‘Autobiography’ Director Makbul Mubarak Says Indonesia’s Oscar Entry Is “About Loyalty And Legacy” – Contenders International
deadline.comBeginning as a simple two-hander in which a young working-class caretaker comes under the spell of his returning boss — a charismatic military man who has designs on getting into local politics — Makbul Mubarak’s debut film Autobiography soon develops into a tense psychological thriller about the way populist leaders groom and abuse their people.
It works on its own terms, as a simple yet dark father-son allegory set within Indonesia’s military culture, but there’s a universality here that’s hard to miss.
Speaking at Deadline’s Contenders Film: International award-season event, Mubarak described the inspiration for the film. “The inspiration comes from my family,” he said. “My mom, my dad, my uncle, my grandfather, they all worked for the government during the military dictatorship.
As you might know, Indonesia was a country which, for more than 30 years, was ruled by a military dictatorship. After the regime collapsed in 1998, I started to observe the changes.
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