Autobiography (2022) Review: The General's Long Shadow

Is Autobiography worth watching?

Yes. Autobiography is a gripping, precisely controlled psychological thriller about how authoritarian power seduces and corrupts, and one of the most accomplished Indonesian films of the decade. Makbul Mubarak’s debut feature turns a relationship between a young servant and an ageing general into a quietly terrifying portrait of a country still living with its past. The one reservation is its pace: the tension builds slowly and almost invisibly, and viewers expecting a conventional thriller may find the first half too restrained.

What is Autobiography about?

Rakib (Kevin Ardilova) is a young man working as the caretaker of a large, mostly empty house in a rural area, the family home of Purna (Arswendy Nasution), a retired army general. When Purna returns to his hometown to run for local office, Rakib becomes his driver and personal assistant, and the older man starts treating him with a gruff, fatherly attention that Rakib has clearly never had. As the campaign gets under way and an act of defiance against it sets events in motion, Rakib finds himself drawn deeper into Purna’s world, and forced to learn what loyalty to such a man really costs.

Autobiography is written and directed by Mubarak. It is an Indonesian production in Indonesian and runs 115 minutes. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2022 and went on to win the Citra Awards for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Yudi Ahmad Tajudin and Yusuf Mahardika round out the cast.

Power as a father figure

The film’s central insight is that authoritarian power is most dangerous when it feels like care. Purna is not a cartoon villain. He is courteous, generous and paternal, teaching Rakib how to carry himself and offering him a sense of belonging. That warmth is exactly what makes him frightening, because the film gradually shows how easily kindness and control become the same thing.

Mubarak connects this personal story to a larger history. Purna’s authority carries the habits of Indonesia’s military-backed New Order era, the patronage, the deference, the quiet threat of violence, and the film suggests that those habits never fully disappeared. It is political filmmaking that works through behaviour rather than speeches.

Two performances locked in a dangerous dance

Kevin Ardilova gives an unsettling, beautifully modulated performance as Rakib. He starts as watchful and eager to please, and his gradual transformation, as he absorbs the general’s way of seeing the world, is conveyed through posture, silence and small shifts in his gaze. It is a portrait of complicity forming in real time.

Arswendy Nasution is superb as Purna, blending charm, menace and genuine loneliness in a way that keeps the audience as off-balance as Rakib is. Their scenes together, in cars, in the echoing house, in village meeting rooms, crackle with unspoken tension, and the film’s strongest moments come when a friendly exchange suddenly reveals the steel beneath it.

Controlled filmmaking, and its cost

Mubarak’s direction is disciplined and precise. The camera holds on faces and empty rooms, the sound design leaves long silences, and the house itself becomes an image of inherited power, vast and imposing but hollow. The film’s measured rhythm creates a slow, steady dread that pays off powerfully in its final act.

That same control is also its main limitation. The first half is so understated that some viewers may struggle to see where the story is heading, and certain political references will land more heavily for audiences who know Indonesian history. A few secondary characters, especially in the village, are sketched rather than developed. Patience is rewarded, but it is required.

Who should watch Autobiography?

It is ideal for viewers who enjoy slow-burn political thrillers, serious character drama and international arthouse cinema, and it is essential for anyone following contemporary Indonesian film. It contains moments of sudden, disturbing violence, intimidation and a pervasive sense of menace, and is best suited to adults. Watch it with full attention; its details matter.

For more Indonesian cinema from very different angles:

• Arisan!, an earlier landmark that looks at Indonesian privilege and social pressure through satire rather than menace.
• Vina: Sebelum 7 Hari, a genre film rooted in a real crime and in public anger about justice.

The verdict

Autobiography is a masterful debut that uses an intimate relationship to expose how power, fear and loyalty shape a society. Its slow pace will test some viewers, but its performances, its precision and its devastating final stretch make it a major work of recent Indonesian cinema.

Rating: 4.5/5