“It Was Just an Accident” is Iranian Director Jafar Panahi putting his lived experiences on the big screen for the world to understand. The movie follows Vahid, who was once imprisoned for crimes against the regime, whether real or perceived. He recognizes the sound of his torturer's prosthetic leg and then decides to abduct and kill him. When Vahid experiences a sliver of doubt regarding his captive’s identity, he enlists former political prisoners to assist him.
Most scenes in “It Was Just an Accident” are lengthy and devoid of major set pieces and props, The main location in the film is the van that the rag-tag group is transporting their prisoner in.
Nearly the whole film is delivered with dialogue instead of action, producing a deeply stressful environment as we wait for our characters to act. “It Was Just an Accident” asks us when revenge is acceptable and how proportionate it should be – a question that transcends borders and governments.
This movie almost did not come out, as Panahi has been imprisoned twice for making films about Iran, and he refuses to submit his scripts to the Iranian government for approval. “It Was Just an Accident” was being filmed in and around Tehran, Iran, when authorities discovered the filming with just days left to finish the shoot. Fortunately, French producer Philippe Martin was helping Panahi with the film and took the footage to France to finish editing.
“It Was Just an Accident” won the Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, its greatest award to bestow and top international accolade.
Officially known as the Islamic Republic of Iran, the country holds elections regularly but falls short of democratic standards due in part to the influence of the hard-line Guardian Council, an unelected body that disqualifies all candidates it deems insufficiently loyal to the clerical establishment. Ultimate power rests in the hands of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the unelected institutions under his control. This form of governance has resulted in low freedom scores across various democracy indices. This has been the case since 1979, when the Islamic Republic was born out of the Iranian Revolution that overthrew a monarchy.
“It Was Just an Accident” is a must-see thriller with an ending you will not forget. The movie is now playing in theaters nationwide.
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