din.
A full-bodied DANCER enters as if flying, carrying a silver
tray, upon which lies a sash. The dancer makes her way
directly to the assistant resident. As the white official
rises from his chair, she takes the sash, and drapes it over
his shoulder. People cheer and clap. The assistant resident
then nods to father, asking permission to open the tayub
dance. Then the assistant resident nods to the crowd.
Unhesitatingly he steps forward, partners with the dancer,
and moves into the center of the gathering to the crowd's
applause and cheering. As he dances, his two fingers hold the
corners of the sash, and at every beat of the gong he jerks
his head in rhythm with the gong. And before him that full
bodied, pretty, eye-catching woman dances provocatively.
A few minutes later another gloriously attractive dancer
enters running. With a silver tray in her hand, she enters
the arena carrying liquor in a crystal glass. She takes up a
position beside the assistant resident, and joins in dancing.
The official stops dancing and stands up straight in front of
the new dancer. He takes the crystal glass, and swallows down
three quarters of its contents. The glass with the remaining
liquid is pressed to the lips of his dancing partner, who
drains it down only after trying to resist while still
dancing. Then she bows down her head in extreme
embarrassment. The gathering cheers in glee. The village
chiefs and officials stand and contribute to the hubbub. One
shouts...

OFFICIAL
Drink it, sweetie! Drink, hoseeeee!
That beautiful dancer with her bare, firm, and shining,
langsat fruit skin takes the glass from the official's hand
and places it on the silver tray. The assistant resident nods
with pleasure, clapping gleefully, and laughs. Then he
returns to his chair. Now another dancer comes, and offers
the sash to Minke's father. He dances with her beautifully.
And that dance too ends with liquor from a silver tray.
Following this, the assistant resident prepares to return
home. The bupatis too, one by one, each in his own grand
carriage. The village chiefs, district officers, and police
constables then charge the pavilion, and the tayub dance
continues until morning with the shout of hoseeee after every
swallow of liquor.
INT. MINKE'S RESIDENCE HALL ROOM - MORNING
Minke's passed out from too much drinking on the night
before. He looks dishevelled. There's a knock at the door. It
opens. It's Minke's mother.
MOTHER
A very important invitation arrived for
you this morning. It's from the assistant
resident Herbert de la Croix. He's
invited you to his home this afternoon
for lunch. He'll be sending his carriage
for you. I hope you're up for it.
Minke's mother closes the door. He groggily roles out of bed,
opens his bag and looks into it. There he discovers a small
bundle of silver coins, wrapped in paper, and written by
Annelies it reads, "Don't let us go for long without hearing
from you. Annelies."
EXT. RESIDENCE HALL - AFTERNOON
A carriage takes Minke straight to the back of the assistant
residency building. Unfamiliar people in neat Javanese dress,
but with naked feet, bow in respect to the important man's
son. Those wearing hats over their blangkon headdress need to
remove them out of respect for Minke's new position.
The assistant resident, HERBERT DE LA CROIX rises from his
garden chair, as well as two young women, SARAH and MIRIAM,
his daughters who are sitting beside him. Herbert de la Croix
gets out his greeting first.
ASSISTANT RESIDENT
Minke, you've arrived. Splendid! This is
my eldest daughter.
(he introduces her)
Sarah. This is my youngest daughter,
Miriam. Both are HBS graduates. They went
to the same school as you, uh, before
you, though, of course. Well, excuse me,
I have some unexpected work I must attend

to.
Herbert de la Croix leaves Minke alone with his daughters.
SARAH
Is Miriam's Dutch language and literature
teacher, Mr. Mahler, still teaching? That
crazy, talkative one?
MINKE
He's been replaced by Miss Magda Peters.
MIRIAM
Do you know for certain that she's a
Miss?
MINKE
I only know for certain that everyone
calls her Miss.
Miriam giggles. Then Sarah too.
MINKE (cont'd)
She's my cleverest teacher, the one of
whom I'm most fond.
Now both young women laugh, and giggle, while covering their
mouths with handkerchiefs.
MIRIAM
(teasing)
Fond of a teacher? There has never been a
Dutch language and literature teacher
whom anyone has ever been fond of. What
is it that you're so fond of anyway?
MINKE
She cleverly explains the Dutch eighties
while comparing it with our contemporary
times.
SARAH
Oho! Very interesting.
Now they annoy Minke with their giggling. He moves across to
the assistant resident's chair to avoid their glances, and
faces them directly.
SARAH (cont'd)
Honestly, your teacher is truly puffed
up.
MINKE
No. She isn't.
MIRIAM

(getting serious)
Then she's really very daring. If what
you say is true, she could get into a lot
trouble.
MINKE
Why is that?
MIRIAM
How simple you are. However, you need to
and indeed are obliged to know. Because
if what you say about this Miss Magda
Peters is true, maybe she's from a
radical group.
MINKE
(beginning to feel stupid)
Well, they're the ones bringing progress
to the Indies.
MIRIAM
(pressing)
But, progress might not yet be
appropriate. It could arrive at the wrong
time!
Sarah clears her throat. She doesn't speak.
MIRIAM (cont'd)
Come on, tell us which writing she's
enthusiastic about?
MINKE
Max Havelaar or De Kojfie-veilingen der
Nederlandsche Handelsmaatschappy. The
Coffee Auctions of the Netherlands
Trading Company.
SARAH
(launching an assault)
And who do you think Multatuli is?
MINKE
Eduard Douwes Dekker.
SARAH
(continuing her attack)
Excellent. You must also know of the
other Douwes Dekker. That's obligatory.
Minke glances over at Sarah's trembling lips as she holds
back her laughter?
SARAH (cont'd)
(insultingly)
So you don't know? Or you're in doubt?

Miriam bursts into a fit of uncontrolled giggling.

MINKE
I only know of one Eduard Douwes Dekker,
whose pen name is Multatuli. If there's
any other, I truly don't know of him.
SARAH
Oh, but indeed there is.
Miriam hides her face in a silk handkerchief.
SARAH (cont'd)
But more importantly, who is he? Don't be
confused, don't go pale.
(she teases)
You know, don't you, you're just
pretending not to know.
MINKE
(impatient)
I truly don't.
SARAH
Then, this Miss Magda Peters, whom you so
greatly praise, has insufficient
knowledge. The other Douwes Dekker, who
is more important than Multatuli, is a
young man...
MINKE
He's still in his youth?
SARAH
Of course. He's on board a ship. Or
perhaps he's already in South Africa,
fighting for the Dutch against the
British. Have you heard of him?
MINKE
No. What has he written?
SARAH
He's still a youth. So he can, of course,
be forgiven if he hasn't yet written
anything.
(finishing this statement with
a giggle)
MINKE
So why should I know about him? People
become known because of their works.
Hundreds of millions of people on this
earth have not produced works that would
have made them famous.
SARAH

Actually he's produced a lot of writing.

But there's only one reader. Here she is,
that most faithful of all readers, Miriam
de la Croix. He's her boyfriend,
understand?
Miriam becomes a bit shy.
SARAH (cont'd)
(coaxing in high spirits)
Come on, Miriam, tell us about your
boyfriend.
MIRIAM
No. It's not anything to do with our
guest. Let's talk about something else.
You're a native, aren't you Minke?
Minke refuses to open the door of humiliation. He ignores the
statement.
MIRIAM (cont'd)
A native who's obtained European
education.
(praising like one would a dog)
Very good!
(glaring)
And you already know so much about
Europe.
Perhaps you don't know as much about your
own country. Perhaps. True? I'm not
wrong, am I? Your ancestors I'm sorry,
it's not my intention to insult anyone...
Your ancestors, generation after
generation, have believed that thunder is
the explosion caused by the angels trying
to capture the devil. It's so, yes? Why
are you silent? Are you ashamed of your
own ancestors' beliefs?
Sarah de la Croix has stopped laughing. She puts on a serious
face, and observes as if Minke were some mysterious animal.
MINKE
There's no need to single out my
ancestors. Your European and Dutch
ancestors were no less ignorant. Perhaps
even more.
A SERVANT dressed in white puts glasses of tea, and cakes on
the garden table.
SARAH
But that's not what we want to discuss.
Your ancestors have a beautiful legend,
Ki Ageng Sela, who was able to capture
the thunder, and lock it up in a chicken

coop.
Sarah burst into laughter. Miriam becomes even more serious,
observing Minke's face. Then she lets fly her puzzle...
MIRIAM
I believe you can accept the teachings
HBS instructs, because you need the marks
to pass. But honestly, do you believe in
the truth of those explanations?
SARAH
(interfering)
Of course I believe that you've mastered
much of your lessons. But now the problem
is, do you believe it or not?
MINKE
My teacher, Miss Magda Peters...
SARAH
(interrupting)
Magda Peters again?
MIRIAM
This year we've begun hearing a new word.
Modern! Do you know what it means?
MINKE
It isn't in the dictionary. But, it's the
word used to describe a forward looking
spirit, an attitude, a way of viewing
things that emphasize the qualities of
scholarship, aesthetics, and efficiency.
Perhaps there's another explanation?
Sarah and Miriam stare at each other. And then silently,
exchanging looks, and began busily to eliminate mosquitoes
getting over-friendly with their skin.
SARAH
(frowning)
These mosquitoes!
Now it's Minke's turn to burst into laughter.
SARAH (cont'd)
Ah, we've forgotten our drinks.
(addressing drinks that had
been served)
Please!
The tension begins to subside. Then...
MIRIAM

Do you know who Dr. Snouck Hurgronje is?

MINKE
How about if I have a turn asking a
question?
Sarah and Miriam burst into laughter again.
MIRIAM
Just a minute. Answer first.
MINKE
A pity, but no. Tell me.
MIRIAM
Dr. Snouck Hurgronje was a jewel of a
scholar. Daring to think, daring to act,
daring to risk himself for the
advancement of knowledge. He also was an
important adviser in ensuring a Dutch
victory in the Aceh war. It's a pity he's
currently involved in a dispute with
General Van Heutz. A dispute about Aceh.
What's the meaning of this dispute? There
isn't any.
(she continues)
The important thing is that he undertook
a valuable experiment with three native
youths. The purpose... to find out if
you're truly able to understand and bring
to life within yourselves European
learning and science. Those three
students are currently attending a
European school. He interviews them every
week to try and find out if there's any
change in their inner character, and
whether they're able to absorb it all,
whether their learning is only a thin,
dry, easily shattered coating on the
surface, or something that's really taken
root. Dr. Hurgronje's yet to come to a
decision.
Minke laughs.
MIRIAM (cont'd)
Have you heard about the Association
Theory?
MINKE
Miss Miriam, you are now my teacher.
MIRIAM
(with sudden humility)
No, not a teacher. These days it's only
normal that there should be an exchange
of views between educated people. Yes?
Isn't that right? So, you've never heard

about it?
MINKE
No, I haven't.
MIRIAM
Very well. It's a theory that originates
from that same scholar. His idea is that
if the experiment succeeds, the
Netherlands Indies government would be
able to put his theory into practice.
That's right, isn't it, Sarah?
SARAH
Tell it yourself.
MIRIAM
Association means direct cooperation,
based on European culture, between
European officials, and educated natives.
Those of you who have advanced would be
invited to join us in governing the
Indies. So, the responsibility would no
longer be the burden of the white race
alone. Then, there would no longer be a
need for the position of the controller
as a liaison between native and white
administrations. The bupatis could
cooperate directly with the Dutch
government. Do you understand?
MINKE
(a long pause)
Why didn't your brilliant scholars come
up with this theory three centuries ago?
When no native would have objected to
Europeans sharing responsibilities over
the Indies?
SARAH
(interrupting')
I don't quite understand what you mean?
MINKE
I mean, this fantastic scholar, Doctor...
what's his name again? He's perhaps three
hundred years behind the natives in
rational thinking, and honorable conduct.
In fact, if those civilized, and learned
men had agreed to share instead of
exploiting, pillaging, and plundering,
think of the rapes, the murders, and the
bloodshed, and the tears that could have
been avoided on all sides. Think of all
those letters written by officials, with
their important appearing wax seals, sent
home to mothers who would learn that
their darling sons would never return
again, because they were killed in a war

that none of them ever would have

benefitted from in the first place.
Perhaps, just perhaps, what you consider
European civilization in reality, isn't
quite as civilized as you think it to be.
Repulsed, Minke stands.
MINKE (cont'd)
Excuse me!
Minke walks away, leaving the two annoying women to ponder
his final words.
INT. TRAIN TO SURABAYA - DAY
Minke sits alone on a train as it heads back to Surabya. He's
reading the letters he had brought with him. Suddenly, Minke
notices a fat man, FATSO, with slanted eyes. He's watching
Minke. Fatso then wipes his forehead with a blue
handkerchief. Both his shirt, and trousers are made of brown
drill. Fatso's shoes are brown tooshoes, normal for first
class carriages. His hat, made from felt, with a silk
hatband, never left his head, but is lowered to cover his
forehead in order to give him the freedom to look around the
carriage without being obvious. Fatso's baggage consists of a
small leather case that's been placed on the rack over his
head. When the conductor checks tickets, Fatso hands over his
white ticket, but his eyes remain on Minke the entire time.
INT. TRAIN TO SURABAYA - EARLY EVENING
The train hisses
evening Surabaya
past a cemetery,
is there to meet

on rapidly towards Surabaya. By five in the

rattles under its wheels. The train shoots
and finally stops at the station. Annelies
Minke. He calls out from his window...

MINKE
Annelies!
Annelies runs to the window, stops below it, and puts out her
hand.
ANNELIES
Everything all right, Mas?
Fatso exist the car, carrying his little case with him. He
alights first, looking briefly at Annelies, then slowly walks
towards the station exit. Minke follows him with my eyes.
Fatso doesn't exit, but instead stops, and glances back at
the two of them.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
Come on, get out. What are you waiting
for?

Minke alights. A COOLIE follows, carrying his baggage.

EXT. SURABAYA STATION - EVENING
ANNELIES
Come on, Darsam's waiting.
INT. TRAIN STATION - IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING
Fatso still hasn't gone out through the platform gate, Minke
and Annelies end up passing him. Every few moments he wipes
his neck with that same blue handkerchief, just as he had
done in the carriage. As soon as they pass him, Fatso moves
to follow them.
DARSAM
Greetings, Young Master!
Fatso watches Minke and Annelies as they climb up into the
carriage. Now, Minke begins to get suspicious. As soon as
they board, Fatso hurriedly rents a carriage. As Darsam pulls
from the curb, Fatso's carriage sets off as well. It's quite
obvious Fatso's following them. When Minke glances back at
Fatso's carriage, he's wiping his neck, but he's not paying
any attention to them. The second time Minke looks back,
Fatso's looking right at him. There comes a place in the road
where Darsam is to turn. He doesn't.
MINKE
Hey! Darsam! Why aren't you turning?
DARSAM
I've got some business to attend to.
The carriage turns left away from the station square, then to
the right, passing s green field in front of s residency
building. Darsam appears quite serious, and drives the horses
faster.
ANNELIES
Where are we going?
DARSAM
Patience, Non. Don't worry.
Fatso's carriage continues to follow. When Minke glances back
Fatso bends down, sheltering his face behind the driver's
back.
MINKE
Slow down a little, Darsam!
Darsam slows down as the cart enters a sinister part of the
village. The carriage behind them also turns and slows down
as well. It had to, the street is becoming narrower. Suddenly

Darsam stops the cart.

ANNELIES
Why are we stopping here?
Darsam, jumps down and guides the horse to the side of the
road, tying the reins to a fence post. Fatso's carriage
hesitates to pass, but in the end it has no choice. Fatso
turns the other way while blowing his nose with his blue
handkerchief, in an odd attempt to hide what Minke already
knows, he's being followed.
DARSAM
Non, I want you to wait here. Darsam has
a little business in this food stall.
(eyes directed at Minke)
Young Master, could you come down for a
moment?
Minke climbs down. Vigilantly, of course. They enter a cafe,
which is nothing more than a bamboo shack with a tiled roof.
ANNELIES
(suspiciously from the top of
the cart)
What's going on?
Darsam glances back.
DARSAM
Since when has Noni not trusted Darsam?
Fatso, and his carriage has stopped some way down the road.
MINKE
(his eyes follow the hands and
machete of the Madurese
fighter)
Stay here, Ann.
INT. BAMBOO CAFE - EVENING
There's only one CUSTOMER who is drinking coffee. He doesn't
look up when Darsam and Minke enter, or pretending not to
notice? Or an ally of Fatso, like Darsam perhaps? In the
manner of giving an order Darsam invites Minke to take a seat
on the long bench across from, but not close to the customer.
Darsam sits so close to Minke that he could hear his
breathing. A young woman, WAITRESS approaches Darsam.
DARSAM
(to the young woman)
Take some tea and cake to the carriage
outside.
Darsam's eyes scrutinize her sharply until she places food on
a wooden tray, and takes it outside. Darsam's eyes look wild

as he brings his curly mustache up close to Minke. Darsam

whispers...
DARSAM (cont'd)
Young Master, something's happened at the
house. But, only I know of it. Noni and
Nyai know nothing. Young Master mustn't
be startled, but for the time being, you
mustn't stay at Wonokromo.
MINKE
What's the matter?
DARSAM
It's too dangerous.
(there is an uneasy silence
then...)
Young Master, whoever is loved by Nyai is
loved by Darsam. Whatever she desires,
Darsam will do it. I don't care what it
is. Nyai has ordered me to look after
Young Master, so I do it. Young Master's
safety is my duty. You don't need to do
as I say, Young Master, but at least
consider my advice.
MINKE
Thank you for being so conscientious. But
what's happened?
DARSAM
I pass on this advice. Not because
Darsam's machete can't guarantee your
safety. No, Young Master. There's still
something not yet clear to me.
MINKE
What's happened?
DARSAM
I will take Young Master back to his room
at Kranggan.
MINKE
But, I must know why!
Darsam goes silent as he observes the waitress as she passes.
ANNELIES (V.O.)
Finished yet, Darsam?
DARSAM
(without looking outside)
Be patient, Non.
Seeing that the waitress has gone, Darsam resumes.

DARSAM (cont'd)
It's Sinyo Robert. With many promises,
he's ordered me to kill you.
MINKE
How have I wronged him?
DARSAM
Only jealousy, I think. Nyai is fonder of
Young Master. He feels unhappy with
another man in the house. And, Noni is in
love with Young Master.
MINKE
Why has he gone to you?
DARSAM
He thinks too little. That's what makes
him so dangerous. Now you know. Don't
tell this to Nyai or Noni. Don't ever!
Darsam pays for what they ordered, and not eaten. He steps
outside, and Minke follows. Fatso's buggy has disappeared.
INT. CARRIAGE - LATER SAME EVENING
Annelies doesn't want to let go of Minke's hand, and she
doesn't speak as the carriage roles on. Then...
MINKE
Ann, I found the money you slipped into
my bag.
ANNELIES
You might have needed it!
MINKE
Thank you, but I didn't.
Annelies lays her head on Minke's shoulder. She seems to fall
asleep. The carriage lantern doesn't throw its rays back into
it. Annelies's beauty is swallowed up by the blackness of the
night.
MINKE (V.O.)
This earth of mankind... Its lost all its
certainty. All that learning evaporated
into nothingness. Who could be trusted?
Robert? Yes, I understood his motive.
Fatso? I could recognize his shape, even
in the darkest of nights, but who would
it be that was going to carry out this
evil against me? Surabaya...
famous for its paid killers, who charged
only a couple rupiahs, or even less. And,
every week there were corpses found
sprawled along the beaches, in the

forests, in a roadside ditch, in the

markets... Bodies always bearing the
knife wounds that silenced them forever.
Lamps are shimmering everywhere. The carriage continues
toward Kranggan, and stops in front of the Telinga residence.
Annelies awakes from her sleep.
ANNELIES
(protesting)
Why are we here?
Without speaking Darsam off-loads Minke's things.
MINKE
(gently)
Ann, I have to prepare for several exams
this week. So for the time being, I can't
accompany you home. I'm very sorry. Thank
you for coming to meet me, and say hello
to your mother for me, will you?
ANNELIES
(close to crying)
Tell me if I've been a bother, so I know
what I've done wrong?
MINKE
No, Ann. Truly, no.
Annelies begins to cry like a child.
MINKE (cont'd)
It's only for a short time. After that
I'll return again. Isn't that so, Darsam?
DARSAM
Yes, Noni. Don't behave like this. Not at
someone else's home.
Minke kisses Annelies on her cheek in the darkness of the
vehicle. He feels the wetness on her face.
ANNELIES
Mas must return to me soon.
MINKE
I will return to you as quickly as
possible. I hope that you understand my
situation.
ANNELIES
(faintly)
Yes, I'm not disagreeing.
MINKE

Until we meet again.

Minke gets down from the carriage, and approaches his home,
as Darsam waits at the front door.
MINKE (cont'd)
Why don't you tell Mama?
DARSAM
No. Darsam must take care of this matter
himself. Young Master must be patient.
Minke looks Darsam over, trying to figure out the pieces to
the puzzle, and then enters his residence.
INT. MINKE'S ROOM - NIGHT
Minke looks up at the portrait of Queen Wilhelmina. He turns
out the light, and lays down on his bed. The room is
enveloped in darkness.
MINKE (V.O.)
As young as this, and already there's
somebody desiring to take my life.
Robert, you hate your mother, your
origins. Yet, you beg love from your
father, who pays you no heed. Now, you're
jealous because your mother's love flows
to me. Because you're afraid that your
inheritance will flow to me as well,
somebody who has no right to it just as
depicted in European fiction. In your
eyes I'm no better than a criminal. But,
I want no more than to enjoy what I've
created by my own hard work. A happy life
does not come from that which is given,
but from one's own struggles. Being
separated from my own family has taught
me that. Darsam! Let's hope your words
cannot be believed. And you, Fatso, what
is your business with me?
Minke quickly sits up, in both fear and agitation. The light
from outside his window shines faintly on his face revealing
fear, and then agitation, and then consternation.
MINKE
Ah... Why am I such a coward?
FADE TO BLACK.
On screen text: The following is a statement given by Maiko,
at the trial of Babah Ah Tjong for the murder of Herman
Mellema.
INT. COURT HOUSE - DAY

People of all walks of life fill the packed courtroom. Fans

in hands wave about frantically, as bored, and equally
enthralled jurors look on. Maiko sits in the witness box. She
nervously speaks in Japanese, as a translator speaks on her
behalf to the judge, the jury, and those present in the
court.
MAIKO
I arrived in Hong Kong from Nagoya,
Japan, where I was born. My boss was
Japanese, but he sold me to a Chinaman. I
can't remember his name because I was
sold again only a few weeks later. This
one was also Chinese. I was then brought
by ship to Singapore. I knew this third
boss only by the name of Ming. He was
pleased with me because of the profit my
body, earned for him.
INT. SINGAPORE BROTHEL - NIGHT
Asian men barter for the ownership of Maiko.
MAIKO (V.O.)
My fourth boss was a Singapore Japanese.
He had great desire to own me. The
bargaining went on all night. Finally I
was sold for seventy-five Singapore
dollars, the highest price ever paid for
a Japanese woman in Singapore. I was
proud that my body was more highly valued
than the Sundanese women, who occupied
the highest position, and who were the
most expensive in Southeast Asia's
pleasure world.
INT. DINGY ROOM - NIGHT
Maiko being beaten, and burned with a cigarette by an angry
Japanese BOSS.
MAIKO (V.O.)
But my pride didn't last long. My boss
came to hate me greatly. He beat me
often, even burning me with cigarettes
because my customers were declining in
number. Such was the fate that would
befall even the most famous prostitute.
Syphilis! And what I had was no ordinary
disease. It was Burmese syphilis. It's
incurable, and men are ruined more
quickly, and more painfully when they
fall victim to it. Women don't feel
anything for a long time.
INT. DARKENED NIGHT CLUB - NIGHT
Maiko stands dejected near her boss, as another man tosses

down petty money for her purchase.

