Halfway through Autobiography, retired general Purna speaks to his housekeeper Rakib in a hushed tone in the dead of dawn: “Make sure what we’re doing is safe.”

During a special screening on Jan. 17, the audience did not know what the characters were about to do, but they held their breath. Purna’s intimidating air had already prepared them for the worst.

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Autobiography is directed and written by newcomer Makbul Mubarak, who up until the film’s creation was an established film writer, critic and lecturer. With only a few short films under his belt, Makbul’s feature debut turned out to be an incisively political and frightening film about a former military leader running to be mayor in a small town in East Java.

Indonesia’s bloody history of human rights violations, something that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has only recently apologized for, is enough of a background to paint a picture of how dangerous the general’s power can be, even in retirement.

“Some [of the] audience in the previous special screening said, ‘How brave of you to make a movie about this issue,’ but I made this movie because I’m scared,” he answered to The Jakarta Post in a press conference after the screening. “The movie comes from fear.”

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