Film Review: It Was Just an Accident (2025)
Since the release of his 2022 film No Bears, renegade Iranian director Jafar Panahi has served time in prison, has been sentenced to even more prison, and has been banned from leaving Iran or joining any political organizations. Despite this, his continued opposition to the Iranian government remains intact, as does his unwavering support for the recent Iranian uprisings, which, so far, has seen the deaths of an untold number of protesters (some estimates say the government has killed over 36,000 people in just a few months).
In all likelihood, Panahi will, should he ever return to Iran (he’s currently safe in Europe), find himself back in prison for his outspoken views. And with the crackdown currently underway, I truly fear for his safety should this ever happen.
Amid all this turmoil and strife, Panahi has inexplicably managed to make another film – and a brilliant one at that. Through a brilliant mix of tragedy and darkly sardonic humor, It Was Just an Accident lays bare the crimes of the Iranian government against its own people, and like No Bears before it, quickly gathered up a long list of festival nominations and awards, including winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes and two Academy Award nods (one for Best International Feature and one for Best Original Screenplay).
Somehow, with just the squeak of a prosthetic leg in need of oil, Panahi builds a level of tension and mystery that will have you on the edge of your seat and desperate for answers. And it’s this seemingly innocuous sound that not only sets the film’s events in motion, but, by the end, also becomes one of the most frightening bits of audio I’ve heard in some time.
It all starts when a man with a prosthetic leg (Ebrahim Azizi) is driving with his family and accidentally hits a dog, killing it. When he takes his car to a garage for repairs, the mechanic Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) – who never sees the man’s face – recognizes him by the sound his leg makes when he walks. Clearly shaken (but for as yet unknown reasons), Vahid follows the man home, and the next day abruptly kidnaps him off the street.
Why Vahid impulsively escalates the situation with such recklessness remains a mystery for a time, but, even though we don’t know the “why” of it just yet, Panahi and his actors make it clear that the sudden and unexpected appearance of the limping man is an extremely traumatizing event for those who’ve crossed his path in the past. So much so that Vahid spends the day deciding whether or not to kill him, and enlists the help of others who have also been wronged in helping him make his decision. Soon, this ragtag group of victims – which includes photographer Shiva (Mariam Afshari), soon-to-be wed couple Goli and Ali (Hadis Pakbaten and Majid Panahi), and small-time crook Hamid (Mohammad Ali Elyasmehr) – set off on a caper to both prove that the man they have is the right person and if so, just what the hell to do with him.
Vahid’s arrival – unconscious villain in tow – clearly upends everyone’s lives (Ali spends the day with them in her wedding dress, having been picked up at her rehearsal, for example), but their pain is such that confirming the identity of the man in question becomes the only thing that matters in that moment. The trauma of their experiences and the shock of seeing the man responsible is too much for them to simply allow their lives to continue as if nothing had happened. Everyone in the group has done their best to move on from their past ordeal, but the moment the man is mentioned, it’s clear that they have a long way to go. Their resentment and anger is justified, relatable, and acutely visceral.
Yet somehow, Panahi has managed to inject a fair amount of dark humor into this rather grim tale of revenge and redemption. The assembled disparate group consists of normal people, after all, and sometimes, when pushed to the edge where stress and fear meet, humor is all you have. Even with political violence serving as the film’s backdrop, It Was Just an Accident, to a certain extent, is a sun-drenched but pitch black comedy of manners – as if a lighthearted Frank Capra were to combine screwball hijinks with Park Chan-wook’s Old Boy. Irony is everywhere, but so is bumbling incompetence, which results in a wonderful mixture of unexpected sweetness, honesty, and even innocence.
But, when you contrast this virtue with the chilling backstory that drives character motivation and moves the story from A to Z, It Was Just an Accident is clearly also a cautionary “what would you do?” fable about not only the nature of revenge and remorse but also one’s personal access to forgiveness. By the film’s end – accompanied by that all-too familiar echoing squeak – you may discover that you’ve learned something about yourself and your own personal access to forgiveness. And to top it all off, you might come to the uncomfortable realization that you are more than a bit disturbed by your findings.