MAIKO (V.O.)
I was sold again. This time for only
twenty-five dollars to another Chinese
boss, who took me to Betawi. But, before
the sale, my old boss took me into a
room, and beat me until I fainted. After
I regained consciousness I was stripped
and underwent acupuncture to kill all
sexual desire in me.
INT. BROTHEL ROOM - DAY
Maiko fighting off her NEW BOSS from a sexual assault.
MAIKO (V.O.)
My new boss wanted to try me, but I
refused. If he found out what I carried,
I'd be tortured again. Perhaps even
killed this time. So, I continued to
refuse him every time he tried. Lucky for
him that he never forced me. But, three
months later he found out that I had the
disease. He was angry, not because I had
the disease, but because my customers
dwindled away. I only hoped that he
wouldn't steal my savings, money that I
had been saving so that one day I could
return home. To Japan!
INT. BABAH AH TJONG'S - NIGHT
Maiko stands before Ah Tjong.
MAIKO (V.O.)
I soon became the property of Babah Ah
Tjong at a price equivalent to ten
Singapore dollars, he gave me half a
guilder, and said in broken Japanese...
BABAH AH TJONG
I want to make you my concubine.
INT. COURT HOUSE - DAY
Maiko's on the stand continuing her sworn statement.
MAIKO
It was a disappointment to hear those
words. Although a concubine's life is not
as harsh as a prostitute's, what could be
done? Babah Ah Tjong lusted after me
greatly.
Ah Tjong's eyes peer around the courtroom, as jurors eye him

intently. He turns his gaze upon Maiko.

MAIKO (cont'd)
I tried to refuse him too, afraid of some
new disaster. Then, an acupuncturist
guaranteed I could be cured within one
month. And Babah didn't seem to be
infected. So, I no longer worried.
Perhaps, I thought, the treatment had
cured me. Finally, I was put to work in
Babah's pleasure-house at Wonokromo, and
there, I was given the best room. But...
I began to give up hope of ever returning
to Japan.
Maiko looks over fondly at Ah Tjong.
MAIKO (cont'd)
(to Babah)
If you had taken me as a concubine I
would have been grateful, and served you
as well as anyone could.
(continuing her testimony)
But, that month Babah became infected as
well. One day he lined up all of his
women. They were from all nationalities.
He questioned them one by one. In his
right hand he carried a leather whip, and
with his left, he measured for suspicious
temperatures inside those poor women. I
was the only one he didn't suspect, as
Japanese women are considered clever in
looking after their health.
Three of them were taken from the line.
Ah Tjong ordered the others to tie them
up.
The jurors once again scrutinize Ah Tjong with hard looks.
MAIKO (cont'd)
Those women were gagged, and he beat them
terribly. Yet, not a sound came from any
of them. I stood by, and remained silent.
They were my victims.
Maiko lowers her head in shame.
MAIKO (cont'd)
Then, one day... Babah's clapping called
me to him. It was early in the morning.
INT. BABAH AH TJONG'S - MORNING
Ah Tjong, and the sheepish looking Robert Mellema sit at the
bamboo settee.
MAIKO (V.O.)
There was a tall youth. He was strong and

handsome, healthy and attractive, and of

European descent. His name was Robert. I
could immediately see that he was without
experience. My heart was saddened to
think of the future he faced. Who
wouldn't have?
Ah Tjong gives Maiko a look that could only mean disaster for
Robert Mellema.
MAIKO (V.O.)
I studied the look on Ah Tjong's face.
Was he joking? Then I understood. He knew
that it was I who had infected him.
Ah Tjong leads Robert, and Maiko into his best room. Ah Tjong
exits, and then locks the door from the outside.
Roberts sits on a divan, and Maiko quickly kneels before him
and removes his boots, which reveal filthy socks. Robert says
nothing, but is clearly embarrassed regarding his filthy
appearance. Robert can only stare at Maiko, as she pours some
wine from a goblet, and hands it to him. Robert swallows,
watching this Japanese woman in amazement.
FADE TO BLACK.
On screen: The following is the testimony of Babah Ah Tjong,
spoken in Malay, and translated into Dutch by a sworn
translator.
INT. COURT HOUSE - DAY
Babah Ah Tjong sits on the stand, as the PROSECUTOR in his
case stands near listening to every word spoken.
BABAH AH TJONG
(speaking to the prosecutor)
Sinyo Robert was my special guest. It's
strange that you ask why, as he was the
son of my neighbor, and it's long been
customary to be friendly toward one's
neighbor. Yes?
(to the jury)
Robert became suspicious when he realized
that those who use my women, must pay.
But, I told him, Ai, Nyo, we'll be good
neighbors. Sinyo doesn't need to pay
anything. Who knows, one day we could end
up becoming partners? I told him that he
was welcome to return any time he liked.
INT. BABAH AH TJONG'S - DAY
Maiko stands in the far distance of the hallway as Robert and
Ah Tjong speak.

ROBERT MELLEMA
(his hesitation disappeared)
Thank you very much, Babah. I never
guessed you would be as good to me as
this.
BABAH AH TJONG
Sinyo should have come here a long time
ago.
ROBERT MELLEMA
I'll come back, of course.
BABAH AH TJONG
(wearing a large grin)
Of course!
INT. COURT HOUSE - DAY
Ah Tjong is on the stand continuing in his testimony.
BABAH AH TJONG
He no longer was the embarrassed youth he
had been in the morning.
So, I called my barber, a woman, and
ordered her to cut his hair. Sinyo didn't
refuse. I had her cut his hair in the
style worn by the Spanish, with the part
in the middle. His hair was rubbed with
special oil, the most expensive. Then I
ordered him to drink some palm wine from
my private stock. He looked refreshed.
INT. BABAH AH TJONG'S - DAY
Ah Tjong reaches into his pocket and pulls out a large, and
shiny silver dollar coin. He hands it to Robert.
BABAH AH TJONG (V.O.)
Then, I gave him a pure white dollar,
like the sun, without fault. He accepted
it shyly, nodded in thanks, silently.
ROBERT MELLEMA
Babah is indeed the very best of
neighbors.
Ah Tjong places his arm on Robert's shoulder and leads him
through the crowded parlor. Men from all walks of life,
mostly Chinese nod to Ah Tjong and to Robert, as Ah Tjong
plays the host part as a master. A few men gesture toward
Maiko, who was not working the room. Robert frowns, and Ah
Tjong clearly understands what this means.
BABAH AH TJONG (V.O.)
I escorted him out, introducing him to
all of my best clients. Several stopped

to ask about Maiko. Sinyo frowned, so I

refused them all. I accompanied him out
to the yard.
EXT. BABAH AH TJONG'S - DAY
Robert is back on his horse. He reaches the main gate, turns
back, and waves goodbye to Ah Tjong who waves back as well.
BABAH AH TJONG (V.O.)
Only after Robert's horse had reached the
main road, and turned left did I go
inside. After that, I don't know what
happened to Sinyo after that.
INT. MELLEMA HOME FRONT ROOM - DAY
Nyai supports Annelies as they sit together on the same
chair. The sound of the pendulum clock disturbs the expectant
atmosphere, and is then drowned out by the sound of horse
hooves coming up the road.
Nyai rises and goes to a window, and looks toward the front
gate. Suddenly, Nyai sees that Robert is returning on his
horse.
NYAI
Ah, the crazy child is back at last!
Darsam!
Darsam enters. From the window Robert rides through the front
gate, calmly, unhurriedly. He stops in front of the steps,
lets his horse go free, without tying it up. He then walks up
the steps, and as he opens the door to the home, he finds
that he's standing face-to-face before his mother. Nyai
raises her eyebrows when she sees her son's haircut. She
notes that he looks fresh, and isn't perspiring at all.
There's no dust on him, and the horsewhip is gone.
NYAI (cont'd)
That part in the hair...
(she covers her mouth with her
hand and turns to Annelies)
Your father looked exactly like this when
he first returned home from his
wanderings, and when everything started
to change. Just like this! That smell...
(to Robert)
If you open your mouth, that same smell
of palm-wine will betray you, just as the
first time I smelled it on your father
five years ago.
Annelies looks at her brother. Robert looks up at Darsam,
then shifts his look to his mother.
ROBERT MELLEMA
The police don't know where Minke was

taken. They don't recognize that name.

Nyai points her finger at her son and hisses...
NYAI
You never went to the police. You're a
liar!
Robert moves past his mother and toward his room.
ROBERT MELLEMA
I've been everywhere seeking an
explanation.
NYAI
(to Annelies)
Today your brother begins to follow in
the footsteps of master.
Annelies responds by crying, as Robert enters his room.
NYAI (cont'd)
Ann, you must be strong. Otherwise,
you'll be played with by people like him.
Don't indulge yourself. Strengthen your
heart.
Robert exits his room in clean clothes, neat and dashing. He
walks out of the house quickly, paying no attention to his
mother, sister, or Darsam.
INT. MINKE'S ROOM - MORNING
Nine o'clock in the morning. Minke's lies in bed with a
pounding headache. Mrs. Telinga enters. She compresses his
head several times with brown-onion vinegar. The bell of a
passing buggy could be heard.
Within Minke's mind there are great activities, murderers
form long lines with all sorts of faces, and all sorts of
figures. It's as if he's gone mad. Even Magda Peters appears
with a threatening, unsheathed dagger. Finally, these
thoughts begin to make him laugh. Minke rises from the bed,
and stands, tottering for a second. Everything seems to be
moving. He grabs for the back of a chair, and finally gets
his vision under control. He begins to dress, and upon
finishing, combs his hair, and heads to Jean Marais's home.
INT. JEAN MARAIS HOME - DAY
The picture of May's mother fighting the soldier isn't
finished yet. But, Jean is putting an all-out effort into it.
He intends it to be his best work. May sits on Jean's lap
enjoying the attention. She searches Minke's pocket for some
candy. There isn't any.

MAY
(to Minke)
Are we going for a walk?
MINKE
I'm not feeling well, May.
JEAN MARAIS
(admonishing)
You're pale, Minke.
May gets up from her father's lap and looks at Minke.
MINKE
Not enough sleep.
JEAN MARAIS
(reprimanding)
Since you been away at Wonokromo all
sorts of things have been happening to
you. And you haven't been looking for new
orders either.
MINKE
If you knew what I've been through
recently, you wouldn't be able to bring
yourself to talk like that. Truly!
JEAN MARAIS
You're in trouble again!
(to May)
May, buy me some cigarettes please.
Jean gives her some coins, and the little girl exits.
JEAN MARAIS (cont'd)
What's the trouble?
MINKE
There's a fat man that's been following
me. I think he's waiting for the right
opportunity to kill me. It feels like
everywhere there are people spying on me,
ready to swing their machetes into me.
JEAN MARAIS
Just as I expected. This is the risk you
face when you go to live in the house of
a nyai. You once joined in condemning the
nyais. And what did I say? Don't sit in
judgment over something that you know
nothing about. I suggested you visit, to
observe as an educated person.
MINKE
I remember.

JEAN MARAIS
Well, you didn't just visit, you stayed.
MINKE
Yes.
JEAN MARAIS
And now... Now you receive threats, who
knows from whom, or maybe not. Perhaps,
you just fear someone is out to get you.
Is it your own guilt that's pursuing you?
MINKE
It's very possible you're right.
JEAN MARAIS
Why only possible?
MINKE
If it were true I had acted in the
shameful manner you imply.
JEAN MARAIS
You haven't?
MINKE
No, not at all.
JEAN MARAIS
At the very least I'm happy to hear that.
MINKE
Nyai is no ordinary woman. She's
wonderful. Some day I'll take you there
to meet her. We'll take May. She'd like
it very much. Truly!
JEAN MARAIS
Minke, why does someone want to kill you
if you haven't done anything wrong?
Clearly, it's only your imagination.
May returns with a packet of corn-leaf cigarettes, and Jean
quickly starts smoking.
MINKE
You smoke too much.
Jean laughs, believing the truth of what Minke has said.
MINKE (cont'd)
C'mon May, let's go for that walk.
Minke takes May by the hand, and leaves.

EXT. MRS. TELINGA'S PORCH - A LITTLE LATER

Minke, and May sit on a long bench on the front porch.
MINKE
(to May)
What did you do today?
MAY
Watch Papa paint.
May begins singing, Joli Tambour.
MAY (cont'd)
Ran, ran pata plan! Ran, plan, plan.
(noticing Minke not paying her
any mind)
Minke's busy eyeing Fatso, who's wearing a sarong, and
sitting under a tamarind tree on the other side of the road,
next to a chilled-fruit seller. He wears a peci, but isn't
wearing sandals, or shoes. His shirt is made of calico, and
he's also wearing loose, black trousers with a wide, leather
belt. Because of the great heat, his shirt is also
unbuttoned, but Fatso's outfit doesn't fool Minke.
MINKE
Fatso! Robert's man now that he failed to
enlist Darsam.
Every now and then, while Fatso eats his fruit, he glances
over at Minke and May.
MINKE (cont'd)
Call Papa, May.
The little girl runs off, and Jean soon appears with his
tall, thin body, walking lamely on his crutch. Jean sits
beside Minke.
MINKE (cont'd)
I don't think I'm wrong, Jean, that's the
one. He followed me here.
JEAN MARAIS
(scolding)
It's just your own imagination, Minke.
Mr. Telinga arrives, carrying a length of steel pipe.
MR. TELINGA
What's going on?
JEAN MARAIS
It's like this. Minke believes that man
over there...

(pointing with his chin to the

man Minke reckons is Fatso)
Is following him. Perhaps, intends to do
him bodily harm.
Mr. Telinga's wild eyes are aimed across the road.
MR. TELINGA
Let me get a closer look. I'll bash in
his head if need be.
They all stand. Minke walks along behind Mr. Telinga, as Jean
follows behind, limping. It becomes clearer as they approach
that indeed it is Fatso, and he's pretending not to notice
them as they come closer. Fatso simply continues to enjoy his
fruit, though it's clear that his eyes glance about
vigilantly. Fatso's disguise only strengthens Minke's
suspicion.
MINKE
(without hesitation)
It's him all right.
Telinga approaches Fatso threateningly with the steel pipe in
his hand. Minke doesn't know what he wants to do. Jean
continues to limp along behind.
MR. TELINGA
Hey, you. Fatman! Why are you spying on
my house?
Fatso pretends not to hear and continues eating. Mr. Telinga
grabs the plate of fruit, and throws it aside. It appears
that Fatso is not intimidated. He stands, wipes his chili
paste-covered hand on a piece of tamarind trunk bark,
swallows down the remains of his fruit, and bends over to
wash his hands in the fruit-salad seller's bucket of water.
Then calmly...
FATSO
I'm not spying on anyone.
Fatso glances over at Minke, and smiles.
MR. TELINGA
(shouting)
Get out of here!
The fruit seller, an old woman, frightened by the commotion,
moves away. At a distance, people began to congregate, no
doubt curious about the confrontation.
FATSO
I eat here nearly every day, Ndoro Tuan.
MR. TELINGA
(swinging the pipe about)
I've never seen you before. Go on, get

out of here.
Yet, Fatso is still not frightened. He doesn't lift his head,
just bows, his eyes wary.
FATSO
There no ban on eating here, Ndoro Tuan.
MR. TELINGA
You dare argue back? Don't you know I'm
Dutch, and was in the Indies army?
Fatso isn't afraid of an Indies army Dutchman.
FATSO
Even so, there is no ban, Ndoro Tuan.
Allow me to sit here and eat my fruit. I
haven't paid yet, either.
Fatso was about to sit down again, but the former Indies army
soldier had already swung his arm, striking towards the side
of Fatso's head. Fatso parried the blow, but doesn't return
the attack.
JEAN MARAIS
(intervening)
Enough. Enough!
FATSO
Don't keep on, Ndoro Tuan.
Telinga no longer cared who Fatso was. His pride has been
wounded. His right hand swings a death blow down towards
Fatso's head. Fatso calmly moves out of its way. Telinga is
then thrown forward by his own blow as it missed its target.
Each time Fatso successfully avoids Telinga's blow. Telinga
become angrier, as he attacks again and again. Fatso finally
retreats, then retreats a little more, then finally runs off.
Telinga chased after him, as Fatso disappears down a narrow
alley, where heaps of rubbish are piled up.
JEAN MARAIS
(To Minke and frowning)
Telinga's crazy! He thinks he's still in
the army.
Telinga disappears down the same alley that Fatso has run
into. Minke begins to run after Mr. Telinga, but Jean doesn't
let him go.
JEAN MARAIS (cont'd)
Minke. You're the cause of all this. Come
on, let's go home.
In the distance, May, and Mrs. Telinga rush about asking
onlookers what is happening. Minke remains, waiting for the
hothead Telinga to return. Anxiously, of course.
Mr. Telinga does return, bathed in sweat, red-faced and short

of breath. He threw himself down.

MRS. TELINGA
(to her husband)
Have you forgotten that you're an
invalid?
Mrs. Telinga approaches her husband, seizes the pipe from his
hand, and takes it inside her home. Mr. Telinga doesn't
speak. No one regretted all that had happened more than
Minke.
MRS. TELINGA (cont'd)
(calling from inside)
Young master is still ill. It's best you
come back inside and get some rest. Food
will be ready in a little while.
MINKE
(to everyone)
Let's pretend that none of this has ever
happened.
JEAN MARAIS
(ordering)
Go home, May!
May goes home. Telinga, Jean, and Minke remain, silently
until Telinga's breath has returned.
MINKE (V.O.)
Four days had passed, and my head still
ached. I also had been away from school
for too long. I was beginning to think
that I must forget about Nyai, and
Annelies. I thought that nothing good
could come from them. I must cut off all
relations! I must concentrate on being
well again.
Then, a familiar voice interrupts Minke's thoughts.
DARSAM
Young master!
Minke raises his head. On seeing Darsam in front of him, the
pain in his head returns, spreading its roots now more
vigorously.
DARSAM (cont'd)
Excuse me, Young master. I must have
startled you.
Minke's eyes dart to Darsam's machete, and then to his hands.
Darsam laughs in a friendly manner while stroking his
mustache.

DARSAM (cont'd)
Young master now suspects me?
MINKE
What is it?
DARSAM
(handing Minke an envelope)
It's a letter from Nyai. Noni has become
very ill.
Minke takes the letter and reads it, while all along glancing
across at Darsam's machete, and his hand.
MINKE
It's true? And Dr. Martinet has been
looking after her?
DARSAM
The doctor said without your presence,
her illness would probably get worse.
Minke's head is really throbbing how.
DARSAM (cont'd)
Come to Wonokromo young master. Don't be
concerned. Sinyo Robert will not be able
to worry you. Darsam stands vigilant.
Come.
It is only then that Minke notices the buggy waiting in front
of the house. Minke calls out to Mrs. Telinga.
MINKE
(shouting)
Mrs. Telinga! May I excuse myself. I'm
leaving.
Mrs. Telinga comes to the door, and is none too please to see
Minke go.
MRS. TELINGA
Don't be away long. Remember your health.
DARSAM
(smiling)
Young master will recover quickly at
Wonokromo.
Minke moves toward the buggy, almost as if he's being pulled
along by some magical force. Darsam helps Minke step up into
the carriage.
INT. MELLEMA ESTATE HALLWAY - MORNING
Darsam leads Minke up the stairs, as Nyai rushes out to greet

him.
NYAI
Nyo, we've been waiting, and waiting for
you. Annelies, because of her longing for
you has fallen very ill.
DARSAM
Young master is also ill. I had to carry
him here.
NYAI
Once the two of you are together,
everything will be fine.
These words embarrass Minke. Nyai catches Minke by the
shoulder, and whispers softly in his ear, smiling.
NYAI (cont'd)
Yes, your temperature is a bit high.
Let's get you upstairs, to rest.
Nyai speaks so gently, it's as if she's Minke's own mother.
Yet, Minke's eyes keep darting about, here and there. At any
moment Robert could leap out of the darkness, and cause him
great injury.
MINKE
Where is Robert?
He asks as they climb the stairs.
NYAI
Shhh. No need for that.
The upstairs is far more luxurious. The floors are covered
with carpets. The open windows offer views that stretch far
off into the distance. Paddies, fields, and forest land
spread in each direction, joined together one after the
other. A small group of workers are collecting the last of
the harvest. The remaining paddy lay fallow, awaiting the
beginning of the end of autumn.
INT. NYAI'S BEDROOM - IMMEDIATELY
They stand in front of the bed. Nyai fixes the blanket that
lays over Annelies. Her breasts stand out underneath the
blanket. Nyai places her daughter's hand into Minke's.
MINKE
Annelies, darling.
With great effort the girl opens her eyes. She doesn't turn.
She doesn't look. Her eyes, and that effort-filled look, are
swept up to the ceiling, then close again.

