Makbul is Mubarak’s debut film and begins as a simple two-hander in which a young working-class carer falls under the spell of his returning boss – a charismatic soldier with plans to enter local politics Autobiography quickly develops into a suspenseful psychological thriller about the way populist leaders groom and abuse their people. It works in its own way, as a simple but dark father-son allegory set in Indonesian military culture, but there’s a universality here that’s hard to miss.
Speaking during Deadline’s Contenders Film: International Awards Season, Mubarak described the inspiration for the film.
“The inspiration comes from my family,” he said. “My mother, my father, my uncle, my grandfather, they all worked for the government during the military dictatorship. As you may know, Indonesia was a country ruled by a military dictatorship for over thirty years. After the collapse of the regime in 1998, I began to observe the changes. It inspired me to write about loyalty and the remnants of dictatorship in our minds. What impact does the dictatorship have on young people, even after the dictatorship has collapsed? So I think it’s a film about loyalty and also a film about legacy.”
Since it bowed in Venice last year, Autobiography had a surprisingly long life on the festival grounds and hit the nerve of the times at exactly the right time in the run-up to Donald Trump’s re-election next year. “People see their own country in this film,” Mubarak nodded. “Even in countries whose political systems I don’t know at all – like Morocco, for example, which is a monarchy – the audience comes and says: ‘You know, I also see my country in this film’, which is a very nice surprise.
“In Indonesia people watch this film and for them it is more than just a reflection. To them it is a horror film. It is so real that it is scary to them. I think we live in a world where there are so many versions of the truth that politicians are always looking for the easiest way [advance] himself, with the rhetoric of a strong man. I think that’s why the film resonates with different people from different countries.”
Come back on Monday for the panel video.
Source: Deadline
Bernice Bonaparte is an author and entertainment journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a passion for pop culture and a talent for staying up-to-date on the latest entertainment news, Bernice has become a trusted source for information on the entertainment industry.
