Travelling home alone late one night a man (Ebrahim Azizi) his heavily pregnant wife and his young daughter are in pitch darkness. With so many stray dogs wandering Iranian streets it was really just a matter of time. When the inevidable occurs the man is in shock, his daughter is traumatised and his car is damaged. It might have just been an accident but the man’s wife is sure God made this happen for a reason.
The man seeking assistance walks with his squeaky artificial leg to the nearest business and crosses paths with Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri), however the two may have met before. Vahid knows that squeaky leg, it’s the leg of ‘Eghbal’, the Regime agent who blindfolded, taunted and tortured him for 3 months destroying his life. Understandably carrying a grudge Vahid stalks, kidnaps and transports his former tormentor in the back of a van to the desert for an appointment with a shallow grave. But is he sure this man pleading for his life is truly “Eghbal”? Can’t kill a man unless you know he deserves it, Vahid needs to be sure.
So begins another tortuous day in the life of Vahid and several other political prisoners he seeks out for their input. Photographer Shiva (Mariam Afshari), bride to be Goli (Hadis Pakbaten), her fiancé Ali (Majid Panahi) & the volatile Hamid (Mohammad Ali Elyasmehr). All of them are given a horrific trip down memory lane remembering events they’d rather forget. Even if the cohorts do positively identify their captive what will they be willing to do about it? Maybe leaving him in a hole in the desert would have been easier for everyone involved.
‘It Was Just an Accident’ made a hell of a splash at 2025’s Cannes film festival when it won the coveted Palme d’Or. Much like fellow Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, Jafar Panahi’s highly applauded career has been marred by governmental controversy. His films are often critical of the Iranian authorities, Iran’s misogynistic laws and the ruling class. As such he’s faced censorship, imprisonment and bans from filming altogether. Bans which he broke in order to make ‘It Was Just an Accident’ in secret.
The plot of the film will feel more than familiar to some viewers. The “is he, isn’t he” conundrum is all but a remake of the 1994 Roman Polanski thriller ‘Death and the Maiden’ starring Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley. Several other films have featured similar stories involving various persecuted individuals be they political activists or otherwise.
With this out of the way while it may not be a sign of the film’s originality it is a sign of how the same stories unify audiences worldwide. ‘It Was Just an Accident’ is a movie which can easily be approached by any audience with no fear of losses in translation. Panahi shows us a side of Iran full of corruption, anger, paranoia and feelings of betrayal.
But there’s also comedic moments woven throughout the odyssey of Vahid and his fellow political prisoners. The film deals with extremely dark themes and is a call to action for the Iranian government and those who have done horrible things to make amends. But there’s just something funny about a van with a kidnapped man inside being pushed through rush hour traffic by a woman in her wedding dress!
The characters of the story are not portrayed as evil, the situations they were thrust into and the torture they endured was evil. Being dehumanised and having their lives ruined as the number of people in the back of this van grows as does the scope of uncertainty of how to go on. These people can’t see themselves moving forward until this part of their past has been resolved. Even if it means they lose what little life they have left.
It can be unflinching and hard hitting as the characters have long form back and forth conversations and arguments about what to do next. Many scenes play out in a single long take as we watch people go through a range of emotions and spill their guts in real time. From the film’s opening to it’s haunting final moments the journey is an anxiety filled well of intense passions overflowing.
Noteworthy more for its surrounding controversy than it’s own merits ‘It Was Just an Accident’ will have its critics. Still I found myself enthralled by this movie even looking past the hurdles which had to be overcome in order to make it at all. Jafar Panahi’s call to action is brave as is the work of everyone who put a target on their backs by being involved. Beyond that it’s also an approachable and well made film showcasing talented performers most of whom we’ve never seen before. I just hope we’ll get to see them in more work in the future.
4 out of 5