NYAI
(whispering to Minke)
Minke. Nyo, child, take care of my
sweetheart. Carry my child to recovery
with you.
Nyai looks at Minke with almost begging eyes. Her hands hold
his arm. Suddenly, she turn and leaves the room.
Minke feels for Annelies's hand under the blanket. He brings
his mouth close to her ear, and calls her name again, and
again. Annelies smiles weakly, but her eyes remain closed.
MINKE
Come now, haven't you been waiting for
your Minke to arrive?
Annelies nods weakly. Her eyes, and mouth remain closed.
MINKE (cont'd)
He misses you too. Truly! If you only
knew how much. Minke longs to make you
the adornment of his life, all the world
would then be his, because his happiness
is you, and you alone. Now, open your
eyes, because Minke is here with you now.
Annelies sighs. Minke caresses her face, her cheeks, her
hair. Annelies tilts her head, and sighs once more. Minke
embraces her, and kisses her lips. Annelies fingers move
slowly, almost still. She finally opens her eyes, but stares
far into the distance, not seeing, and not reaching his face.
MINKE (cont'd)
Don't you know me, Ann? Me? Minke?
She smiles. But still stares right through him.
MINKE (cont'd)
Ann, don't be like this. I've come.
NYAI
(standing at the door and
encouraging Minke)
Keep going. Get her to talk. That's
exactly what Dr. Martinet advised.
Minke turns to look at Nyai, but she's already pulling the
door shut from outside. Minke sits on the edge of the bed.
Annelies eyes are open, but she doesn't see.
MINKE
You can't go on like this.
Minke pulls back the blanket, and lifts Annelies by her
hands. He forces her to sit, but her body is so weak that she
falls back upon the pillow as soon as he lets her go. Minke

tries again. Annelies still can't sit up. Once again he

kisses her upon the lips. Annelies' hands begin to move
almost imperceptibly, slightly more than a minute ago.
MINKE (cont'd)
Who'll help Mama? There is no one else.
And who is there to teach me how to ride?
There is only you. You must get better.
Minke looks into Annelies' eyes, and sees himself in their
depth. But she doesn't see him. For a moment his face isn't
even reflected in her eyes. Nyai enters again, carrying two
glasses of warm milk. She enters this time with Dr. Martinet.
Nyai places one glass of milk on the table. The other she
brings to Minke, and puts it up to his lips.
NYAI
Drink it up. You must be strong as well.
A weak person is of no use to anybody.
Minke drinks until the glass is dry.
NYAI (cont'd)
(to Annelies)
Wake up, Ann, Minke is with you.
(to Dr. Martinet)
This is Minke, he'll be looking after
Annelies today.
Minke, and Dr. Martinet shake hands. Nyai observes for a
moment, then before exiting...
NYAI (cont'd)
If you'll excuse me, I have some work I
must attend to.
DR. MARTINET
(to Minke)
So you're this Minke I've heard so much
about? Happy is a young man who obtains
so deep a love from such a beautiful
girl. Excellent!
MINKE
Dr. I've only been here an hour. This is
how she was when I arrived. I'm concerned
greatly.
Dr. Martinet laughs, shakes his head, and then Minke's
shoulders.
DR. MARTINET
You like this girl? Answer frankly.
Dr. Martinet fixes his gaze squarely upon Minke's. Minke
looks at Annelies, and slowly nods affirmatively.

MINKE
Yes, I do.
DR. MARTINET
And you want her to regain consciousness?
MINKE
Of course I do. I would be very grateful
if there was anything you could do to
help.
DR. MARTINET
She'll regain consciousness soon. She's
merely been sedated. If I had left her
conscious without you in her presence,
there's no telling what she would've
done.
MINKE
Forgive me.
DR. MARTINET
There's only one thing that this girl
needs. When she starts showing signs of
waking, speak of pleasant, happy things.
Everything depends on you. Don't make her
lose confidence or become afraid. And
don't disappoint her.
MINKE
Very well, Doctor.
Dr. Martinet goes over to the window, and looks out onto the
fields, and the garden beside the house.
DR. MARTINET
(to Minke inviting without
turning)
Come over here.
Minke walks to the window, and stands beside Dr. Martinet.
DR. MARTINET (cont'd)
I have a question... How is it possible
that attend HBS, having neither family
nor Christian name?
MINKE
I'm a native.
Dr. Martinet glances at Minke. He stands silently for a
while.
DR. MARTINET
Do you feel you can remain sincere with
Annelies?
MINKE

Forever! Why?
DR. MARTINET
Because she's put all her hopes for the
future in you. She dreams of someone
who'll give her pure love. Because she
feels as if she's living alone, within
herself, without knowing anything that is
certain.
MINKE
She has a mother who guides her, educates
her, and who loves her.
DR. MARTINET
Annelies doesn't believe that her
mother's love will last. She waits in
anticipation for that moment when
something else will go wrong in her life.
MINKE
Mama's a very wise woman, and Annelies
means everything to her.
DR. MARTINET
These things cannot be denied. But
Annelies cannot convince herself of them.
She sees her mother as being more
attached to the success of the business,
than to her.
They stand silent.
DR. MARTINET (cont'd)
You understand?
MINKE
I think so.
DR. MARTINET
This is just between the two of us. No
one else need know of this conversation
ever took place. You understand?
MINKE
Yes.
DR. MARTINET
Annelies loves you Minke. I say, you
should marry her.
MINKE
Marry her?
DR. MARTINET
Yes, that's what she dreams of. That you

will marry her.

MINKE
I've no desire to propose yet.
DR. MARTINET
If necessary I will propose on your
behalf.
Minke can't say anything. Dr. Martinet puts out his hand to
obtain the certainty of a promise from Minke's lips. Minke
takes his hand in return.
DR. MARTINET (cont'd)
Her heart is too soft, too gentle. She
can't cope with hurt. You must always
humor, caress, and protect her. It seems
as if her soul has been carried away from
her.
MINKE
Carried away from her?
DR. MARTINET
Yes, by someone very close to her.
MINKE
Who doctor?
DR. MARTINET
I don't know. Something around here, for
certain. You will find out for yourself.
There are surely secret, and suppressed
issues within her heart. She feels
permanently dependent, as if she is an
orphan child. Even here in her private
world, there's no one she can rely on.
Even having grown up in the middle of
wealth, she doesn't appreciate the
security it brings. For her, wealth is
nothing. That's what I can understand
about this child.
Dr. Martinet removes his monocle from his top pocket, and put
it in his right eye. After looking at his watch, he stares at
Minke, then outside again.
DR. MARTINET (cont'd)
Look at the calm, and peaceful view from
here. It's fortunate that this girl lives
in the middle of such luxury. I don't
know what would happen to her otherwise.
Minke's suspicious. What does the doctor mean?
DR. MARTINET (cont'd)
Excuse me. I'm not a psychologist. But

I've spoken a lot with Annelies' mother.

An amazing woman, that she is. She has
real strength of character, but it's
reinforced by the hardness of someone
with revenge still in her heart. Even in
Europe it would be an astounding feat.
But, what has been the motor behind all
of this? I don't know what that might
have been. Her heart is very hard, her
mind very sharp. In all this it's success
that has made her such a strong
individual, and so daring. But she has
one large, and looming failure that I've
yet to understand. And even that is
understandable. Every self-educated
person has such an outstanding failure.
Dr. Martinet doesn't continue. He hopes that Minke will seek
for himself the meaning of his words. Annelies stirs.
DR. MARTINET (cont'd)
She's beginning to regain consciousness.
Your Annelies.
Dr. Martinet approaches his patient. He checks her pulse, and
waves Minke over.
DR. MARTINET (cont'd)
In a few minutes she'll return to the
Annelies that you knew before. May she
return to complete health now that you're
together. From this moment on, this girl
is no longer my patient, but yours.
Dr. Martinet exits, and closes the door behind him. Annelies
sighs, and moves her finger.
MINKE (V.O.)
Could this beautiful creature house such
a disordered mind? And I, an outsider, a
mere acquaintance, must I accept
responsibility for her alone? How
involved my life had become! The result
of my actions, not as a doctor, but a
philogynist. A philogynist with patient.
The sun has left its midday position. Annelies slowly sits up
on her own accord.
MINKE
Look over there, the forest. And the
mountains, the sky, and the earth. You
see, Ann? Do you really see it all?
Annelies nods yes. Suddenly, the wind whistles as it launches
a gusty attack from out of the great expanse called nature.
The wind feels as if it's being channeled into the window.

Annelies shudders.
ANNELIES
Mas!
Minke then turns, and through a small opening in the door he
sees Nyai and Dr. Martinet. Then the door closes again.
INT. HBS SCHOOL - DAY
Minke is walking down the school's corridor.
MINKE (V.O.)
I was no longer the Minke of old. My body
appeared the same, but its previous
contents, and perceptions dissipated. I
became more thoughtful. This, while my
school friends remained as children.
Robert Suurhof moves away as they pass each other. The girls
avoid him as well.
MINKE (V.O.)
The school director summoned me. He
wanted to be assured that I hadn't
married. It was Suurhof who was spreading
the rumors. It could have been no one
else. Eventually, I discovered that I
wasn't wrong. He was inciting everyone
against me.
Minke turns into a classroom. MISS MAGDA PETERS, the Dutch
language, and literature teacher, who hasn't married, stands
at the head of the class. All over her exposed skin are
freckles. Yet, her clear brown eyes sparkle. At first her
appearance tends to make one laugh, appearing as a white,
monkey with an ever-surprised look upon her face. However, as
Peters begins to speak all become quiet, and the initial
impression wanes, replaced by a feeling of respect.
MAGDA PETERS
Good afternoon, students. My name is
Magda Peters, I'm the new teacher for
Dutch language, and literature.
(pause)
Please put up your hands if you don't
like literature?
Almost every student puts up a hand. Some two, while others
stand to show their antipathy for the subject.
MAGDA PETERS (cont'd)
Point well taken. Please, everyone sit
down. Do you know that even the most
primitive of mankind, those who have
never attended school, or even seen a
book, let alone know how to read, and
write, are able to appreciate literature.
Isn't it an outstanding achievement that
after at least ten years of education,

HSB students still don't have an

appreciation for language, and
literature? Yes, it's a truly outstanding
achievement.
No one laughs, as there is nothing to laugh at. There is only
total silence, as the students contemplate Peter's rebuke.
MAGDA PETERS (cont'd)
No doubt, you'll all advance through
school. Perhaps even obtain a string of
degrees, but without a love of
literature, you'll remain nothing more
than a clever bunch of animals. I was
born, and raised in the Netherlands. Most
of you have never even seen it.
So, I know that most every Hollander
enjoys reading Dutch literature. People
also admire the paintings of Van Gogh,
Rembrandt, our artists, and as well, the
world's great painters. Painting is
literature in strokes of color, nuances
in lighting, and vivid imagery. Those who
do not appreciate such art are
uncivilized. Literature on the other
hand, is painting in the spoken form. Put
up your hand if you don't understand?
No one raises their hand. Then Minke does.
MINKE
Can you tell us of the Association Theory
of Dr. Snouck Hurgronje?
MAGDA PETERS
Such subjects may not be discussed at
school.
MINKE
Why is that?
MAGDA PETERS
They are the affairs of the queen, the
Netherlands government, the governor
general, and the Netherlands Indies. If
you desire to learn more on that topic,
it's best you do so outside of school.
MINKE
That's absurd! I mean, it's ridiculous to
say that some things may, and some things
may not be discussed at school. What's
the purpose of education if it doesn't
come about through discussion, even
debate?
MAGDA PETERS
(interjects)

Do you know what colonial politics are?

(no one answers)
It's a system, or power structure to
consolidate hegemony over occupied
countries, and peoples. Someone who
agrees with such a system is a
colonialist, one who not only agrees with
it, but also legitimizes, and defends it.
If such matters were to become the
subject of a literary work, it would be
much more interesting, as in the case of
Multatuli's works, which I know that you
all are already familiar with.
Magda Peters stops speaking for a moment, reflecting on her
words.
MAGDA PETERS (cont'd)
Because none of you have a topic for
today's discussion, I will choose one
myself. Recently, I came across an
article about life in the Indies. Too few
people write about this. Precisely
because of that, it attracted my
attention. Maybe the writer is Indo
European. Maybe, I say! It's called, Uit
het Schoone Leven van een Mooie Boerin.
The Life of a Beautiful Peasant Girl. The
writer's name is Max Tollenaar. Perhaps
some of you may already have read it?
Several hands shoot upward. Minke keeps a straight face, as
Max Tollenaar is his pen name.
MAGDA PETERS (cont'd)
All right, one of you come forward and
give us your reactions, and comments on
this story, perhaps even a critique.
Robert Suurhof immediately comes forward. He stands in front
of the class, legs apart, feet nailed to the floor, as if he
were scared the wind would blow him over. All eyes are
directed at him. Suurhof looks around at his friends, hoping
for some kind of moral support.
ROBERT SUURHOF
I've read four pieces by Max Tollenaar
over recent weeks. They've all been about
the same thing, and have been colored by
the same emotions. The writer is under
the power of some kind of force that's
out of his control. Yes, yes, the writer
is suffering from some kind of drastic
delusion. The writings are the long
winded deliriums of someone who's lost
all control over himself, and who has
lost all touch with reality. I know who
Max Tollenaar is. Because I'm the only
witness to the events that he writes

about.
(he turns to Miss Peters)
Miss Peters, I don't think we should be
discussing such writings in school. It
only makes us dirty. The writer of this
doesn't even have a family name.
Robert becomes quiet for a moment, glancing around at all the
students in whom he's building up much tension. He then
raises his chin. His eyes shine victoriously. He's going to
let go one more shot. Miss Peters looks taken aback. Her eyes
are blinking rapidly.
MINKE (V.O.)
I alone knew what Robert Suurhof was up
to. It was then that I realized that it
was he who desired Annelies. There could
be no reason, other than jealousy, for
his hatred, and his public ridicule
directed toward me.
ROBERT SUURHOF
The person in question is not even an
Indo. He's lower than an Indo. He's
someone whose father has refused to
acknowledge. He's an Inlander, a native
who's somehow been smuggled into European
civilization...
(turning to Miss Peters)
Through the cracks within the system you
spoke of earlier.
Robert bows to pay respect to Miss Peters, and then returns
to his seat.
MAGDA PETERS
Students, Robert Suurhof has just given
us his opinion on the author of this
story. An author whose identity he alone
seems to know. What I had hoped for was
an opinion about the story itself, not a
diatribe regarding the author's race, or
perceived character. Very well then Mr.
Suurhof, who do you suspect is the author
of this story?
All of the students look at Suurhof who's face is pointed
directly at Minke. The others follow his example. Minke shows
no fear. Suurhof stands again.
ROBERT SUURHOF
The author is presently among us.
Now every face is directed towards Minke. Minke looks
straight at Suurhof, as victory shines in Suurhof's eyes.
MAGDA PETERS

Who is it, Mr. Suurhof?

Suurhof points his finger at Minke. Minke stands.
ROBERT SUURHOF
Minke!
Miss Peters takes a handkerchief from her bag, and wipes her
neck, then her two hands. She doesn't know what to do. She
looks at Minke, then at the students. She then makes a path
through the students, heading straight towards Minke.
MAGDA PETERS
Minke!
MINKE
Yes, miss?
MAGDA PETERS
Is it true you wrote this...
(she holds up the document that
reveals the name of Max
Tollenaar)
Using the pen name of Max Tollenaar?
MINKE
Why do you ask so? Have I done something
wrong?
MAGDA PETERS
(whispering)
Max Tollenaar!
Silence. The woman then rests her hands on Minke's shoulder.
MAGDA PETERS (cont'd)
Students, today I introduce to you to an
HBS pupil by the name of Minke, whom no
doubt you all know. But I'm not
introducing the Minke whom everybody
knows, but rather a Minke of a different
quality, a Minke whose use of Dutch to
state his feelings, and thoughts is a
brilliant writer, a Minke who has written
a literary work, and has proven that he
is capable of writing perfectly in a
language that is not his mother tongue.
Minke has brought to life a snippet of
reality, which other people, even though
they too have experienced such a reality,
could never have explained it in such
detail, authenticity, and honesty.
I'm proud to have a pupil like you Minke.
You've done an excellent job.
Miss Peters shakes hands with Minke.

MAGDA PETERS (cont'd)

Minke! Is it true you don't have a family
name?
MINKE
(looking at Suurhof, and then
to other students)
Yes, it's true.
MAGDA PETERS
(turning to the class)
Students, having a family name is merely
a custom. Before Bonaparte appeared on
the stage of European history, not even
our ancestors, used surnames.
Minke was still standing for all to see.
MAGDA PETERS (cont'd)
Is it true you're not an Indo, Minke?
MINKE
Inlander. Native!
MAGDA PETERS
Yes!
(loudly)
Those who think of themselves as one
hundred percent pure european do not
understand how much Asian blood flows in
their veins. From studying history, you
should all know that many different Asian
armies attacked Europe, and as a result
inhabited the land, traded, married, and
left descendants. Arabs, Turkish, Mongol!
And this was after the Romans had
conquered, and Christianized the land!
Under the Roman empire, the Asian blood,
and perhaps even African, of those
citizens of Rome from various nations,
Asian, Arabic, Jew, Syrian, Egyptian, now
mingles with the blood of Europeans.
Silence continued.
MAGDA PETERS (cont'd)
Much of Europe's science comes from Asia.
Yes, even the numerals you use each day
are Arab, including zero.
Imagine, what it would be like to count
without Arab numerals, and especially
zero? Yet, zero itself is derived from
Indian philosophy. Zero, itself is a
condition of emptiness. From emptiness
comes the beginning, from the beginning
there is a development until the climax,
number nine, and then there is emptiness,
and we begin again with, a higher value,
tens, and so on, hundreds, thousands...

there is no limit. Without zero the

decimal system would vanish, and all of
you would have to count using roman
numerals.
The students begin to show their restlessness.
MAGDA PETERS (cont'd)
If natives do not have a family name,
that is because they don't, or don't yet,
need one. And there's no humiliation in
that. If the Netherlands doesn't have a
Prambanan or a Borobudur temple, it means
in that era, Java was more advanced than
the Netherlands.
Suddenly the school's DIRECTOR appears at the door of the
classroom.
DIRECTOR
It's best that this discussion be closed.
The room goes silent, as Miss Peters turns her attention from
that of the director, to looking back at Minke.
MAGDA PETERS
So, you really wrote that?
MINKE
It's so.
MAGDA PETERS
You're extraordinary, Minke.
Montage:
Minke riding in the buggy driven by Darsam. Minke at Jean's
home, discussing orders, and viewing the progress of the
painting. A buggy ride with May's hair blowing in the wind,
and sharing a warm smile with Annelies. Minke arriving back
at the Mellema's home. Inside, exhausted, and falling sleep.
Annelies appearing, waking Minke, and carrying a fresh towel,
and ordering him to bathe. Minke, and Annelies talking or
reading Indies newspapers, or Dutch magazines.
At night, studying, writing. While all along, Annelies health
improves. Minke and Annelies... A kiss. Then...
INT. ANNELIES ROOM - DAY
An argument is underway.
ANNELIES
You're not going back to Kranggan!
(a beat)
Why don't you want to stay with me?
Because I'm not sick anymore?
MINKE

It's not that. What will people say?

ANNELIES
What will they say, Mas?
MINKE
If you don't want me to go back to
Kranggan, then I won't. I'll stay here at
Wonokromo as long as you want. But not,
of course, in your room, with you. So
beginning today, now, I want to stay in,
and work in my own room, near the garden.
It's the same, isn't it?
ANNELIES
If it's the same, let's keep on like this
forever. You stay here in my room. With
me!
MINKE
No! I only stayed with you, in this room
because Dr. Martinet thought it best.
Upstairs is out of bounds for everyone
except Mama and you. We must respect the
rules, mustn't we?
Annelies doesn't interrupt. Her stare reaches farther, and
farther out into the distance. Annelies wants her way.
INT. JEAN MARAIS WORKSHOP - DAY
Minke looks uneasy. Still reeling from the admonishment he
received from Annelies.
JEAN MARAIS
Yes! Yes, I am ashamed that I've become
involved in colonial affairs. I'm similar
to the very person you've just described.
I fought in Aceh only because I assumed
natives would not be able to fight back,
and so wouldn't. But they fought back all
right, really fought, with all their
might, ignoring all obstacles. And they
were courageous and daring too. Just as
in many of the great wars of Europe. Yes,
yes... It was something to be ashamed of,
Minke, Europe's latest weapons, pitted
against the mere flesh of the Acehnese.
Because you've asked me my opinion I've
answered, but never ask me about these
things again, it tortures my conscience.
Without realizing, Mr. Telinga was listening in from a
distance. He comes closer, and sits upon the table. It looks
as if he is eager to join in the discussion.
JEAN MARAIS (cont'd)
(continuing)

All the colonial wars for the last twenty

five years have been fought in the
interests of capital. Fought to ensure
markets that would guarantee more profits
for Europeans. Nothing's changed!
Capitals all-powerful. Capital decides
the fate of everything, even humanity
itself.
MR. TELINGA
War has always been the clash of force,
and of strategies so as to emerge as
victor.
Jean protests.
JEAN MARAIS
No, Mr. Telinga. There's never been a war
conducted for its own sake. There are
those who go to war, having no desire to
become the victor. They go, and die in
their thousands, like the Acehnese now...
Because there's something they are taught
to believe they are supposed to defend,
something more important than death,
life, or defeat, and victory. And it's
something they themselves never benefit
from.
MR. TELINGA
It's all the same in the end. A contest
between force, and strategies to emerge
as the victor.
JEAN MARAIS
That's only how it ends up. But if, for
example, Aceh wins, and Holland is
defeated, will the Netherlands become an
Acehnese possession?
MR. TELINGA
There's no way Aceh can win.
JEAN MARAIS
Yes, that's precisely the point. The
Acehnese themselves know they can't win.
Yet, the Acehnese still descend to the
battlefield. They don't fight to win. If
the Dutch thought that Aceh was strong
enough to defend itself, they would never
dare attack, let alone start a war. The
whole thing is a matter of calculating
the profit, and loss of capital. If the
whole issue is just a matter of winning,
why doesn't Holland attack Luxembourg or
Belgium, since they're both closer, and
richer?
MR. TELINGA

You're a Frenchman, Jean. You don't have

any stake in the Indies.
JEAN MARAIS
I regret ever having taken part in the
war.
MR. TELINGA
Ah, but you don't reject the army
pension! Do you?
JEAN MARAIS
No, I don't. And neither do you. That
pension is my right. Due to me from those
who sent me to war. And just like you, we
both lost something. I lost my leg, you
your health. That's been the consequence
of the war for both of us. We don't want
to have an argument, do we, Telinga?
MR. TELINGA
(accusing)
You never used to talk like that when you
were in the platoon.
JEAN MARAIS
(smirking)
Then, I was your subordinate. Now I'm
not.
MINKE
(intervening)
What's the point of this argument? I only
asked a question about South Africa.
INT. MINKE'S GUEST ROOM - NIGHT
Minke is at the desk filled with school books, and writings.
Exhausted he tosses down his pen, and then closes his eyes.
The clock's pendulum begins striking. It's nine o'clock.
MINKE (V.O.)
I had come to feel at peace, even safe at
Wonokromo. Robert wasn't around, it was
as if he had disappeared, and Mama and
Annelies never mentioned him. Even so, it
did not feel as if I'd taken his place. I
don't know why I had become so
industrious. One thing was certain, it
was not because of pressure from my
family or from Annelies.
The moment the chime stops there's a knock on Minke's door.
Before he can answer, Annelies enters.
MINKE
(in a rebuking tone)
According to our rules you should be in

bed by nine o'clock!

ANNELIES
No!
(frowning)
I don't want to sleep. I want you to
study in my room like before.
MINKE
You're becoming more, and more spoiled
Ann. Even Dr. Martinet wouldn't be able
to handle a patient as difficult as you.
ANNELIES
Come upstairs, and tell me a story until
I fall asleep like you used to do.
MINKE
I've run out of stories.
ANNELIES
Don't make it impossible for me to sleep.
MINKE
Mama knows a lot of stories.
ANNELIES
Your stories are always better.
Annelies closes Minke's books, and pulls him from his chair.
Of course, Minke gives in.
INT. ANNELIES ROOM - NIGHT
Annelies pulls Minke into her room. She climbs into her bed,
lays down, and says...
ANNELIES
Pull up my blanket, Mas.
MINKE
You really intend to remain as spoiled as
this?
Minke pulls up her blanket.
ANNELIES
Who else will spoil me if you don't? Now
tell me a story. Don't just stand there.
Sit here like you usually do.
Annelies pats on the mattress, and Minke sits.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
Come now, begin a beautiful tale. One
better than Treasure Island or, more

beautiful than Dickens's Our Mutual

Friend.
MINKE
What kind of story should I tell?
ANNELIES
Whatever you like.
MINKE
What language?
ANNELIES
Don't be so argumentative, Mas. Start a
story now.
Annelies folds her arms, closes her eyes, and props her head
in a position to hear. Minke smiles at this, and shakes his
head. Then...
MINKE
In a country, far, far away...
(changing the topic)
You're not being annoyed by mosquitoes,
are you?
ANNELIES
No. Why? Are there mosquitoes in that
far, far away country?
Annelies opens her eyes with a look that protests.
MINKE
In that far, far away country there are
not nearly as many mosquitoes as there
are here. Neither are there lizards
crawling on the walls ready to devour
them.
Annelies shakes her head, then closes her eyes.
MINKE (cont'd)
This country was fertile and always
green. Everything that was planted
thrived. Neither were there any pests.
There was no illness, there was no
poverty. Everyone lived happily, and
enjoyed life. Everyone was clever and
liked to sing, and dance. Everyone had
their own horses. White, red, black,
brown, yellow, blue, pink, green. Not one
of them was blemished. None had any
spots.
ANNELIES
There are blue, and black horses?
MINKE
Of course! And in this country there
lived a princess of incomparable beauty.

Her skin was as smooth as ivory-white

velvet. Her eyes were as brilliant as
morning stars. No one could bear to gaze
upon her for too long. She had a pair of
eyebrows, that were like slopes of
mountains, which protected that pair of
daylight stars. The form of her body was
what every man desired. All the country
adored her. Her voice was gentle,
overcoming the hearts of all who heard
her speak. If she smiled, the resolve of
every man was shaken. And when she
smiled, her white, shining teeth gave
hope to every admirer. And when she was
angry, her gaze focused and blood
streamed to her face... Amazing though,
she became even more beautiful still.
One day she was riding around a garden,
on a white horse...
ANNELIES
What was her name, this princess?
MINKE
All the flowers bowed down, bending their
stalks, shamed and defeated by her
beauty. They paled, losing their
splendor, and their color. Only after the
princess passed did the flowers stand
straight again, look up at the sun and
complain, "Oh, Great Sun God, why have we
been shamed so? Did you not plant us to
be the most beautiful of all your
creation? Why then is there now someone
more beautiful than us? The sun, too, was
shamed because of these complaint, and in
his shame he hid behind a great, dense
cloud. The wind blew, shaking the sad
hearted flowers. Then rain soon came, and
withered the leaves of all those
multicolored flowers. The princess
continued riding, taking no notice of
what was occurring behind her because the
rain, and the wind could not find it in
their hearts to disturb her. All along
the road people stopped to admire...
Mas takes up the mattress broom, and shoos away the
mosquitoes, then drops down the mosquito net, and prepares to
leave, believing that Annelies is sleeping.
ANNELIES
Mas!
Annelies opens her eyes, holding on to Minke's hand,
preventing him from leaving. Minke sits back down.
MINKE
Yes, the princess rode on. Everyone who
observed dreamed of how happy they would
be if the gods would just turn them into

the horse she was riding. But the

princess never felt herself to be
beautiful, let alone beautiful, without
rival any where in all of the land.
ANNELIES
What was the name of the princess? Her
name... Her name...
(she presses)
Wasn't her name Annelies?
MINKE
Yes, yes. And she had all kinds of
clothes. Her favorite was a black velvet
evening gown, which she enjoyed wearing
at all times of the day.
ANNELIES
Ah!
MINKE
The princess longed for the arrival of a
prince who was dashing, handsome, and
courageous. And then one day it happened.
The prince she longed for arrived. He was
indeed handsome. But he did not have a
horse of his own. Indeed he couldn't even
ride a horse.
Annelies giggles.
MINKE (cont'd)
He came in a rented buggy. There was no
sword at his waist, because he had never
gone to war.
Annelies laughs again.
MINKE (cont'd)
Why are you laughing?
ANNELIES
Was Minke the name of this prince?
MINKE
Ah, you've heard this story before.
(continuing)
The prince entered the princess's palace.
They chatted, and in no time at all the
princess fell head over heels for him.
There could have been no other outcome.
ANNELIES
No, the prince kissed her first.
MINKE
Yes, the prince almost forgot. He kissed

the princess, and she went complaining to

her mother. Not so her mother would be
angry with the prince, but hoping her
mother would approve of the prince's
action. But her mother paid no attention.
ANNELIES
Her mother not only paid attention. More
than that. She was angry.
MINKE
Is it true she was angry? What did she
say?
ANNELIES
She said, why complain? You yourself
hoped for, and expected to be kissed.
MINKE
Twice now I have erred in this story.
Indeed, the princess was hoping for, and
expecting the prince's kiss.
ANNELIES
She neither hoped for nor expected it.
She had no idea at all about what was
going to happen. The prince came. He
couldn't ride a horse, was even afraid of
them. Then before she knew what was
happening, he kissed her.
MINKE
And the princess had no objections. Yes,
she was swept off her feet. She even
forgot her sandals.
Annelies pulls Minke's arm hard, protesting against the
untrue course of the story. And so, he falls into the
softness of her embrace.
ANNELIES
You're story is untrue!
Minke hears her shallow breathing, and his own breathing as
well. The world about them, even all of nature, dissolves
into nothingness. There is only her and he, raped by a force
that turns them both into a pair of prehistoric beings.
FADE TO BLACK.
Minke, and Annelies lay exhausted, beside each other.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
Regrets, Mas?
Minke let go a long breath. An uneasy silence.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
Speak!

MINKE
I'm not the first?
Annelies struggles free from Minke's grip, and turns towards
the wall with her back to him. She sobs slowly, yet Minke
doesn't regret having been so cruel, asking such a tormenting
question.
ANNELIES
You regret it, Mas? You regret it?
Now she's crying.
MINKE
No. I'm sorry.
Minke begins to stroke Annelies' hair in the manner she
stroked the mane of her horse. She becomes quiet.
ANNELIES
(forcing herself)
I knew one day, the man that I loved
would ask me that very question.
(she became calmer and
continued)
I have concentrated all my courage to be
able to answer it. To face it. Yet, I'm
afraid. Afraid you'll leave me. Will you
leave me?
MINKE
No, Annelies darling.
ANNELIES
Will you marry me?
MINKE
Yes.
Annelies cries again. So slowly that her shoulders shake.
Still with her back to Minke, she speaks slowly, almost
whispering.
ANNELIES
It was not my desire. It was a disaster I
could not avoid.
MINKE
Who was he?
ANNELIES
You'll seek revenge against him?
MINKE
Who was he?

Annelies back is still towards Minke, who is clearly jealous.

Then she says...
ANNELIES
Robert!
MINKE
(viciously)
Suurhof?
Once again she pounds the wall.
ANNELIES
No.
Then it hits Minke. It hits him hard.
MINKE
Your... Brother?
Annelies cries again. Minke pulls her roughly, and she falls
down on the bed, facing him. She covers her face with her
arm. Her face is soaked with tears.
MINKE (cont'd)
You're lying.
Annelies shakes her head, no. Her face is still covered by
her arm. Minke pulls her arm, and she pulls herself free,
resisting him.
MINKE (cont'd)
Who else?
ANNELIES
No one.
Minke lets her go. Annelies' voice is calm now. She needs to
defend herself. Her sobbing has been replaced by a determined
heart.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
I can still remember the day, the month,
even the very year. It's marked in red on
the calendar hanging on the kitchen wall.
Mama ordered me to find Darsam. People
said he had gone down to the villages. I
went to find him.
EXT. VILLAGE STREET - DAY
Annelies is riding her horse. She's calling out the name
Darsam.
ANNELIES (V.O.)
I was on my favorite horse. I went into

village after village calling out his

name. But he couldn't be found anywhere.
A CHILD motions toward the other side of a swamp.
ANNELIES (V.O.)
A child told me that he was on the other
side of the swamp, where he was preparing
a new field, one that was still dense
with reeds.
(to Minke)
That was the one remaining clump of reeds
that I refused to go, and look at with
you. Do you recall?
MINKE (V.O.)
Yes.
The horse turns in that direction, as Annelies continues to
shout the name of Darsam. The horse comes upon a bunch of
broken reeds, and Robert faces Annelies. Robert has a strange
look on his face.
ANNELIES (V.O.)
I turned my horse. There was no answer. I
came across a narrow track, broken here
and there by bunches of reeds. And it was
Robert that I found. He threw down his
rifle, and the string of birds from his
morning's hunt. "Darsam just passed here"
he said. "And how many have you caught",
I asked. He fetched his string of birds
and showed me. "This is nothing, I caught
a strange animal today. Come see." He
picked up the corpse of a large black
haired wildcat. I got down from my horse.
"This is not just any cat", he said.
"Maybe this is the wildcat they call a
blachan."
Annelies dismounts to get a closer look at the wildcat.
ANNELIES (V.O.)
"I didn't shoot it. It was curled up
asleep under a tree when I crept up and
struck it dead."
Robert reaches out to grab Annelies by the shoulder. She
steps back refusing the unwanted, but non-sexual contact. She
falls into the freshly cut reeds.
ANNELIES (V.O.)
His dirty hand then grabbed my shoulder,
and I spoke angrily at him. He attacked
me, I lost my balance, and fell into the
reeds. Had there been even one sharp reed
trunk, I would have been speared, and

would have died for certain.

Robert forces himself on his sister. She uses all her power
to resist.
ANNELIES (V.O.)
He fell on top of me, and held me down,
at the same time covering my mouth. I
struggled to be free, scratching his
face. I called out for Mama and Darsam.
My calls died under the palm of his hand.
I could not avoid the disaster. I knew I
was going to be killed.
Annelies' horse rears its head, neighs, and charges forward,
biting Robert on his bottom.
ANNELIES (V.O.)
My horse neighed, and came forward, and
bit Robert on his bottom. He yelled in
pain, and the horse chased him for a
moment.
The horse continues forward for a moment as Robert runs out
of the reed bush. Annelies reaches for Robert's rifle, and
shoots at him.
ANNELIES (V.O.)
He ran out of the reed bush. I grabbed
his rifle and ran out too. I shot at him.
I don't know whether he was hit or not.
In the distance I could see blood all
over his pants, running down onto his
trousers. Was it the wound from the horse
bite, or the bullet?
The disheveled Annelies tosses down the rifle. She stumbles a
bit, in pain, and then leads the horse along the path.
ANNELIES (V.O.)
I threw down the rifle. My body hurt all
over.
I couldn't climb up upon my horse, but
when I neared the villagers I forced
myself up on her so my disheveled clothes
were hidden.
INT. ANNELIES ROOM - NIGHT
MINKE
Annelies!
(embracing her)
I believe you. I believe you! I'm so
sorry. I'm sorry that happened to you.
Neither spoke for a while.

MINKE (cont'd)
Didn't you say anything to Mama?
ANNELIES
What good would that do? The situation
would have got worse. If Mama found out,
Robert would have been eliminated by
Darsam, and everyone would have been
destroyed.
Annelies hugs Minke, and begins to cry, and cry.
EXT. SURABAYA ROAD - MORNING
The sky is overcast. The gray clouds warn that a storm is on
the way. Annelies, and Minke ride horses. Minke has improved
greatly. But, then he suddenly glimpses Fatso, and becomes
anxious. Fatso is riding a horse out of one of the villages
that exists on company land.
INT. MINKE'S GUEST ROOM - NIGHT
Darsam has come to Minke's room to study arithmetic. But,
Minke refuses to teach him.
MINKE
I'm not up to lessons this evening. I'm
sorry. There's a fat man who's acting
suspiciously, and following me ever since
I returned home from visiting my family.
DARSAM
I know, he's been seen several times in
the village. I thought he was an ordinary
peddler.
MINKE
Maybe he's been hired by Robert to kill
me.
Darsam doesn't answer.
MINKE (cont'd)
Where's Robert? He hasn't been seen since
I returned.
DARSAM
He wouldn't dare come here now. He
ordered me to kill young master. I said
to him, my employers are Nyai and Noni.
Their friends are my friends. If Sinyo
wants young master dead, it's best it's
sinyo himself that I cut down. I pulled
out my machete, and he ran.
MINKE
So, you've seen Fatso too? If you see him

again what will you do?

DARSAM
If it's true he's Robert's man, he'll
feel the steel of my machete.
MINKE
You mustn't do that. If you did, everyone
would get into real trouble. You mustn't,
Darsam, you mustn't, understand?
DARSAM
I won't kill him young master. But I'll
beat him until all his bones are broken,
so he won't be able to do anything again
for the rest of his life.
MINKE
No. We don't yet know what the situation
really is. If the police become involved
there will be great trouble.
Darsam falls silent. Then he speaks slowly, yet hesitantly.
DARSAM
All right, I'll do as you say young
master.
MINKE
Yes, you must. I don't want to be the
cause of some disaster falling on this
family. And... we must ensure that no one
else finds out about Fatso.
EXT. VERANDA - DAY
Mama, Annelies, and Minke are sitting on the front veranda
listening to a recording of a popular song. Minke's heart is
still enveloped by the gray clouds, and seeing Fatso. He has
a premonition. Something is surely going to happen.
Darsam walks about hither, and thither restlessly. He's
deliberately making his presence known so that Minke can call
upon him at any time if the need arises. Minke knows that
Darsam is guarding his life from Fatso. Minke then observes
Mama, and Annelies one after the other. Mama is clearly
suspicious of Darsam because of his unusual behavior.
MINKE
You seem uneasy, Mama.
NYAI
With Darsam running about like a kitchen
mouse, who wouldn't be? Something always
happens when he's like this. Darsam!

Darsam comes to Mama and stands at attention.

NYAI (cont'd)
Why are you carrying on in this manner?
DARSAM
These itchy feet of mine just don't seem
to want to stay still. They keep moving
about of their own accord, Nyai.
NYAI
Why aren't your itchy feet itchy out at
the back?
DARSAM
What can I do, Nyai, these feet of mine
keep taking me to the front.
NYAI
Your face is frightening. Harsh! Your
eyes are wide open, and you're clearly
thirsting for blood.
Darsam forces himself to laugh exuberantly, and leaves after
raising his hand in respect.
MINKE
Why are you so quiet, Ann?
ANNELIES
It's nothing.
Annelies rises, and goes over to the phonograph, and turns it
off.
NYAI
Why did you turn it off?
ANNELIES
It just sounds like a lot of noise today.
NYAI
Perhaps Minke still wants to listen?
MINKE
It's all right. Ann, do you remember the
fat man who was riding the horse
yesterday?
ANNELIES
Wearing the brown-striped pajamas?
Minke nods yes.
NYAI

Who was riding a horse? Where?

ANNELIES
In the village, Mama.
NYAI
No one's ever visited the villages on
horseback. Except for Mrs. Karyo's son,
the watchman. It's not permitted.
MINKE
It wasn't Mrs. Karyo's son. This man was
fat man. A fat Chinese man.
NYAI
(shouting)
Darsam!
Darsam approaches rapidly.
DARSAM
Ah, see Nyai, that's why I need to have
itchy feet!
Mama doesn't respond to his jest.
NYAI
Who was the fat man on the horse in the
village yesterday?
DARSAM
Just a peddler, Nyai.
NYAI
Nonsense! Since when do peddlers ride
horses?
Darsam, very unusually, laughs boisterously for a second
time. He's clearly trying to hide something.
NYAI (cont'd)
You're hiding something!
Unable anymore to read, Annelies stands, and goes inside.
Minke stands, surveying the scene, and then he sees Darsam
suddenly run toward the main gate, as he unsheathes his
machete in his right hand. Outside, for just a moment, Minke
glimpses Fatso walking along the road in the direction of
Surabaya. Fatso's wearing an ivory-yellow suit, white hat,
and white shoes, and carrying a cane, like someone out on a
picnic.
MINKE
(shouting upon seeing Darsam)

No, Darsam! No!

But Darsam doesn't respond. He keeps on after Fatso. Minke
runs after Darsam with all his strength all along shouting...
MINKE (cont'd)
Darsam, no. No Darsam. Darsam!
From behind Annelies can be heard shouting...
ANNELIES
Mas! Mas!
Minke looks back, only to find that Annelies is running after
him. Fatso knows he's being chased now. He runs with all his
might, now and then glancing back.
DARSAM
Tso! Fatso! Stop!
MINKE
Darsam! Come back! Don't go on!
Far behind Nyai could now be heard.
NYAI
Annelies! Aaaaan! Annelies! Come Back!
Mama is chasing after her daughter. Her hair has fallen free
and loose. Fatso is running to save himself with Darsam hot
on his heels, as Minke chases after Darsam, and Annelies
chasing after Minke.
MINKE
Darsam! Listen to me! Don't!
Darsam takes no notice. He runs on and on. In a moment he
would catch up with Fatso, who would then lose his head. If
Fatso ran on toward Surabaya, he would die for certain. But,
the road was quiet on this Sunday morning, with just paddy
fields everywhere, Ah Tjong's brothel, and Nyai's paddy
fields, and then, only forest. Fatso must know the area, his
only chance is to turn into Ah Tjong's yard. He does, and
disappears from view. Then Darsam turns into Ah Tjong's, and
also disappears.
NYAI
Don't go in there!
ANNELIES
Don't go in there!
And now Minke turns into Ah Tjong's compound. The front
doors, and windows are closed. Fatso isn't to be seen
anywhere. There's only Darsam standing, confused, not knowing
what to do next. When Minke catches up with Darsam they are

still panting.
DARSAM
The rat's disappeared. I don't know where
he's gone.
MINKE
All right, let's go home. Don't keep on.
DARSAM
No, he has to be taught a lesson.
There's no stopping Darsam now. He walks past a row of
windows along the side of the house.
ANNELIES
Mas! Don't go into that house!
(calling from Ah Tjong's gate)
Mama forbids it.
But Annelies herself has already entered, tottering, at the
edge of the front of the yard. Darsam looks left, and right
ready to take on anyone, or anything that may appear. Minke
pulls at him to make him return, but he ignores this.
Darsam's naked machete remains outside its sheath. In the
end, Minke too becomes wild-eyed.
It turns out that Babah Ah Tjong's building is much larger
than it appears from the outside. There's a long annex at the
back. Almost all the surrounding grounds are gardens, with
fruit trees, and flowers. They're all very well looked after.
Everywhere there are thick, heavy-looking black painted
benches. A narrow path, covered with layers of river gravel,
cuts through the yard, and into little sections. For just a
moment Minke catches sight of a couple. Yet, they don't see
them. Such views are not visible from outside, closed off by
high, thick, multi-rowed walls.
Darsam suddenly turns right, circling the main building.
There doesn't seem to be anybody around. A back door stands
wide open, still swaying about on its hinges. Behind Minke,
Annelies has now already passed the row of side windows.
Nyai's shouts can now be heard more clearly.
NYAI
No, don't go inside that house.
Without hesitating Darsam enters with machete still in hand.
He stops, looks left and right, as Minke too enters. A large
room, a dining room, opens up before them, complete with
furniture, table and chairs, and a buffet with all sorts of
crockery inside. Mirrors painted with Chinese calligraphy
hang on the walls. A few Japanese paper paintings of ocean
prawns, bamboo, and horses also hang on the walls. Suddenly
Darsam is startled, and stops dead in his tracks. His two
arms shoot out to stop Minke from going any further. But, he
keeps going. What is there that Darsam doesn't want him to
see?

Then... the body of a European man can bee seen laying in the
corner of the dining room. The body is long, big, and fat,
with a large-stomach. Its blond hair, is threaded with gray
and he's somewhat bald. His right hand is raised up on his
head. His left hand lays over his chest. His throat, and neck
are covered in yellow vomit. The smell of liquor fills the
room. His shirt, and pants are filthy, as if they haven't
been washed in a month. Minke covers his nostrils and turns
away.
DARSAM
Tuan! Tuan Mellema.
Hearing that name Minke shudders, and shudders again as he
approaches the person with that familiar body, fatter than he
had seen before, sprawled in the corner like a meditating
ascetic. He is possibly in an extraordinary state of
drunkenness, or has fallen asleep after vomiting. Darsam
approaches, crouches, and feels the body, then pushes it with
his left hand. In his right hand his unsheathed machete
remains alert. The body does not respond.
Darsam then shakes it back and forth, then feels the man's
breast. Minke comes closer. It's indeed Mellema.
DARSAM (cont'd)
(hissing)
Dead.
Only then does he glance up at Minke, and continue his hissed
speech.
DARSAM (cont'd)
Dead. Tuan Mellema is dead.
The frightening look on his face disappears all at once.
Annelies then appears at the door, calling hoarsely, out of
voice, and panting.
ANNELIES
Mas, don't go inside this house!
Minke goes outside, down the stairs, and pulls Annelies by
the shoulder away from the house. Mama arrives, also gasping.
Her face is red, and her hair disheveled, falling in a mess
across her ears, face, neck, and back. She's soaked in
perspiration.
NYAI
Come home! Everyone! Don't go into that
accursed house!
DARSAM
(calling from inside)
Young master!
MINKE
(now it was Minke who was
giving the orders to Nyai and

Annelies)
Don't enter!
Minke returns. When he does, he finds Darsam rocking
Mellema's body. The machete still in his right hand.
Annelies, and Mama are then suddenly behind them.
ANNELIES
Papa?
NYAI
Tuan?
DARSAM
Dead, Nyai, Noni. Tuan Mellema is dead.
The two women step closer, then stand still as if in a daze.
NYAI
That smell... Palm wine!
ANNELIES
Like Robert that time.
NYAI
Yes, when he began to go mad too, and
like Tuan's first time here.
(suddenly pulling at Annelies
who was beginning to move
forward)
Don't get close, Ann, don't.
All of a sudden everyone looks up as they hear footsteps
approaching. They see a Japanese female, Maiko, in a yellow
kimono patterned with big red, and black flowers. Her skin is
more white than yellow. Maiko's quick, short steps bring her
in their direction. She speaks to them in Japanese with a
clear, and attractive voice that could not be understood by
them.
MAIKO
Nani? Dare desuka?
As an answer Minke points to the corpse strewn in the corner
of the dining room. Maiko shakes her head and shudders, turns
right, and runs off with those short steps, even more quickly
than she turned. She enters into the inner section of the
house through a corridor. Darsam, Minke, Nyai, and Annelies
eyes follow, with an amazed look of astonishment. This was
the first time Minke, Annelies, and Nyai had seen a Japanese
woman, with her round face, slanted, narrow eyes, and cherry
red, parted lips. Not long after, out of the same corridor,
there emerges the body of a tall man, an Indo, thin, with
sunken eyes.
ANNELIES
(whispering toward her mother)

Mama. Robert, Mama!

Robert, that handsome youth, has changed nearly as
drastically as his father. It was indeed Robert but he looks
half dead. Hearing Robert's name spoken, Darsam jumps up,
forgetting Mellema's corpse.
DARSAM
Nyo!
Robert stops that moment. His eyes shoot wide open. As soon
as he recognizes Darsam, and sees the machete, he turns, and
ran. Darsam chased him. Annelies, Nyai, and Minke are nailed
to the floor. Dazed! For a second Minke imagines Robert
sprawled out covered in blood, with a gaping stab wound.
But no. Darsam comes back again. He wipes his mustache. His
face is wild.
DARSAM (cont'd)
He ran, Nyai. Went into a room, and then
jumped out a window.
NYAI
Enough. Look after your Tuan.
DARSAM
Very well, Nyai.
Annelies holds her mother's sleeve as she stares at her dead
father. She's shivering.
NYAI
See.
(holding back her anger)
Nothing goes right.
(to Annelies)
What did I say? Don't enter into this
house of sin.
Only then does the fighter sheath his machete and exit the
house. Nyai stiffens as she looks at her master's corpse,
while Annelies buries her face in her mother's breasts.
NYAI (cont'd)
(to Tuan's corpse)
You didn't want to be looked after
properly. Preferred to be looked after by
a neighbor. Ah Tjong! Ah Tjong!
(calling out loud)
Ah Tjong! Babah!
Ah Tjong des not appear. Darsam enters again, frowning.
DARSAM
The impudent caretaker won't lend us a
carriage.

The CARETAKER appears.

NYAI
(to the caretaker)
Where's Babah?
CARETAKER
He's not here. Fetch your own cart.
MINKE
I'll get one.
NYAI
(to Darsam and Minke)
The two of you stay here. I'll return
home with Annelies.
Nyai pulls her daughter along. The two women hold hands,
leading each other out of Ah Tjong's through the back door.
They take no notice of Mellema's gaping-mouthed corpse,
sprawled out on the floor. It is only then that Minke sees
just how far Nyai has broken away from her master. She not
even prepared to touch him, even though he was the father of
her children.
DARSAM
(grumbling, while looking back
at Tuan)
What he hunted alluded him, what he
captured was cursed.
Soon, there's the sound of uproar coming from the rooms.
Women could be heard running about.
DARSAM (cont'd)
Five years Tuan nested here, only to have
it all end like this. Dying in a whore's
nest. Tuan! Tuan Mellema! Five years Nyai
maintained her wrath. Even on his death,
she showed him no concern. And now
Robert... Here too!
(Darsam looks at Minke)
Mama had to suffer the humility of paying
for it all. She received a bill from Ah
Tjong, every month.
A carriage arrived. Not Annelies, not Mama. Four POLICE
OFFICERS, and their COMMANDANT, an Indo. They make an
examination. One takes notes of everything said by his
commandant.
COMMANDANT
Has he been moved?
DARSAM
A little. I shook him.

COMMANDANT
Where's the owner of the house?
MINKE
We don't know.
COMMANDANT
Who lives here?
The commandant takes out his pocket watch, looks at it for a
moment, and then puts it back. Not one of the house's
inhabitants appear.
COMMANDANT (cont'd)
Who saw the body first?
DARSAM
It was I.
COMMANDANT
How do you explain the whole of the
Boerderij household turning up here?
Minke's heart pounds fast. There's no way of stopping it from
becoming a police affair now.
DARSAM
I was chasing Fatso.
COMMANDANT
Who's Fatso?
DARSAM
A suspicious character. He ran... I
chased him, and he disappeared into this
house.
COMMANDANT
So, you chased a suspicious looking
character, and in the process entered
someone else's house without permission.
Is that correct?
DARSAM
There was no one here when we arrived.
Anyone can enter without permission. It's
a pleasure-house.
COMMANDANT
But you didn't come here for purpose of
pleasure now did you?
The commandant laughs insultingly, as the policemen lift up
the corpse. Not strong enough. Darsam helps, just to avoid
more questions.

COMMANDANT (cont'd)
Very well. What's your names?
FADE TO BLACK.
MINKE (V.O.)
Darsam, and I were questioned more
thoroughly at the station. And.. In the
end father would read his son's name in
the paper, involved in a police case, and
a dirty one, one that takes place in a
pleasure-house, all just as he had
predicted. We learned that Herman Mellema
died of poisoning. According to the
investigations of Dr. Martinet, who was
asked to conduct the autopsy, the poison
had been given in low dosages over a long
period, so that the victim had become
used to it. On the day of his death he
had received a dosage much greater than
usual. Numerous reports began to appear
in the daily press. The death of one of
Surabaya's richest men, the owner of
Boerderij Buitenzorg, Tuan Mellema, dead
in Babah Ah Tjong's Wonokromo pleasure
house. Drowning in his own vomit from
poisoned alcoholic! All of our names were
mentioned over, and over again. I used
the opportunity to write about what
really happened. I would come to learn
that my reports had increased the paper's
circulation. The unnatural death of a
wealthy man always gives rise to many
suspicions, rumors, and innuendos.
EXT. EUROPEAN CEMETERY PENELEH - DAY
Herman Mellema's is buried at the European cemetery in
Peneleh. Most who attend are inhabitants of the business's
villages. Several reporters also witness the event, along
with Dr. Martinet, Jean Marais, and Telinga. The burial is
organized by the Verbrugge Burial Company. Dr. Martinet takes
the job of representing the Mellema family, all of whom are
not present.
DR. MARTINET
We share in our great sympathy for the
Mellema family, whose trials aren't over
yet, because the matter still has to make
its way through the courts.
MINKE (V.O.)
Dr. Martinet became a target for
journalists who demanded an explanation
of his speech.
The Dutch press rejected Dr. Martinet's
sympathy, which was directed at one who
was merely a native woman, and nothing
more than a concubine, who hadn't yet

been cleared of any wrongdoing herself.

The paper closed its piece with the
suggestion that Nyai Ontosoroh be
investigated more thoroughly as the
possible murdered of Herman Mellema. A
Betawi paper suggested that this person
Minke should be more thoroughly
investigated. Another article, obviously
written by Robert Suurhof, accused me of
being an unashamed sponger, sucking off
of other people's wealth, and
representing myself to the public as a
church bird without-sin, but was in
reality someone without anything, even a
family name. My only capital, he wrote,
was my crocodile daring.
CROSS FADE.
INT. VERANDA - DAY
Nyai is reading through one of the papers. She tosses it
down.
NYAI
They can't stand seeing natives not being
trodden under their feet. Natives must
always be in the wrong, Europeans must
always be in the right. To them, to be
born a native is to be in the wrong.
(she turns to Minke)
We're facing a very serious situation
now, my son. Will you run from us, child?
MINKE
No, Mama. We'll face it together. We too
have friends.
NYAI
They have friends in higher places as
well. They need to make us scapegoats. An
example!
DR. MARTINET
That article your school friend wrote,
well...
MINKE
Suurhof's not my friend. I'll take him to
court for defaming me.
NYAI
No, You'll never win. You'll never win if
you take it before the law. You'd be
facing a European, Nyo. The prosecutor,
and judge will do you in. And you don't
have any court experience. Not all
attorneys, and barristers can be trusted,

especially where the case is one of a

native suing a European.
(she steps closer to Minke, and
slightly raises her voice)
Answer that article with one of yours.
Challenge him with the power of words,
with logic, and with reason.
Minke turns, and looks out at the vast land that Nyai alone
has made fruitful.
MINKE (V.O.)
My article was published by Maarten
Nijman, in a publication, which
circulated widely as an auction paper.
But it had been able to turn itself into
a general daily as a result of the Herman
Mellema affair. The attacks against me
came roaring in. Mama was right, and I
hadn't even brought it to court. The
controversy didn't focus on the truth or
upon the accusation that I was a sponger
sucking on Herman Mellema's wealth. The
burning issue shifted to color
difference, European versus native. In
this way an alliance, a strong bond began
to develope between Nyai, and myself, as
we confronted the world outside the
boundaries of the Mellema Estate.
Minke turns toward Mama.
MINKE
We will never rest in dealing with this.
We're not criminals, it's Ah Tjong the
courts have accused. He's accused of the
premeditated murder of Herman Mellema,
not us.
INT. SURABAYS COURTHOUSE - DAY
It is to be the biggest court case ever in Surabaya. Aroused
by the reports, and the arguments in the newspapers, the
inhabitants of Surabaya, of all races, flocked to witness it.
Many people arrive from other towns. Nyai's brother from
Tulangan also is present.
MINKE (V.O.)
This was the first time a Chinese had
been tried by a European court. The trial
passed quickly. It was difficult to get
Ah Tjong to confess of the motive behind
the murder, even though he did eventually
confess to the poisoning by using a
Chinese prescription unknown to the
medical world. He wouldn't reveal the
formula to anyone.
Mr. Telinga, Mrs. Telinga, and Jean Marais, all sit in the

court. The HBS school has closed its doors for the first time
in its history. The teachers, and students shift their
attention to the drama of the court-building compound.
Dr. Martinet is called as an expert medical witness.
Babah Ah Tjong hires a defense lawyer from Hong Kong who
speaks perfect English. Ah Tjong sits on the stand.
PROSECUTOR
What was your motive for continuously
poisoning this particular client, when
all along, he returned you a profit, and
paid his bills timely?
BABAH AH TJONG
At first, I was fed up because after five
years, he refused to leave.
Nyai, who had become the star of the trial, went scarlet upon
hearing those words.
CROSS FADE.
Nyai is now on the stand. She is not allowed to use Dutch,
and is ordered to use Javanese. She refuses, and uses Malay
instead.
A montage of questioning, and answering takes place.
NYAI
The late Herman Mellema's bill at Ah
Tjong's was forty-five guilders a month.
I paid it each month by messenger. Later,
I would receive a second bill for Robert
Mellema, at sixty guilders a month.
PROSECUTOR
And why did Robert have to pay so much
more?
BABAH AH TJONG
Because, Sinyo Robert only wanted Maiko,
who was the most expensive girl, and he
wanted her just for himself.
PROSECUTOR
Is it true that Maiko only served Robert
Mellema?
MAIKO
No. I served whomever Ah Tjong told me to
serve, including Ah Tjong himself.
Especially as Robert Mellema had recently
begun to lose his strength, and his

sexual desires.
PROSECUTOR
Has this Japanese prostitute ever
contracted a venereal disease?
DR. MARTINET
This person known to me as Maiko has
indeed contracted a deadly strain of
syphilis.
PROSECUTOR
Had Babah Ah Tjong ever expressed his
dissatisfaction directly to you,
regarding Herman Mellema?
NYAI
I had never even met this... Neighbor. I
only met his bills. The first time I ever
laid eyes on him was in this very
courtroom.
Minke's on the stand. The prosecutor is speaking...
PROSECUTOR
In which room do you sleep, Minke?
MINKE
I refuse to answer such an insulting
question.
Minke refuses to answer. But with the speed of lightning the
question is then directed at Annelies, and spoken directly in
Dutch.
PROSECUTOR
With whom does Miss Annelies Mellema
sleep?
Annelies has no power to refuse to answer.
ANNELIES
He sleeps in my room.
Humiliating giggling, and laughter can be heard in the
courtroom, quite loudly too.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
But, it's not as you think.
The next question is flung at Nyai.
PROSECUTOR
Nyai Ontosoroh, alias Sanikem, concubine
of the late Mr. Herman Mellema, how could
you allow such improper relations between

you guest and you own child within your

own home?
The surging laughter becomes more exuberant, more insulting,
more demonstrative. The prosecutor, and the judge too, both
smile, pleased that they have been able to engage in the
torment of the spirit of this native woman, a woman envied by
all, for obtaining so much wealth through her own back
breaking work. With a clear voice, and in flawless Dutch,
defying the judicial order that she only use Javanese, and
ignoring the pounding of the gavel, like the flood waters
released from the grip of a hurricane, she continues...
NYAI
Honorable judge, honorable prosecutor,
seeing that you've already made public my
family affairs...
(hammering of the gavel)
I, Nyai Ontosoroh, Sanikem, look upon the
relations between my daughter and my
guest in a different light than your
filthy innuendos imply. Yes, I, Sanikem,
am only a concubine, but not of my own
free choice. Out of my forced servitude,
my daughter Annelies was born. I find it
odd that nobody ever challenged my
relationship with Herman Mellema under
those same circumstances. Why? For the
simple reason he was European. But now
people are trying to make an issue of Mr.
Minke's relationship with Annelies. Why?
Only because he's a native? Why, then
isn't something said about the parents of
all Indos? Between Herman Mellema, and me
there were only the ties of slavery, and
they were never challenged by the law.
Between Mr. Minke, and my daughter there
exists a mutual, and pure love.
But when my children were born without
any such ties, no one was heard
objecting. Europeans are able to purchase
native women just as I was purchased, as
one would purchase a cow, or a horse. Are
such purchases truer than pure love? If
Europeans can act in these ways because
of their wealth, and imperial powers, why
is it that a native must become the
target of scorn, and insults because of
something pure?
There's now turmoil in the courtroom. Nyai keeps on speaking,
paying no heed to the judge's gavel.
PROSECUTOR
Your daughter is an Indo, an Indo, she's
above you! Minke is a native, though with
forum privilegiatum, the right to appear
before this court, meaning he's above
you, Nyai. But, his forum can be canceled
at a moment's notice. Miss Annelies also

remains above natives forever.

NYAI
Annelies, my daughter, sir, is merely an
Indo. Is that why she may not do the
things her father is guilty of? It was I
who gave birth to her, who reared her,
who educated her without a single cent of
aid from any of you, or him. You self
professed gentlemen have never worked
for, and worried after her as I. Why all
the fuss now?
Nyai, clearly no longer heeds the court's authority.
JUDGE
(gavel banging)
Remove this concubine from this
courtroom.
A police officer drags Nyai from her place, unable to resist.
But her tongue does not stop letting fly words, bullets of
revenge...
NYAI
Who turned me into a concubine? Who
turned all the honest native women into
nyais? European gentlemen! Those who were
made our masters through sheer force,
intimidation, and fear. Why in these
official forums are we laughed at?
Humiliated?
Or is it that you gentlemen desire that
my daughter become one of your concubines
as well?
Nyai's voice rings throughout the building, and all present
are silenced. The police officer dragging her away moves
faster now to finish the job. Nyai, has now become the
unofficial prosecutor, plaintiff against the European race.
She goes on speaking all the time she is being dragged away.
LONG SLOW DISSOLVE:
MINKE (V.O.)
Finally, the court ran into many issues
that could not be cleared up. The absence
of Robert Mellema, and Fatso was an
obstacle that could not be overcome. But
of all the questioning that were out of
order, the worst was that about my
relationship with Annelies. It made
people, those who had attended this
absurd farce laugh and giggle, while both
the prosecutor and judge, each in their
turn, could not let pass the opportunity
to ridicule our relationship in public.
My relationship with Nyai was also
subjected to disgusting, and uncivilized

insinuating questions left dangling in

mid air, unanswered.
BABAH AH TJONG
Nyai, this character you call Minke, whom
I've never met, and is not one of my
clients, as well as Annelies, Herman
Mellema's daughter, has no connection
with the murder.
MINKE (V.O.)
That one statement freed us from further
involvement in the case. But, not from
any of the lingering questions based on
the European standard of morality. The
trial went on for two more weeks. The
motive for the murder eluded the
prosecutor. The judge postponed his
judgment, as the prosecutor was ordered
to locate Robert Mellema, the latter to
be detained, and questioned. The court's
decision disappointed many people. They
expected the judge to bring down a death
sentence because an oriental had carried
out the premeditated murder of a
European. The judge ordered Ah Tjong to
be kept in temporary custody.
Maiko was ordered to be treated at a
hospital, and to be paid for by Ah Tjong.
Meanwhile everyone waited impatiently for
Fatso, and Robert to be caught.
EXT. HBS SCHOOL - DAY
Everyone has collected in the schoolyard by the time Minke's
buggy stops in front of the main gate. They put off their
activities, just to take a look at, and stare at Minke as he
passes them heading into the school.
INT. HBS SCHOOL HALLWAY - A LITTLE LATER
Passing into the school, and before entering class, Minke's
handed a message, which is from the school director. Minke
reports to him immediately.
INT. DIRECTOR'S OFFICE - DAY
The school's secretary nods toward the direction of the
director's door to Minke. He acknowledges, and knocks on the
director's door.
DIRECTOR
Enter.
Minke enters. The director takes note of his presence, and
gets right to the point. He picks up a prepared statement,
and begins to read it aloud.

DIRECTOR (cont'd)
(reading)
Minke, both as an individual and as
representative of all the school's
teachers, and students I would like to
congratulate you on your victory in
court. I would also personally like to
congratulate you on your tenacity in
defending yourself from public attack. I,
and all of us, are proud to have a pupil
as talented as you. The court trial was
followed by all the students, and
teachers. You no doubt already know that.
You have been the focus of much
attention, because you are a pupil at
this school. Now I'd like you to listen
to the decision of the Teachers' Council
that has come out of its meetings, and
its rather difficult discussions about
you.
Based on your answers in court, I mean
those concerning your relations with
Annelies Mellema, the Teachers' Council
has decided that you are too adult to mix
with your fellow students, and in
particular that you are a danger to the
female students. The Teachers' Council
meeting does not dare accept the
responsibility of answering for the
safety of the female pupils to their
parents and guardians. Do you understand?
MINKE
More than understand.
DIRECTOR'S NOTE
A great pity. A few more months, and you
would have graduated. No doubt, top of
your class.
The director put out his hand to Minke and says...
DIRECTOR
Failure in school, but successful in love
and life.
Minke doesn't shake the director's hand. He turns to leave
the Director's office, just in time to hear the class bell
ring. As the students scramble into classrooms, Minke notices
that all eyes are directed at him.
DISSOLVE:
Minke's seat sits empty in a class full of students.
DISSOLVE:

EXT. HBS SCHOOL - A LITTLE LATER

Minke turns to look back at the school before entering the
buggy, which Darsam is in charge of. The window in every
classroom is filled with students looking back at him. Minke
forces a smile, and waves, as they all waved back. Upon
seeing the student's response he begins to cry. Minke climbs
aboard quickly. And, as the buggy starts to move.
MINKE
Stop!
Magda Peters comes running toward Minke from the school's
entrance. He climbs down.
MAGDA PETERS
A pity, Minke. I was unable to defend you
successfully. I fought as hard as I
could. It was impudent of the court to
ask you about such private matters in
public. It was clear those matters had no
bearing on the case.
MINKE
Thank you, miss.
The director appears at the front of the school, and Magda
Peters returns. Minke climbs aboard and, at his request, the
buggy sets off slowly.
DISSOLVE:
EXT. STREET TO SURABAYA - DAY
The buggy Minke traveled in moved slowly along roads already
showing signs of the early morning traffic.
MINKE (V.O.)
If the secret thoughts of each, and every
one of us were exposed to the wind, cut
open without mercy, who could guarantee
they wouldn't reveal even greater sins?
Doesn't everyone have their personal
desires, which they carry with them until
satisfied, or unto their death? And that
prosecutor, and that judge, both of whom
who show no mercy to anyone, heaping upon
the weak, and helpless, burdens they
themselves could never endure, is that
what justice is? They themselves might be
keeping concubines. Perhaps, if there
were no legal controls, their own
behavior may even be more shameless than
that of Herman Mellema towards Sanikem,
Nyai, Mama, a concubine, having no legal
recourse. But, an abundance of public
scorn, and undeserved ridicule.

Traveling along in the buggy, Minke feels that every person

he sees is pointing an accusing finger at him.
PERSON 1
That's the Minke who was exposed in
court, isn't it?
PERSON 2
That is Minke! He sleeps in the same room
as Annelies, a woman he isn't even
married to.
Minke clearly looks depressed. The buggy pulls up in front of
Jean's house. Jean's already outside waiting for him to
arrive.
JEAN MARAIS
You're dispirited, ah, yes I know. You're
expelled from school? Keep your chin up
boy! It could be worse, you could have
actually started to believe all that
nonsense they were filling your head
with.
Even with this great words, all things joyous have been
eliminated from Minke's heart.
JEAN MARAIS (cont'd)
Your school is too small for you now. If
the Minke that I know has been broken
like this, isn't there still the Max
Tollenaar, who writes powerful, and often
damning prose?
Jean doesn't seem to realize that Minke's humiliation means
it would be more difficult to find orders.
MINKE
And how will I find orders now?
Jean's silent for a moment. Suddenly he burst out laughing.
Minke's somewhat hurt by that.
JEAN MARAIS
Do you know, Minke, I see a joke in all
this.
MINKE
(annoyed)
There's nothing funny in any of this.
JEAN MARAIS
There is! Do you know, there's only one
medicine that can cure you. Get married,
Minke. You must marry Annelies. Show to
the world that you're not afraid of
confronting any of their pettiness.

Marry, Minke, just get married!

MINKE
Miss Peters said she thought the court
was unjust towards us, even insolent.
JEAN MARAIS
Yes, it was uncivilized. That's the most
apt way of describing it.
There are some Malay-Dutch papers that
have said the same thing. Only not as
strongly as that. It's true, those kind
of questions should only be asked in
closed court.
MINKE
Yes, but there was one Dutch paper that
called Mama insolent, saying that she
created turmoil in the court. But they
didn't even print her words.
JEAN MARAIS
Read Kommer's article. His anger was like
that of a wounded lion. He's on your
side.
MINKE
Tell me. I don't feel like reading.
JEAN MARAIS
He wrote that the actions of the judge
and prosecutor were insults to all Indo
Europeans born out of concubinage, out of
a relationship with a nyai. Their
children, if acknowledged by the father,
are not considered natives. If the father
doesn't acknowledge them, they become
natives. It means natives are the
equivalent of children born of a
concubine whose father won't acknowledge
them. He also condemned the court's
exposure of your private affairs. Kommer
said that the prosecutor, and judge did
not have European morals. It was worse
than the native court set up by Wiroguno
to try Pronocitro almost two hundred, and
fifty years ago.
(he pauses to ponder...)
Who were they, Minke? I don't know.
MINKE
I'll tell you another time.
INT. NYAI'S OFFICE - DAY
Minke goes straight into the office to report on the new
disaster, his termination from HBS school.

MINKE
Mama, what do you think about the idea of
Annelies, and me marrying?
NYAI
Wait a while. What's the hurry?
MINKE
Because I'm sure I won't be able to place
orders otherwise. Jean, and May depend on
me in that way.
NYAI
What can one do, child? Regrets don't
achieve anything. The days at court have
brought considerable losses to the
business, and my position could
deteriorate to that of any ordinary nyai,
due to our public humiliation. We have to
make up those losses first. Because
without this company doing well, this
family will lose everything. I hope you
understand.
Nyai seeks Minke's understanding.
NYAI (cont'd)
Minke, I have reflected on the
strangeness of life for a long time now.
If I can't save this business, my
position will fall to that of any
ordinary nyai. Annelies would suffer
greatly. I'll have been a complete
failure as a mother. Annelies must be
honored, and respected. Those things can
only be obtained through this business.
It's strange, child, but that is what the
world demands.
Minke can see that Annelies herself is working out at the
back. Minke sits in a chair, he notes the stack of papers on
Nyai's desk. It's a stack of clean, unused white paper. Minke
grabs a stack of it, opens a desk drawer searching for a pen,
finds one, and dashes out of the room. Nyai looks on in
amusement, as Minke can be heard stating, again and again...
MINKE
Pures, Indos, and Natives. Pures, Indos,
and Natives. Pures, Indos, and Natives.
INT. MINKE'S GUEST ROOM - DAY
Minke holds up his latest Max Tollenaar article clearly
titled, Pures, Indos, and Natives. He looks it over, quite
pleased with his accomplishment. There's a knock on his door,
it's Annelies. She opens it.
ANNELIES

There's a Magda Peters here.

MINKE
Tell her I no longer have any connection
with that school.
ANNELIES
She said the director wants to see you.
Minke tosses down his article, and goes to the door where he
can see Miss Peters standing downstairs. Then, Nyai appears
at the door.
NYAI
I object to you going.
Miss Peters then looks up, and sees Minke looking down upon
her.
MAGDA PETERS
No matter how you feel, you must come.
But first, accept my congratulations.
Your latest article is a true call to
humanity, a powerful incentive for people
to think more wisely. It feels so good to
have had a student whom I can be so proud
of. Truly!
INT. HBS SCHOOL - DAY
All the teachers have been called together. Is it a kangaroo
court? The director receives Minke with a friendly smile as
he enters the room. Minke is shown a seat, but does not sit.
The director sits, and opens the meeting, which apparently
had already been underway.
DIRECTOR
It appears that the humanist conscience
of Europe, so long absent among the
Indies natives, has begun to grow within
Max Tollenaar, one of our own students...
Minke.
Minke stands stone faced, listening.
DIRECTOR (cont'd)
We've already received several
admonishing letters, even from graduates,
which protested against our decision to
expel Minke. The assistant resident of
Minke's hometown felt it necessary to
come to Surabaya to discuss the matter.
He even planned to seek redress with the
director of the department of teaching,
and religion if his efforts in Surabaya
are not fruitful. So, for the first time,
one of our decisions is being challenged.
Now, here is Minke, Max Tollenaar if you

will, standing before this council of

teachers. We'll now review our earlier
decision, and perhaps come to terms
regarding some... new policy.
Like a lioness who has lost her child, Magda Peters roars,
claws, attacks in the interest of her beloved student. Her
eyes blink more rapidly than ever before.
MAGDA PETERS
If someone has developed into an
individual with a sense of humanity, like
Minke has, we should be grateful, even if
our part in this is entirely
insignificant. Such an outstanding
individual can only be born out of
extraordinary conditions, and
circumstances, as is the case with Minke.
I propose reinstating him, so that he can
be given a stronger foundation on which
he may build his future.
DIRECTOR
What is your opinion, Minke, now that
you've heard all this?
MINKE
It was always my intention, and desire to
finish school. If the door is open to me,
I will certainly enter. If it's closed to
me, I have no objections either.
MINKE (V.O.)
It was decided that I would be accepted
back as a student. But with special
conditions. I must sit at a special desk
set apart from the others, and whether in
or outside of class, I must not converse
with fellow pupils, either to ask a
question, or to answer one.
The meeting is closed. With dark faces, except for Miss
Peters, all teachers congratulate Minke on reentry. Miss
Peters's clearly satisfied with herself, and considers all
that has occurred a personal victory. She looks at Minke who
returns a thankful, and knowing gaze.
INT. HBS SCHOOL - DAY
Minke appears in cap, and gown at his graduation. Like all
other graduating students he wears white clothes with the
letter W for Wilhelmina on his shirt pocket. The director's
voice can be heard through the excitement.
DIRECTOR
Graduating second in all of the Indies,
and first in Surabaya, the student's name
is... Minke.

(calling to Minke)
Minke!
Miss Peters waves her arms getting Minke's attention. And so
he stands, both legs unsteady. There is no applause
supporting him. Even the teachers don't applaud. Then there
can be heard some weak clapping. It's easy to guess that it
was Miss Peters. Minke goes to the stage, and receives his
diploma, and congratulations from the director. Minke's hand
shakes visibly.
DIRECTOR (cont'd)
Steady, Minke.
Slowly Minke walks back to his seat, accompanied by the weak
clapping of the teachers, and then that of a few students,
followed by some in the audience.
DISSOLVE:
The caps all fill the air as fresh graduates show great
pleasure for successfully completing the program.
MINKE (V.O.)
Annelies, and I were to marry as soon as
I graduated.
As the caps fall, Minke turns to see Annelies, who's wearing
her favorite black velvet dress with a three-stringed pearl
necklace, a brilliant bejewelled medallion, and bracelets.
And there could be no doubt, she was the most stunning woman
at the event. Both girls, and boys turned to see Minke's
queen. Now they knew of her beauty too. They finally saw who
they had been gossiping about. Minke then takes her by the
hand, and leads her through the mass of excited former
students. Minke seeks out Robert Suurhof, so he would have no
chance to hide his face.
Suddenly, Wilhelmus boomed out as everyone joined in singing
under the Tricolors, flags and ribbons. Everyone cheers
loyally. The Director approaches Minke, and hands him a
letter.
It reads, "Congratulations on passing the state exam second
in the Indies, from Miriam, Sarah, and Herbert de la Croix."
The director shakes hands with Annelies and is very friendly.
MINKE
Sir, would you accept our invitation to
our wedding on behalf of all of the
teachers, and students? The wedding party
will be next Wednesday. At seven in the
evening.
DIRECTOR
So fast?
Once again the Director shakes hands with Minke, and
Annelies. He shakes Minke's hand vigorously, and then claps

merrily so that the people nearby look directly at them.

DIRECTOR (cont'd)
May I announce it?
MINKE
Thank you, sir, of course.
Miss Peters, who has been listening in, also shakes hands
with Minke, and Annelies. Her eyes aren't blinking fast. The
Director announces the invitation. Minke's eyes finally meet
Robert Suurhof, who quickly turns away.
DIRECTOR
(motioning with his hands to
quiet the crowd)
Everyone, I have an especially important
announcement to make.
INT. MINKE'S GUEST ROOM - DAY
Minke's mother scrubs his face, neck, chest, and arms with an
unknown liquid. It's time for the advice before the marriage
ceremony.
MOTHER
In the past, just as had been when I was
young, countries waged wars to win a
maiden like my soon to be daughter-in
law, mbedah praja, mboyong putri was our
ancestors proverb. Victory over kingdoms,
possession of its princesses. But, it's
no longer like that. Even though the
Dutch are so powerful, thankfully they've
never stolen people's wives or daughters
like the kings who ruled our ancestors.
How proud I am to have her as my daughter
in-law, Gus, you've made me so happy.
Mother keeps on looking after Minke's body, and keeps on
talking, and talking...
MOTHER (cont'd)
You're lucky you don't have to fight like
your ancestors to keep your wife safe,
and secure.
(changing the topic)
When will you come home to visit?
Everyone will come out of their homes to
greet her.
MINKE
I'm not returning home.
MOTHER
No?
(brooding)
Ya, ya, I understand, I must be the one

to come here, and see my daughter-in-law,

and my grandchildren as well.
MINKE
It's not like that. After all that
terrible trial publicity, it would be
father who'd object to me returning home.
MOTHER
Have you forbidden your wife to have her
teeth filed?
MINKE
Let my wife's teeth remain as they were
given to her, Mother.
Minke's mother continues to scrub him roughly.
MINKE (cont'd)
Why are you scrubbing me like this? It's
as if I've never bathed.
MOTHER
Hush! On this your wedding day I want you
to look like a child of the gods.
MINKE
What's the use of looking like a child of
the gods?
MOTHER
Today, all your ancestors will come to
bear witness to your wedding, and give
their blessings.
Imagine how I'd feel to see my son ascend
the wedding throne looking anything less
than a Javanese knight?
MINKE
I can't even write in Javanese, mother.
MOTHER
You write in Dutch, because you no longer
want to be Javanese. Why do you honor
them so greatly? They drink, and eat from
the Javanese earth. You don't eat, and
drink from the Dutch earth.
MINKE
Yes, Mother.
MOTHER
What are you yessing? Your ancestors, the
kings of Java, all wrote in Javanese. Are
you ashamed of being Javanese? Ashamed
that you're not Dutch?
(turning to the wardrobe that

is already laid out)

Put on this batik kain. Mother made this
for you herself, and for this occasion. I
stored it in a special box for four years
now. Every week I sprinkled it with
jasmine flowers, There is one for you,
and one for my daughter-in-law. Inspect
your mother's batik work, and smell the
aroma of the years and years of jasmine.
Minke inspects, and smells it.
MINKE
Beautiful, mother. Sweet-smelling, and
that delicious aroma has been absorbed
right down into the threads.
MOTHER
I dyed it red, and blue with my own
hands. And the dyes I made myself as
well. Smell its aroma again, the perfume
of the dye is still there.
The kain is pushed under his nose.
MINKE
Just wonderful.
MOTHER
I'm happy to see you so clever at
pretending to please the heart of this
old woman.
MINKE
No, really! It's wonderful. It must have
taken you at least a month to make it.
MOTHER
Two months. Specially made to be worn on
this day. And there are two. One for you,
and one for my daughter-in-law. If you
throw them out after today, that's up to
you.
MINKE
I will save them until I die.
MOTHER
Those are the words of a devoted son.
(she reaches for a gorgeous
chain of flowers)
These flowers have also been made by your
mother.
(showing with her hands)
This keris, this curved ceremonial sword,
was left for you by your grandfather.
It's hundreds of years old, from before
the time of Mataram, from before Pajang.

From the time of Majapahit.

MINKE
From where does mother know this?
MOTHER
Don't you remember hearing your
grandfather speak of these things? This
keris has been used by all your
ancestors, except your father. This keris
was prepared especially for you. Open it,
and you'll see the thumbprints of the
craftsman sage who made it.
As these words are being spoken, Minke has finished putting
on his batik kain.
MINKE
Sorry, could you pull the keris out of
its scabbard so I can see it?
MOTHER
Do you equate this with a kitchen knife?
Mother looks terribly sad, almost drawn to tears.
MOTHER (cont'd)
Don't go too far, Gus, don't go too far
with your non-Javaneseness. Since when
has a woman been allowed to pull out a
keris from its scabbard? A keris is only
for a man. Don't be so disrespectful.
(mother to son in all
seriousness)
Gus, respect your past. Without it, there
could never be a future. When you slip
the keris onto your waist, you'll be
changed. You will look like your
ancestors. You'll be closer to your
origins.
Finally, Minke's adornments are finished.
MOTHER (cont'd)
Sit down there on the floor. Bow down
your head.
Minke does.
MOTHER (cont'd)
You're a descendant of the knights of
Java... The founders, and destroyers of
kingdoms. You yourself have the blood of
a knight. You are a knight. What are the
attributes of a knight of Java?
MINKE

I don't know!
MOTHER
The five attributes of the Javanese
knight are, house, woman, horse, bird,
and keris. Can you remember that?
MINKE
Of course I can.
MOTHER
Do you know the meanings of those words?
MINKE
Yes.
MOTHER
And do you know what they symbolize?
MINKE
No.
MOTHER
Child who doesn't know his own origin...
Listen, and don't forget to pass it on to
your children one day.
Minke shakes his head, yes.
MOTHER (cont'd)
First a house! Without a house a person
can never be a knight. He can only be a
tramp. A house is where a knight departs
from, and the place to which he returns.
A house is not just an address, it's a
trusted place by he who lives there. Are
you bored?
MINKE
I'm listening.
Mother pulls Minke's ear.
MOTHER
You've never listened to your mother.
MINKE
(holding back laughter, and
holding his pinched ear)
I'm listening now... Truly!
MOTHER
Secondly, a woman. Without a woman, a
knight goes against his nature as a man.
The woman is the symbol of life, and the
bringer of life, of fertility,

prosperity, of well-being. She's not just

a wife to a husband. She's the center
around which circles, and from which
comes the giving of life, and life
itself. This is how you should look upon
this old mother of yours, and what should
guide you in bringing up your daughters.
(an exaggerated pause)
Third, a horse. The horse will carry you
on your journeys. After learning,
knowledge, ability, skills, expertise,
and finally, advancement. Without a
horse, your strides will not be long,
your vision will be short.
Minke nods in agreement.
MOTHER (cont'd)
Fourth, the bird, is a symbol of beauty,
of distraction, of everything that has no
connection with simple physical survival,
of only the satisfaction of one's soul.
Without this, people are only lumps of
soulless stone. And the fifth, the keris.
The keris is the symbol of vigilance, of
preparedness, of courage, the weapon with
which to defend the other four. Without
the keris, the others will vanish. They
will be vulnerable to attack. Now you
know all that a knight need know. Never
be without even one of these things. Each
one of them is a sign of yourself. Listen
to your ancestors. If you can't obey in
the other things, then at least complete
the attainment of these five.
MINKE
Yes, mother.
MOTHER
Now meditate. Ask for the blessings, and
forgiveness of your ancestors, that they
may guard you from the oppression,
slander, and malice of others.
Minke remains seated on the floor, head bowed.
MOTHER (cont'd)
Not like that!
(exasperated, she pushes her
son into position)
Sit properly, cross-legged. Your arms
relaxed, and placed on your lap. Be a
good Javanese, even if only for a moment,
and just this once. Bow down your head
more deeply.
Minke carries out all her orders. Indeed he does seek
forgiveness from those unknown ancestors of his, ancestors

whom he could not even imagine. Then, mother kneels before

him, and places a necklace of jasmine flowers around his
neck. She begins sobbing. Then she places a small chain of
flowers in each of his hands. With her hands, and without
speaking, she moves each of his fingers into gripping the
chains. Mother them kisses his forehead under the curved edge
of his batik blangkon, the sign of Javanese nobility. And her
sobbing becomes worse. Minke feels her tears drop onto his
cheeks. And all of a sudden he too begins to cry.
MOTHER (cont'd)
Bless this child, the child of your
blood. Protect him from disasters, from
oppression, slander, and malice, because
he is my beloved child. I gave birth to
him in suffering. I have lived until
today only so that I may witness this
event. This is the child of my own blood.
Bring him closer to greatness, and
triumph.
Mother's hands move to Minke's back. She ceases her sobbing,
and corrects the way he's sitting, the position of the
jasmine necklace, and the chains of flowers gripped in his
hands. With the corner of her kabaya she wipes away his
tears. She then puts his chin in its proper position because
it's being held too high.
MOTHER (cont'd)
Meditate, Gus, meditate by yourself,
without my help.
He does.
DISSOLVE:
Guests start to arrive filling up the front room. Jean
Marais, and May, Magda Peters, and Mr. and Mrs. Telinga too.
JAN DAPPERSTE, one of Minke's school friends is busy running
around like a propeller. He's carrying out his duties as a
volunteer waiter. Mama's customers flock in as well.
EXT. MELLEMA ESTATE WEDDING CEREMONY - DAY
Minke, and Annelies wedding party, which they had planned to
be a simple affair, turns into something much grander as a
result of the invitation announced at the HBS graduation.
Nyai approves.
NYAI
(to Minke)
This party will also celebrate your
victory in the examination, nyo. Despite
facing so many trials, you passed
brilliantly. You overcame all obstacles.
Minke's mother is now present. She's the only representative
of his family. Nyai greets her joyfully, as if they were old

friends.
MOTHER
(to Nyai)
Ya, Sis.
Mother quickly comes to love Annelies, her future daughter-in
law. It's as if she could not bear to be far from her, and
never grows tired of staring in admiration at her beauty.
MOTHER (cont'd)
(to Annelies)
A child so beautiful, like Nawangwulan.
Perhaps even more beautiful than
Banowati.
(to Nyai)
I never guessed that sis would take my
son as her son-in-law. Neither in this
world or the next will I ever forget it.
Yes, they love each other. Ah, if a girl
is as beautiful as this, she already has
everything.
Mother turns to whisper at Minke.
MOTHER (cont'd)
Gus, you're truly fortunate to have
obtained a wife so beautiful. In your
ancestors' time a woman as beautiful as
that would spark a great war.
MINKE
Does mother think I didn't go to war to
win her?
MOTHER
Ah, yes, yes... You're right, Gus, and of
course your victory was glorious.
CROSS FADE.
Wedding ceremony montage.
The two are married according to Islamic Law. Darsam acts as
witness, and as guardian to Annelies as stipulated in the
faith. The wedding takes place at exactly nine o'clock in the
morning. As was the custom, and with feelings of gratitude.
Minke and Annelies both kneel, and make obeisance to mother
and Nyai.
Tears pour forth from both mothers as they accept their
obeisance, and bless each of them with halting words.
Annelies cries also. Mother and Mama put their arms around
each other's shoulders, gaze at each other with tear-filled
eyes, and embrace.
For the friends, families, and inhabitants of all the company

villages, the marriage is followed by a big feast. Then the

real party.
The paddy-drying area is turned into a large covered
pavilion. Five young calves are slaughtered. Three hundred
chickens meet their end. Two thousand, and twenty-five eggs
as well. The whole of the day's milk production is
surrendered to the kitchen. Every company carriage, whether
being used or not, is decorated with multicolored paper.
Never has the inhabitants of Wonokromo witnessed so large a
wedding party.
Dr. Martinet, as master of ceremonies suddenly calls out to
the guests who instantly go quiet. He emphasizes everything
important with a simple movement of his hands. He points to
where Minke, and Annelies sit together.
DR. MARTINET
Let us now look at the portrait hanging
above the throne upon which sit the happy
newlyweds.
With no less beautiful a movement of his hands, Dr. Martinet
guides the eyes to Mama's portrait that hangs above Minke and
Annelies.
DR. MARTINET (cont'd)
That painting, is a portrait of a woman
who indeed is extraordinary for her
times. Nyai Ontosoroh.
(applause from the guests)
And you all know who painted this
wonderful portrait. A painter of great
talent! If we examine the painting
carefully we can see that the painter
truly understands his subject's spirit.
Is it not so, Mr. Jean Marais? Yes, the
painter hails from France, a country with
a great artistic tradition. Mr. Marais,
please stand up.
Mr. Telinga helps a reluctant to rise, Jean Marais to his
feet, and everyone starts cheering wildly. The Frenchman goes
red with embarrassment, and quickly sits down again.
Darsam is dressed in black, and standing in the distance. His
mustache is lush, and shining, and curled up at the ends. His
eyes are wandering about everywhere. There is no machete, but
one may be assured that there are daggers slipped under his
shirt.
Nyai, sits behind the screen at the back of the wedding
throne. Mother stands beside her daughter-in-law and, without
once stopping, keeps Annelies cool with a peacock-feather
fan. The pile of presents the newlywed's feet grow higher and
higher. Wreaths of flowers line up in rows on either side of
them. As time goes on the row of flowers grew longer.

Minke is in all his glory. Then he notices someone dressed

all in black. His hair shone. A fancy handkerchief adorned
his top pocket. A gold watch-chain indicates the presence of
a gold watch in his pocket. The person strides confidently,
dashingly, among all the people. There could be no mistake,
it's Robert Suurhof. With great politeness, he holds out his
hand to Minke.
ROBERT SUURHOF
Congratulations, Minke.
Then to Annelies.
ROBERT SUURHOF (cont'd)
Forgive me for being somewhat late, Mrs.
Minke.
(He bows even more politely)
MINKE
We're happy you were able to come, Rob.
ROBERT SUURHOF
Forgive all the things that have
happened, if you will.
(without relaxing his
politeness)
Allow me to present a little something to
your wife, in celebration of this
occasion.
Without waiting for an answer, Suurhof takes a gold ring with
a large diamond out of his pocket. He takes Annelies' hand,
and places the ring on her finger. He then twists the ring
around so the diamond is hidden in her palm. Then he bows
down to her hand. As far as Minke is concerned he kisses her
hand far too long. Then, Suurhof faces Minke.
ROBERT SUURHOF (cont'd)
I'll not go back on a promise. I admire,
and respect you greatly, much more than
ever before.
(he hands Minke a little box
tied in pink ribbon)
This is a little present from me on your
wedding day. May you both live happily
forever.
MINKE
Thank you.
ROBERT SUURHOF
I would also like to take this
opportunity to take leave of you. I'm
sailing for Europe to study law.
MINKE
Safe sailing! And I wish you great

success.
Suurhof smiles, and Minke does too. He then turns, and walks
away in that confident, dashing manner of his, and fades into
the crowd of others as he departs. Minke certainly feels the
love, and adoration he deserves. He also feels vindicated.
One small, long parcel captures Minke's attention, and he
picks it up. There's a card on which someone had drawn their
own picture. Minke reads the card... "Greetings and best
wishes to the love birds Minke and Annelies Mellema. Fatso"
The package falls to the floor. Jan Dapperste picks it up.
MINKE (cont'd)
This one's for you, Jan.
Minke hands the package to Jan, and puts the card into his
own pocket.
ANNELIES
Mas?
MINKE
Now you're my wife.
ANNELIES
And you're my husband.
(referring at Suurhof's ring)
Take it off.
Minke removes the ring Suurhof had placed on Annelies'
finger.
MINKE
You don't like it?
ANNELIES
I never liked any of his letters. Why
would I like his ring?
MINKE (V.O.)
At last I understood. He too loved
Annelies.
Minke put the ring into his pocket.
ANNELIES
Give it back to him.
MINKE
Yes, I'll return it.
MONTAGE:

INT. NYAI'S OFFICE - DAY

Minke is laboring away on a pile of documents. Annelies
enters, placing a few more documents on the table.
ANNELIES
Here are some more.
The documents turn out to be letters, scores of letters
written by Suurhof to Annelies. Minke doesn't read them. He's
merely preparing them to be destroyed.
MINKE (V.O.)
Science was giving birth to more and more
miracles. The legends of my ancestors
were being put to shame. No longer was it
necessary to meditate in the mountains in
order to speak to somebody across the
sea. The Germans had laid a cable
reaching from England to India! And these
cables were multiplying, and spreading
all over the face of the earth. But the
world's problems remained as they had
always been. And no more so than in
matters of love. Letters from one person
to another, unsuccessful in gaining a
love, then to another who had won that
love, and seeking forgiveness. Robert,
you are forgiven. What can be done! Even
in the modern world, how to triumph in
love was not something that could be
taught in school.
EXT. MELLEMA FARMLAND - DAY
Various daily routines of working on the Mellema estate.
Minke's mother doted on Annelies.
MINKE (V.O.)
Another month passed. Mother had already
visited us twice.
Mamma working hard, and dealing with customers, and
farmhands. Calendar months peel away.
Then, a court summons is handed to Annelies. She reads it,
and nearly faints. Mama takes the note, and becomes visibly
shaken.
MINKE (V.O.)
Six months had passed as Annelies, and I
began to settle into our daily routine.
And then happened what indeed inevitably
had to be. Annelies, and her mother were
summoned to appear before the court. Who
wouldn't have been startled? The court
again. Now, it was Annelies who received

the main summons.

Annelies, and her mother leave the Mellema estate in a
carriage. Annelies is looking back at a concerned Minke.
MINKE (V.O.)
When they left together. I stayed to
carry on Mama's work.
Minke stands before another man dressed in his finest soldier
garb. Babbling away, as Minke is clearly preoccupied looking
to see if the carriage has returned with Annelies, and Nyai.
MINKE (V.O.)
The most difficult task was getting rid
of the army soldiers who kept wanting to
court Mama. One of these, an Indo,
claimed he was a former Vanndrig, a
junior lieutenant. He said he had been
awarded the bronze medal, and received
ten hectares of good agricultural land
near Malang as a part of his pension. He
wanted the two of them to enter into a
partnership. He asked for my help. Would
I pass all of this on to Nyai? If I was
successful, he promised to give me
whatever I asked for. He went away,
forgetting to even tell me his name.
Minke returns to the road looking for the carriage. He's
obviously restless, and concerned.
MINKE (V.O.)
They had been gone for hours. I grew more
and more anxious. I stopped working. Each
time a milk cart came in, I ran outside
to have a look.
Minke's about to turn back to go inside when he sees the
carriage returning from up the road. When it arrives Nyai
shouts to Minke...
NYAI
Minke, come here quickly!
Minke runs to meet them. Mama gets out of the carriage first.
Her face is scarlet. She put out her hand to Annelies, who is
still inside. And then, Minke's wife exits, ghostly pale,
with her face bathed in tears, mute, and trembling.
As soon as Annelies alights from the carriage, she falls into
Minke's arms, and embraces him.
NYAI (cont'd)
(ordering roughly)
Take her inside.

Mama goes quickly inside, and into her office.

MINKE
Did you have a fight with Mama?
Annelies shakes her head, no. Minke takes her into the home.
INT. MELLEMA HOME FRONT ROOM - DAY
Annelies refuses to be taken upstairs. She asks with her eyes
to be put down on the front-parlor settee.
MINKE
Are you ill?
Annelies shakes her head no.
MINKE (cont'd)
(anxiously)
Then, what's wrong?
NYAI
(from the upstairs office)
Darsam!
Minke runs to the door.
MINKE
Quick, Darsam, Mama!
INT. MELLEMA HOME FRONT ROOM - DAY
By the time Minke reaches the office Darsam is already
inside. Annelies too. Mama's face is still scarlet.
NYAI
(admonishing)
Why don't you go to sleep, Ann?
Annelies shakes her head no. Darsam salutes Nyai, and departs
quickly.
MINKE
What's happened? What's going on?
Minke can then hear the sound of wheels grinding the pebbles
on the roadway in front of the office.
Mama pays no attention to his question, goes over to the
window, and shouts outwardly.
NYAI
Hurry! Go quickly!
Mama turns around, and goes to Annelies, caresses her hair,

and generally tries to humor her.

NYAI (cont'd)
You don't need to worry about it. Let us
look after it. Me, and your husband.
Minke
Will someone tell me what's going on?
Nyai turns to Minke.
NYAI
It's come at last, child, Minke, nyo.
What I've always worried.
MINKE
What's come at last? What?
Nyai pushes several documents into Minke's hands, originals,
and copies. He begins to look at them, and especially takes
notice of the top document.
NYAI
They're from the Home Affairs Ministry,
the Ministry for Colonies, and the
Ministry of Justice. On top of the pile
you'll find a letter from Maurits Mellema
to his mother, giving him power of
attorney to make all arrangements in
relation to his claimed inheritance of
the late Herman Mellema, his father. Then
there's a copy of a letter from Maurits
Mellema's mother, written on behalf of
her son, to the Amsterdam court, asking
it to look after the rights of her son
over the wealth and property of the late
Mr. Herman Mellema.
Minke's overwhelmed at the volume of documents.
NYAI (cont'd)
Furthermore, there are copies of the
Surabaya court, and prosecutor's office's
correspondence with the Amsterdam court,
concerning whether or not there is a
marriage certificate between Herman
Mellema and Sanikem, me, and whether or
not there is a will made by Herman
Mellema before he died. There are also
copies of the decision of the court in
relation to the murder carried out by Ah
Tjong, a determination relating to the
disappearance of Robert Mellema, copies
of the certificates of acknowledgment by
Herman Mellema of his children, Annelies
and Robert Mellema, both of whom were
given birth by Sanikem, me, as registered
in the civil registry office. Then again

there are correspondence between my

accountant, and the Surabaya court all
relating to the accountant's refusal to
make available any information relating
to the assets of Boerderij Buitenzorg
without permission from those with the
proper authority. There are also copies
of documents from the tax office
regarding the amount of taxes paid by the
company, and the land's valuation. Copies
of documents from the Livestock and
Agriculture Office regarding the number
of cattle, and their condition. Need I
say more?
Minke stares at the documents under the gaze of Nyai, and
Annelies, who seem to be hoping for an opinion from him. But
he doesn't know anything about the things mentioned in all of
those documents.
MINKE
(almost stuttering)
I'm... I...
Nyai then goes to her desk, and picks up one more document,
and places it on top of the stack of documents Minke is
already holding.
NYAI
Finally, the ruling of the Amsterdam
District Court.
It says, based on the application to the
Court by Maurits Mellema, son of the late
Herman Mellema, made through his
attorney, Mr. Hans Graegg, located in
Amsterdam, the Amsterdam District Court,
based upon official documents, provided
by the Surabaya District Court, whose
authenticity cannot be doubted,
determines that the entire property, and
wealth of the late Herman Mellema,
because of the absence of legal ties
between Herman Mellema, and Sanikem, be
divided as follows, Maurits Mellema, as
the legitimate child, to receive of all
property, Annelies, and Robert Mellema,
as legally recognized children, to
receive each. Because Robert Mellema's
whereabouts have been officially declared
unknown, both temporarily as well as
permanently, his inheritance is to be
managed by Mr. Maurits Mellema. The
Amsterdam District Court also appoints
Maurits Mellema guardian over Annelies,
as the latter is still considered to be
legally under age, and so therefore her
inheritance will also be managed by
Maurits Mellema. Maurits Mellema, as
guardian of Annelies Mellema, through his
attorney, authorized another advocate

located in Surabaya to bring action

against Sanikem, alias Nyai Ontosoroh,
and Annelies Mellema, in the Court in
Surabaya, over the guardianship of
Annelies Mellema, and her future
upbringing in the Netherlands.
Minke nearly faints as he understands the legal
determination. He slowly sits down.
MINKE (V.O.)
I read through those documents, trying to
understand their the language that seemed
to intentionally alienate the reader. I
tried to understand what they were
saying, but I could not. However, there
was one aspect of their contents I
understood very well. The courts did not
recognize Annelies as my wife.
Minke looks at Annelies, who is red in the face from crying,
and equally as shocked. He then turns to Nyai.
NYAI
My attorney was waiting for us when we
arrived at the court. He was the one who
told us of the decision, and explained
it.
MINKE
Didn't Mama protest against the decision?
As Nyai speaks in more of a rant than an explanation, Minke
speaks in voice over.
NYAI
Protest? I did more than that, I
completely rejected the decision. She is
my child, I said. It's only I who have
any rights over her. It was I who gave
birth to her, who have brought her up.
The judge only said, the documents show
that Annelies is the child of Herman
Mellema. Who is her mother, who was it
that gave birth to her? I asked. The
documents state that her mother is the
woman Sanikem alias Nyai Ontosoroh,
but... I am Sanikem. Yes, he said, but
Sanikem is not Mrs. Mellema. I can bring
witnesses, I said, to prove that I gave
birth to her. He said, Annelies is under
European law, Nyai is not. Nyai is a
native. Had Annelies not been
acknowledged by her father, she too would
be a native, and the court would have
nothing to do with her. I said, I will
fight this decision. That's up to you, he
said.

MINKE (V.O.)
The Dutch have never stolen people's
wives as did the kings of Java? Now,
mother, it is none other than your own
daughter-in-law that they are threatening
to steal, a child from her mother, and a
wife from her husband, and as if that
wasn't enough, they too want to steal the
fruits of Mama's hard work, and
everything she has strived to achieve
over the last twenty years without having
ever even taken a holiday, or a day of
rest. And all this was based upon no more
than beautiful documents written by
expert scribes, and clerks with their
indelible black ink that soaked halfway
through the thickness of the paper.
NYAI
Mr. D.L. will be here soon, I think.
Perhaps.
MINKE
Who's that?
NYAI
He's an attorney.
Nyai takes a deep breath.
NYAI (cont'd)
You should have come, Minke. You could
have at least defended your wife, and
your interests, even if the court
wouldn't have listened.
At that moment Minke finally shows his anger, fury, and
hatred for the court.
MINKE
But, we're married. We're husband and
wife!
NYAI
Not to them you aren't. I said my child
is already married. She's somebody's
wife. That judge just smiled, and said,
she's not married. Not according to Dutch
law. He said if someone had performed a
marriage ceremony with her, the marriage
is void. Not legal! You hear? Not legal.
ANNELIES
Mas?
NYAI
Then they threatened to charge me as an

accessory to rape.
The office falls silent.
NYAI (cont'd)
I didn't even get a chance to talk about
the division of the estate. Yes, the land
was bought in my name, but I don't have
enough documentation to prove to the
court that the company is my property.
All I tried to do was to defend Annelies.
The judge then said our business was only
with Annelies. You're a nyai, a native.
You have no business speaking in this
courtroom.
Nyai sits silently, and looks out her office window across
the vast expansive land she alone managed, and maintained.
NYAI (cont'd)
In the end...
(in a soft voice)
The issue is always the same. European
against native. Always against us.
Always! Always against me. Always!
Annelies faints. Minke goes to her. Nyai lowers her head.
MINKE
I'll call Dr. Martinet.
INT. NYAI'S OFFICE - DAY
Nyai is with a European man, attorney D.L., who's small
bodied, perhaps only up to Minke's shoulders. He's thin, and
flat. His head is slippery bald, and his eyes are just a
little slanted. He wears horn-rimmed glasses. Nyai watches
him reads through the legal documents. Nyai's movements
aren't so heated, she's calmer now. Minke enters.
NYAI
(to D.L.)
This is Minke, the husband of my
daughter, my son-in-law.
D.L.
Could I finish studying these documents
please?
Without waiting for an answer he resumes reading, studying
the documents one, by one. Finally, he piles the letters
together, and puts a black stone paperweight on top of them.
D.L. meditates importantly, wipes his face with a
handkerchief, and then gazes across at Minke, then at Nyai.
NYAI
So, what about it? Will we be defeated in

this matter?
D.L.
It's better we don't talk about defeat.
(he begins to finger the
documents again)
We haven't begun trying yet. We need to
be as cold, and calm as the law itself.
Feelings have no influence over any of
this. All anger, and disappointment would
be in vain anyway.
(he turns to Minke)
Are you listening too?
MINKE
I'm listening sir.
D.L.
This concerns the fate of your wife, and
marriage. The other side is in the
stronger position. We will try if you,
and Nyai want to fight the decision, at
the very least we will get its execution
postponed.
NYAI
Then, you don't believe we can win?
D.L.
We can try.
MINKE (V.O.)
I understood at that moment, that we
would be defeated, that all we could do
was fight back against all this
injustice, to defend what we believed was
ours, right or wrong, law or no law,
until there would be no fight left in us
any longer.
Mama bows her head. She more than understands. She's going to
lose everything, her business, all the fruits of her efforts,
her personal property, buy most of all, her daughter.
NYAI
(whispering)
Yes, Minke, child, nyo... We will fight
back!
Mama takes the documents from D.L.
NYAI (cont'd)
Your fee will be sent to your office.
Good day.
D.L. stands, nods to Nyai, and Minke. Then Darsam escorts him

from the home. Suddenly, Nyai looked old, aged, and defeated.
NYAI (cont'd)
Do you have the courage to fight them?
MINKE
We will fight them together. But, I have
no idea what I have to fight, who, and
how. I don't even know what tools or by
what mechanism we should proceed. But,
we'll fight, Mama. We'll fight!
NYAI
We'll be the first natives to oppose a
European court. If you could only get
Annelies to fight as well, then she
wouldn't always be falling into illness,
and incapacity.
MINKE (V.O.)
Engineer Maurits Mellema, and his mother
may have had good reason to seek revenge
on Herman Mellema. In their heart's they
too had participated in, and approved of
Ah Tjong's actions. But, they would go
unpunished. In their hearts lay nothing
more than the desire to swallow up, and
utterly destroy Sanikem, who's identity
had been stolen from her long ago, and
turned into a concubine, a slave, against
all her natural being, and too, it would
be her daughter that they desired to
destroy as well. The child that this
Sanikem had raised so eloquently. And I
too! Certainly, everything had already
been arranged between Maurits, and the
Amsterdam Court.
Then, suddenly Minke springs to life.
MINKE
Mama, my first writing on this affair
will be published immediately. We need to
take appropriate action, or we will be
defeated.
NYAI
Don't think about defeat. Think only
about the best way to fight back, the
most honorable way that we can resist
them.
MINKE
We'll turn to our best European friends
for assistance. I'll send a cable to
Herbert de la Croix, immediately,
appealing to his conscience regarding our
case.
(shaking his head in anger)

All that glorified European science, and

learning is a load of nonsense. Just
empty talk. In the end, it'll be nothing
more than a tool to rob us of all we are,
our honor, sweat, rights.
NYAI
Even our children, and wives.
FADE TO BLACK.
INT. ANNELIES ROOM - LATER SAME NIGHT
Nyai, and Minke wait upon Annelies, who has been drugged by
Dr. Martinet so that she could sleep.
DR. MARTINET
I'm only a doctor. I don't know about the
law. I don't know about politics.
MINKE
Politics?
DR. MARTINET
It's only proper that I ask your
forgiveness. Because I'm unable to do
anything to help lighten your suffering.
I have no important people among my close
friends.
(in a modest manner)
My only friends are those who've needed
my help. I don't have anything more than
that. I am sorry. Forgive me, for there
is nothing else that I am able to do.
Dr. Martinet touches Annelies's hand, and leaves, with a
pained face. At the door he turns back and sighs...
DR. MARTINET (cont'd)
I'm quite naive. I never knew that under
these heavens there could possibly exist
difficulties such as these.
Dr. Martinet disappears into the darkness of the hallway.
NYAI
All their lives the natives have suffered
what we are suffering now. And no one
ever raised their voice. Dumb like the
river stones, and mountains. What a roar
there would be if they all spoke out as
we will now speak out. Perhaps even the
sky itself would be shattered by the din.
Nyai takes a newspaper from the table. Inside, there's an
article of Minke's, and comments on it by the editor.

NYAI (cont'd)
Your writings are gentle, like that of a
teenage girl.
Do you understand that they intend to
take your wife from you? Have you still
not become hard with all your recent
experiences, let alone this current one?
You need to become uncompromising.
(whispering)
Minke, now you must write in Malay. The
Malay papers are read by many more than
the Dutch.
MINKE
It's a pity, I can't write in Malay.
NYAI
If you're unable then let someone
translate for you.
MINKE
Kommer... He can do it. He's an old, and
dear friend. He could do that. He would
do that!
NYAI
Ah, how I always dreamed of a legitimate
wedding for myself, but Mellema always
refused, and now I know it was because he
already had a wife. My child has married,
legitimately. Listen, your marriage is
legitimate according to Islamic law. To
nullify it is to insult Islam.
MINKE
I'll work on it now, Mama. Please, get
some sleep.
And with that, Mama goes off to bed. Her strides are still
strong, and firm like those of an undefeated general.
INT. MINKE'S GUEST ROOM - EARLY MORNING
It's ten past three in the morning. Minke is putting the
final touches on his latest article. Suddenly, out of the
predawn silence comes the pounding of horse hooves,
approaching closer, and closer, finally entering the Mellema
grounds. Not long after that, Darsam calls out from under the
window of Minke's room.
DARSAM
Young master, wake up!
Below, and from the light of an oil lamp that is held by
Darsam, Minke sees Darsam, and an Indo in the uniform of a
POSTMAN.
POSTMAN

Tuan, Minke? I have a telegram from the

assistant resident of your home village.
Minke tosses down five cents, and the postman grabs at it. He
then hands the letter to Darsam, who hands it up to Minke.
The postman then happily leaves with his tip. The pounding of
the horse hooves disappear in the distance, and to the
accompaniment of the cock's crows.
DARSAM
Young master it's already dawn. Get some
sleep. There will be other days.
MINKE
Ah, Darsam, a thousand such as you, even
with two thousand machetes, would be
unable to help us. This is not a problem
of flesh and steel. This is a matter of
rights, law, and injustice. You cannot
protect us with daggers, and machete.
DARSAM
Maybe so, but master still needs to get
some sleep.
MINKE
Very well.
DARSAM
A new day will bring new opportunities.
Minke closes his window, and swiftly opens the telegram. It
reads: A WELL-KNOWN JURIST WILL ARRIVE FROM SEMARANG THE DAY
AFTER TOMORROW, TRUST HIM. MEET HIM AT THE STATION, EXPRESS
TRAIN, GREETINGS TO NYAI AND ANNELIES. MIRIAM AND HERBERT.
Minke then lays on his bed, and closes his eyes.
INT. MELLEMA ESTATE FARMLAND - DAY
Minke's article makes the front page. It's title, "The
Contravening of Islamic Law by European Law." The editor of
the Dutch paper S.N. v/d D., MAARTEN NIJMAN delivers a
complimentary copy, and hand delivers it directly to Minke,
who is helping load a cart full of milk.
MAARTEN NIJMAN
You're like a sparrow harassed by a
storm, still resisting. Another person
would have been broken even before the
fight started. Oh, the Malay version
appeared in the Malay-Dutch press as
well.
All of the editorial staff, and the
workers at the paper have high regard for
you, and express their true, and sincere
sympathy. You've helped us a lot. Now
it's our turn to help you as much as we

can. Mr. Tollenaar. I'd like a photo of

Annelies, and one of her mother, and
yourself to publish. If that suits you?
Would it be OK to interview Annelies
directly?
MINKE
I'm sorry, no. She's fallen quite ill
since all of this began.
Suddenly, Minke's Malay interpreter KOMMER, appears at the
front steps of the Mellema estate. He too is carrying a
complimentary copy of Minke's new article.
KOMMER
Mr. Minke! Your article will soon be in
all the villages. We've hired men to read
them to those that can't read. Copies
have also been sent out to all of the
leading Islamic scholars. I'm going to
try to get their opinions tonight.
Kommer's eyes shine with enthusiasm for the humanitarian task
he has undertaking.
MINKE
(to Kommer)
Are you heading into town?
KOMMER
Yes. Why?
MINKE
Do you mind if I catch a ride with you. I
need to get to the train station. I'm to
meet with an attorney that is to help us
on this matter.
KOMMER
Sure. Let's go.
Minke takes off his apron, tosses it onto the milk cart, and
follows Kommer to the waiting carriage.
INT. SURABAYA STATION - DAY
Minke exits the buggy he's sharing with Kommer. They wave
good-bye to one another as it pulls away.
Minke approaches a middle-aged man, an ATTORNEY, with a calm
demeanor who exits a train. He's the only one who gets off
the train. The attorney's name is Mr. Ambrosius. He's a
brilliant attorney, and an advocate, who is often mentioned
in connection with many big cases.
MR. AMBROSIUS
I've studied the files all night. I'll

need two scribes to make copies of every

document.
MINKE
I can do that, and I also have friends
who can assist me.
MR. AMBROSIUS
Wonderful! Well, we have a lot of work to
do. We'd better get started immediately.
CROSS FADE.
INT. NYAI'S OFFICE - DAY
Mr. Ambrosius is writing a long letter. Minke, and Jan
Dapperste are busy doing the copying.
MR. AMBROSIUS
I'll soon be heading off to the court in
Surabaya. The evening news published by
your friend Kommer, reports that the
Islamic scholars have gone to the court
at Surabaya to protest the decision of
the Amsterdam District Court, and its
execution by the Surabaya court.
Nyai begins reading the paper out loud.
NYAI
They've threatened to take the matter to
the Islamic Religious Supreme Court in
Betawi. But, they were removed by the
police that had been brought in for that
very purpose the article says. The
commentary warned that it would be wise
for the court to act more tactfully in
dealing with the Islamic scholars who are
held in high respect, and listened to by
their followers. It also says that it's
dangerous to play with the beliefs of the
people, much more dangerous than to make
fun of powerless subjects who are being
robbed of their rightful property, and
their women and children.
(turning to Minke)
For the second time this Kommer fellow
has emerged as a good friend. He's so
skillful at speaking for us, for our
situation, and for the general
conditions of the natives.
MINKE
I'm curious as to when the interview
between you and Mr. Nijman will be
published.

S.N. V/d D. interview with Kommer.

NYAI (V.O.)
(interview)
For more than twenty years I've worked my
bones, building, defending, and keeping
alive this business, first with, and then
without the late Herman Mellema. I've
looked after this business better than I
have my own children. Now it's all being
stolen from me. The attitude, and
incapacity of the late Herman Mellema
resulted in the loss of my son. Now,
another Mellema is trying to steal my
youngest child as well.
MINKE (V.O.)
(interview)
We married of our own accord, and our
marriage was approved by the my wife's
mother. We're no one's chattel. Slavery
was abolished in 1860, or so, at least we
have been taught. Now with the impending
kidnapping of my wife, in accordance with
a court decision. A decision made from
the other side of the world, where we
hadn't even been able to stand and defend
ourselves. How can human beings be looked
upon purely from the point of view of
official documents, without considering
their essence as human beings?
DR. MARTINET (V.O.)
(interview)
I've known this family quite some time
now. So, I understand the situation of
Annelies Mellema's health. Annelies loves
her husband, her mother, and her
surroundings very much. She's very
attached to all of them.
In my professional opinion, if the
decision of the Amsterdam District Court
is executed, the life of this young woman
will be in jeopardy. Even at this very
moment, she is lying in bed, and in a
very serious condition. And it is a
direct result of what is currently
happening to her, and her family. She's
lost all faith in the existence of
security, certainty, and legal
guarantees. Her spirit's been broken.
She's become full of fear, and
uncertainties. Why must this once
energetic woman become the plaything of
decisions that have no real connection
with her life, and happiness?
INT. NYAI'S OFFICE - DAY
Attorney Mr. Ambrosius places documents on Nyai's desk. He

moves rather slowly. Both Nyai, and Minke are present, as he

continues working on copying documents with Jan Dapperste.
MR. AMBROSIUS
We must be resolute, Nyai... sir. But, I
have to tell you, at this time, it's not
looking well for the two of you.
(turning to Nyai)
Please tell me. Why didn't Herman Mellema
ever marry you?
NYAI
I never understood why he didn't want to
get married. I often pressed him on it. I
only realized what the situation was
after the sudden arrival hear, at this
house, of Maurits, his son. Only then did
I understand that Herman Mellema was
still legally bound to another woman.
The attorney looks at Nyai in amazement.
MR. AMBROSIUS
So, they never divorced? If that's so,
then it would have been impossible for
Herman Mellema to acknowledge his
children, because they would be
considered illegitimate, and any attempt
at acknowledgement would be invalidated.
If that's so, then your position in this
case is much stronger.
NYAI
But we discovered that Amelia Mellema
Hammers, after her husband had abandoned
her for five years, had applied for a
divorce in the Dutch courts on the
grounds of desertion. After efforts to
find Herman Mellema were unsuccessful,
the divorce was granted. This was in
1879. So, the marital ties between them
were already nullified at the time Robert
was born.
MR. AMBROSIUS
Did Herman Mellema know of this divorce?
NYAI
I don't think so...
(exploding)
If this is all true, then Maurits Mellema
lied to his father when they met. He
challenged his father to institute
divorce proceedings against Mrs. Mellema,
on grounds that she had been unfaithful.
With fury in her eyes, Nyai sat down not saying another word.
Her hands begin shaking from the overflow of emotions, as

Minke takes notice.

MR. AMBROSIUS
It appears there is nothing more I can do
in this matter. I'm sorry, but there does
not seem to be any legal remedy available
to you. I think it's time I return to
Semarang.
MINKE
(angry)
Then be off!
(to Nyai)
All right, Mama. All we have left is the
pen.
MINKE (V.O.)
And so I wrote. Calling out, complaining,
roaring, swearing, crying out in pain.
Kommer translated it all, and gave them
out to those who were prepared to hear.
And it was not without results. The
Religious Supreme Court in Surabaya held
that our marriage was legitimate, and
could not be nullified. While Annelies,
my wife, that fragile doll, was lying
like a corpse on her bed, Surabaya was in
a fever over her, and our situation.
We kept fighting, and the papers were
being read, and read aloud to the
villagers, as large crowds gathered to
listen. Even Darsam found out what was
happening without ever having to ask. He
to, with the help of his children, was
busy reading the Malay papers. But once
again Annelies, and Nyai were summoned to
the court.
INT. SURABAYS COURTHOUSE - DAY
Nyai, and Minke are present unaccompanied by an attorney. The
media are present including Kommer, Mr. Nijman, and even some
foreign press.
JUDGE
(stern)
Where is Annelies Mellema?
NYAI
She's in the care of Dr. Martinet. She's
not in good condition, as I'm sure you
may have already imagined.
JUDGE
Have you brought a statement written by
Dr. Martinet?
NYAI

(coarsely)
Has the court already determined that my
words are untrue?
JUDGE
(pounding his gavel)
You need to be more respectful of the
court.
NYAI
Should someone about to lose everything
show politeness in the face of their
loss? Just tell us what you want?
JUDGE
In my hand is the Surabaya court's
decision regarding Annelies Mellema, the
acknowledged child of the late Herman
Mellema. In accordance with this
decision, Miss Mellema is to be
transported from Surabaya by ship in five
days.
NYAI
She's too ill to travel. Too ill to go
anywhere.
JUDGE
There will be medical supervision
available for her on her journey.
MINKE
(shouting at the judge)
I refuse to let her go, I'm her husband.
The Religious Supreme Court already held
that our marriage is legitimate.
JUDGE
This court has no business with anyone
claiming to be her husband of Annelies
Mellema. Any marriage to her has already
been determine to be void.
The judge takes out a pocket watch, looks at it, and then
bangs his gavel...
JUDGE (cont'd)
This court is adjourned.
The judge leaves the courtroom with Nyai, and Minke standing
in complete anger.
EXT. SURABAYA STREET - DAY
Minke, and Nyai ride silently in a buggy being driven by
Darsam.

MINKE (V.O.)
That afternoon the news was published. A
date was set for Annelies to be forced to
go to Amsterdam. A place she has never
been. A place she has never wanted to go,
and to be subjected to the whims of a
bitter aging woman, and her equally
bitter son, people Annelies, my darling,
want nothing to do with. And me, her
husband, having no power to do anything
about it.
Minke lowers his face into his hands.
INT. ANNELIES ROOM - DAY
Minke stands next to his unconscious, and clearly emaciated
wife. There's a loud disturbance outside. Minke goes to the
window, and looks out.
MINKE (V.O.)
The next morning something amazing
happened. The judge's decision infuriated
people all over the Indies. People were
rioting everywhere. Then... A crowd of
Madurese, armed with machetes, and large
sickles surrounded our home. They began
to attack any European or state employees
who dare attempt to enter the property.
All traffic has stopped to watch what was happening. All
Europeans are the subject of great scorn. One Madurese,
wearing black clothing, walks back, and forth with his shirt
open, machete in hand, and baring his chest, as if to show
anyone that is opposed to Nyai, Annelies, and Minke that he
was ready to fight, and face any risk that would arise. The
tip of his headband with its long tail falls over his
shoulder. Even from the window the mob can be heard cursing,
and condemning the court's decision.
All business activities at the estate have ceased. The
workers either disperse in fear, or join in with the angry
mob. Two companies of police arrive, escorted by government
carriages. The ringing of their copper bells can be heard
from far off. Not paying any heed to the Madurese, the
carriages go straight into the estate grounds. The Madurese
then begin swinging their sickles against the legs of the
horses. Two carriages topple out of control into the garden,
splashing into the swan pond. From the carriages that manage
to make their way unscathed into the yard, uniformed men jump
out with carbines trying to disperse the Madurese. Those
under attack will not leave. A vicious fight takes place.
Two policemen that fell into the pond are bathed in their own
blood. Uniformed men then begin to fire shots into the crowd.
Madurese are laid out, here and there. All are covered in
blood. The POLICE COMMANDANT shout at his men for firing.
Then, a stone flies through the air, and viciously strikes
him om the temple. The commandant sways, falls, and does not

rise again. Suddenly, another DUTCH OFFICER shouts...

DUTCHMAN POLICE
The Madurese must be dealt with more
severely.
Then, just as quickly the Dutch officer's arm is struck hard
with a machete, and as quick as that, his shirt runs red with
blood.
The shouting, and wailing of the Madurese is unexpectedly
frightening. But, in the end the bullets, and the shear
numbers of the police end up running them all off. They
disperse in all possible directions.
Finally, the carnage reveals on the well-kept, and manicured
lawn, bloodied bodies strewn every which way.
Next, a company of Marechaussee, a special troop of the
Netherland Indies Army are brought in to take over for the
police. The police are sworn at, and mocked the Marechaussee,
and ordered to leave quickly, and to pull the two carriages
out of the pond. From the window Minke sees the leaf-green
bamboo hats with the shining copper lion symbol. The
Marechaussee whistles sound noisily again and again, and
their truncheons swing round and round, striking, and poking,
thrusting, and thumping, as the Madurese have reformed, and
attack yet again. Two Marechaussee die immediately. This
time, Darsam is among the Madurese. He's swiftly targeted,
arrested, and taken away, putting up a terrible resistance.
As things finally begin to calm down, SERGEANT HAMMERSTEE
bangs on the front door. He then opens it to enter, but Nyai
blocks his way.
NYAI
I have no business with the Marechaussee.
Get out of here. Now!
SERGEANT HAMMERSTEE
Nyai Ontosoroh? This complex is to be
secured by the Marechaussee.
NYAI
It's nothing to do with me.
(shouting)
No one steps inside my house without my
permission.
SERGEANT HAMMERSTEE
I, Sergeant Hammerstee have come to
request permission.
NYAI
I do not give it. Get out of here! Get
out!
SERGEANT HAMMERSTEE

In that case, we'll camp in the compound.

NYAI
You don't have my permission to do that
either.
Nyai furiously slams the door shut, locks it, and stands
behind it for some time. She turns, and looked at Minke.
NYAI (cont'd)
Don't worry. Nothing will happen.
From the window Minke can see Dr. Martinet being refused
entry to the property.
EXT. MELLEMA ESTATE FRONT GATE - CONTINUOUS
Then, Sergeant Hammerstee approaches Dr. Martinet.
DR. MARTINET
I've come to see my patient.
SERGEANT HAMMERSTEE
We have orders to prevent anyone from
entering, or leaving these premises.
The doctor tries to look past Sergeant Hammerstee, but the
myriad of soldiers, and the throngs of people make it
extremely difficult. Finally, Dr. Martinet's eyes locate
Minke staring down toward him from the window of Annelies'
room. Annelies stirred.
MINKE
Ann, Annelies!
Annelies looks up at Minke from the bed. Her lips open, pale,
and bloodless. No voice emerges. Nyai can then be heard
shouting.
NYAI
Everybody can go to the Netherlands. Why
can't I?
Minke again looks out the window, and sees Nyai standing in
front of a soldier confronting him.
NYAI (cont'd)
What does it matter to you if I accompany
my child overseas? I'll use my own money.
The soldier's voice cannot be heard, but Minke sees him
waiving his finger at Nyai.
NYAI (cont'd)
What's it to you?
(waving her arms toward the

property)
What's any of this to you?
The man continues waiving his finger, threateningly.
NYAI (cont'd)
Health certificates? My child doesn't
have any either. On the contrary she's
ill. Inoculated onboard? I can do that as
well!
Annelies seems to be trying to get out of bed, so Minke goes
over to help her. He leads her to the window where the
mountains are far off in the distance. There's a lightening
storm developing, and heavy clouds covered the horizon.
Annelies looks pleadingly toward Minke. He understands.
MINKE
You've never even been as far as those
mountains.
Nyai swiftly enters in a rage, and sits down on a chair.
NYAI
(to Minke)
You must tell her.
ANNELIES
(near whispering)
Tell me what? Why are all those people
out there? What are they doing here? Why
are they here?
In the distance more, and more flashes of lightening tear
into the mountains. Minke approaches his wife. He puts his
hands on her shoulders, and places his cheek against hers.
MINKE
You're cold.
Then, Minke gathers together his last bit of courage.
MINKE (cont'd)
Ann...
(she doesn't look, neither was
there any response)
Ann, my Annelies, my wife, will you
listen to me?
Annelies' fingers begin to scratch at her own neck. Minke
softly removes her hand.
MINKE (cont'd)
My darling, my most beautiful darling. We
don't have much together. You'll be
leaving soon. What will happen to us?
Will we become like the lightning...

Flashing for a moment, then, to disappear

forever?
Annelies pays no heed. She stares off at the mountains.
MINKE (cont'd)
Do you see the mountains over there?
There's a hint of a nod, affirming.
MINKE (cont'd)
We should've gone riding there. Just the
two of us.
Once again Annelies nods imperceptibly. Bawuk can then be
heard neighing from outback.
MINKE (cont'd)
Your favorite horse, Bawuk is asking
about you.
Annelies bows her head, and slowly turns, and looks at Minke.
Her eyes appeared like two daydreaming stars. Mama begins
weeping. Tears begin to stream down Annelies face. Annelies
smiles ever so sadly. Nyai rises, and embraces her daughter,
and kisses her several times.
MINKE (cont'd)
They've forbidden us to escort you. I've
done everything I could, everything
within my power, but they have defeated
me. But listen, Mama, she's very clever,
she has sent Jan Dapperste, to set sail
on the same ship as you. Mama hired him
to look after the spice business in the
Netherlands, and the Netherland Transport
Company agent... He's with us! He
brilliantly placed Jan in the cabin right
next to yours Annelies.
Annelies' face however, looks like chiseled marble.
Emotionless. There's no movement, and no expression in her,
whatsoever.
MINKE (cont'd)
(shaking his wife)
Annelies, we're not defeated. We were to
go with you, but they won't allow us.
Ann, do you hear me?
No response.
MINKE (cont'd)
I don't know what
you need to know,
there in place of
escort you as you

you're thinking. But

Jan Dapperste will be
Mama and me. He'll
set sail for Europe.

Don't be afraid, Ann. Once you've

arrived, soon Mama, and I will follow.
Annelies still doesn't respond, and Minke kisses her.
Annelies nearly faints.
Then, Minke carries her back to bed, and lays her down. Minke
then lays his head on her belly, and holds her hand. The
lightning storm continues in the distance.
DISSOLVE:
Night passes in the same manner. Rain, and lightning is
prevalent. Soldiers stand guard. There is no more crowd, only
the sound of rain, and thunder fill the air, where earlier in
the day, violence and chaos persisted.
DISSOLVE:
INT. ANNELIES ROOM - MORNING
Annelies' room is now bright with rays of the sun stretching
from the window to the wall. Minke still lays in the same
manner he had several hours ago with his head on Annelies'
belly. Only now, Annelies is embracing him. Kissing him, and
caressing his hair. Minke then, sits up in a hurry.
Realization sets in.
MINKE
Annelies!
ANNELIES
Mas!
Minke rubs his eyes, and sees his wife smiling at him. He
embraces her. And kissed her. Minke looks closely at his
wife. Her eyes are sad, as her lips smile, her eyes do not.
MINKE (V.O.)
Today was to be our last day together.
EXT. MELLEMA ESTATE FRONT GATE - MORNING
The Marechaussee are stopping everyone from entering the
estate.
INT. NYAI'S OFFICE - MORNING
Stacks of letters fill Nyai's desk, the front room, and piled
near the front door. More are streaming in. Newspapers pile
up as well. All remain unread. Minke stands at the window
once again looking toward the clear mountains, and then to
the gathering crowd below, and on the main street in front of
the gate.
MINKE (V.O.)
Mama, I, and especially Annelies were not
allowed to leave the house. We were under

house arrest.
Annelies appears before her husband.
ANNELIES
Tell me about Holland according to
Multatuli.
Tears begin streaming from Minke's eyes...
MINKE
(trying to remain strong)
There once was a country on the edge of
the North Sea.
(he chokes back tears)
Its land was low-lying, so it was called
the land of the low country. Netherlands,
or perhaps even Holland. Because the land
was so close to the sea, people grew
weary with repairing their dikes, so it
became there habit to leave their
country, to wander, Ann, to go to far
away places, and to admire those other
countries. Places with large mountains.
Soon enough, looking at other people's
land wasn't enough for them. They then
desired to conquer them, and of course
they did. In those high places, they made
the people low. Nobody was allowed to
soar to the heights of the Dutchman.
Nobody!
Annelies eyes look at Minke, and her eyes too begin to flow
with tears. A EUROPEAN WOMAN, neither Minke, nor Annelies had
ever seen before suddenly enters the room without knocking.
But, they are oblivious to her.
ANNELIES
Tell me of the sea.
EUROPEAN WOMAN
In a few hours you'll be sailing across
the sea, and more sea, and even more sea
than that, dear. There you'll see more
fish than you could ever imagine. Waves,
ripples, swells, spray, and foam.
MINKE
Endless, and restless seas await you.
EUROPEAN WOMAN
Miss will be sailing on a big ship,
beautiful, crossing the ocean, dear,
entering the Suez canal, passing by other
ships on the way. When they pass dear,
the ships whistle will blow.
The others will blow theirs as well. Have
you seen Gibraltar? Ah, you'll pass by

the Town of Coral too. And after that, in

a few days, you'll set foot on the land
of your ancestors. Its sands are a
shining golden yellow. There are abundant
flowers everywhere. Soon, autumn will
arrive. Leaves will fall... How happy
you'll be, looked after by your own
brother, a scholar, and a well-known
engineer, honored, and respected by all.
In the Netherlands, you'll find
everything. Everything that miss desires
she'll find there.
NYAI
If the Netherlands has everything, why
have you all come here? Why are you here?
EUROPEAN WOMAN
(looking at Nyai, but speaking
to Annelies)
If the Netherlands doesn't fit you,
perhaps in a few years, you'll be able to
decide on your if you want to remain.
Annelies hasn't heard a word the woman says. Looking only at
Mine she says...
ANNELIES
Tell me of the sea.
Annelies eyes looks at Minke, and too begin to flow with
tears. Minke is now weeping.
ANNELIES (cont'd)
(turning to her mother)
Mama?
NYAI
Yes, Ann?
ANNELIES
Does Mama remember Mama's story?
NYAI
What story do you mean?
ANNELIES
When Mama left home forever.
NYAI
Yes, Ann. Why?
ANNELIES
Mama left with only an old brown tin
suitcase. Is that right?
NYAI

Yes, Ann.
ANNELIES
Where is it now?
NYAI
Stored in the attic.
ANNELIES
I want to see it.
NYAI
OK. I'll retrieve it.
Nyai leaves the room. A short moment passes, and then...
EUROPEAN WOMAN
It's time miss. It's time to go.
Neither Minke nor Annelies responds. Mama returns, carrying a
small, brown, rusted, dented suitcase. The same one Sanikem
carried so many years ago. Annelies takes it from her mother.
ANNELIES
With this suitcase, I will depart.
NYAI
It's not fitting Ann.
ANNELIES
It was with this suitcase that Mama, I
mean Sanikem left her home... Resolving
never to return. This suitcase weighs too
heavily on your memory. I'll take it,
along with all those burdensome memories
it contains. I'll take with me nothing
more than the batik kains Minke's mother
made for me. Only this suitcase, Mama's
memories, and mothers batiks. I also want
my wedding clothes, Mama. Put them in
there as well. They represent my devoted
obeisances to Minke's mother. Mama, don't
remind yourself any longer of all those
things from the past. Those memories that
have torn you apart. That which has
passed, let it pass from you forever, oh,
my darling mother.
NYAI
I don't understand my child. What do you
mean, Ann? What are you saying?
ANNELIES
Like Mama before, I too will never return
home.
NYAI

Ann, Annelies, my darling child, this is

very different.
(Nyai embraces her daughter)
It's not that Mama didn't try. It's not
that I didn't defend you, child.
Nyai sinks into remorseful sobbing.
MINKE
We both did all we could, Ann.
ANNELIES
Don't cry Mama, Mas. I still have yet,
but one request.
NYAI
(wailing)
Tell us, Ann, tell us.
ANNELIES
Mama, give me a little sister. A sister
who will always be sweet to you.
(Nyai weeps even more)
So sweet, that she will never cause you
any trouble like this daughter of yours
has, until... Until Mama no longer misses
her... Annelies.
NYAI
Ann, Ann, my child. My love. My life. My
all. My everything. How can you talk so?
Forgive us that we could not defend you.
Forgive us. Forgive us.
ANNELIES
(turning to Minke)
Mas, we were happy together?
MINKE
Of course, Ann. Of course.
ANNELIES
Remember only that happiness, Mas,
nothing else.
Annelies at once submerges into muteness, and disinterest.
Her momentary dignity suddenly disappears. Annelies walks
slowly out of the room, and down the stairs, under the
guidance of the European woman. Annelies' thin body suddenly
reveals itself when she collapses. Mama, and Minke run up to
support her, but those that gathers about oppose them. At the
bottom of the stairs, Marechaussee congregate about. Minke,
and Annelies' mother are kept back. Suddenly the only sound
that can be heard is that of Minke crying.
MINKE (V.O.)
Mother, your son has been defeated. Your
beloved son did not run, because he is no

criminal, even though he's proven

incapable of defending his own wife, your
daughter-in-law, who will now never bare
you a grandchild.
Annelies continues on toward the front of the home, and
exits.
MINKE (V.O.)
European, you Dutchmen, you... My
teacher. Is this the manner of your
deeds? So that even my wife, who knows so
little about you, and who has lost all
hope in her little world, the only world
that she has ever known, a world
incapable of providing security even for
one who appeared to have all that she
ever needed. And in abundance!
EXT. MELLEMA ESTATE - MORNING
As Annelies is led to the carriage, Minke calls out to her.
MINKE
Annelies! Annelies. My darling! My love!
My only one. I'll love you forever. I'll
never leave you. I'll never forget about
you. I'll never lose my love for you.
I'll follow you soon. I'll come for you.
I'll come for you. I will. I will!
But, there is no reply. Annelies doesn't even look back.
NYAI
(words almost unable to escape
from her throat)
I too, Ann.
(almost silently)
Have courage. Believe. Believe!
Again, no response. Annelies doesn't look back.
The front gate swings open to the Boerderij Buitenzorg
Agricultural Company. A government carriage awaits, hemmed in
on both sides by Marechaussee who are more than prepared for
anything that may attempt to prevent them from performing
their sworn oath to defend the interest of the Dutch crown.
Minke, and Nyai are blocked from accompanying Annelies.
Prevented from even moving beyond the front door of the home.
With great pain, and astonishment, Minke watches as Annelies,
his wife is helped into the carriage. She still won't look
back, and even now refuses to make a sound.
Once settled, the carriage pulls away, moving in the

direction of Surabaya.
Nobody stirs. There is no sound of abject horror, protest, or
violence. The street's as silent as if there was a funeral
procession underway. There is not a sound, save for the
carriage wheels that grind across the gravel road,
accompanied only by the clip clop rhythm of the horse hooves.
Minke, and Nyai watch helplessly, in quiet desperation,
panicking, dizzied, and in a state of perpetual disbelief.
Both are straining, weeping terribly, even trembling, knowing
this it is, that there is nothing now they can do to protect
their daughter, there spouse, their everything.
The front door of the home is closed from the outside.
The sound of the carriage wheels grind on, and on, and can be
heard faintly, fading away into the distance. Finally the
treacherous tone disappears all together. Not a sound
emanates from the exterior, as the harshness of what has just
transpired becomes an unrealistic reality.
Behind the door, Nyai, and Minke bow their heads, and
continue purging useless emotions, tears, weeping, and
wailing, alone, but together in their isolated sorrow.
FADE OUT:

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