Un simple accidente

Jafar Panahi has been a thorn in the side of the Iranian regime for decades. Banned from filmmaking by house- or real arrests he kept finding ways of making films nevertheless.

"It was just an accident" is his last film. It is about a man walking into his torturer from years ago. He follows the man and kidnaps him, but what to do next? The answer to this question breaks the film in two.

In the first half the man tries to accumulate enough evidence to be sure that it really is his tormenter he has catched. Because in jail they were blindfolded he has to collect a couple of fellow sufferers who all have a different recollection about the perpetrator. One recognizes the sound of his footsteps, the other his smell, yet another the feeling of his scars.

After enough evidence has been collected, the second half of the movie poses an important ethical question: revenge or no revenge? The man has ruined their lives in different degrees but would revenge not lower them to the same moral standards?

A film about important ethical questions, that sounds like heavy stuff. The comedy element is not entirely absent though. The fellow sufferers the man collects in the first half of the movie turns out to be a rather colorful bunch of people giving their quest a touch of "Riders of justice" (2020, Anders Thomas Jensen). The difference is of course that the fellowship in "Riders of justice" was pursuing a redicilous complot theory while the tortures in "It was just an accident" are very real. The film cannot be seen in Iran itself for a reason.

The title of the movie is derived from the opening sequence when the torturer (his identity still unknown to the viewers) hits a dog with his car. At the end of the movie he says to his former victims / present kidnappers that "He was just doing his job". This sentence hints at the "banality of evil" of Hannah Arendt and maybe it would have been a better title for the movie.

It Was Just an Accident, directed by Jafar Panahi, effectively challenges the audience through its evenly paced narration, drawing them into the moral dilemma of whether the victims should seek revenge - and, more importantly, whether they have the right to do so.

With its open ending, the film raises a powerful question: what happens if the cycle of crime and revenge never ends? This ambiguity keeps viewers engaged long after the credits roll.

However, the scenes in which the victims argue among themselves could have been more compelling if they didn't directly reference political divisions and concepts such as "tolerance" and the "cycle of violence." Those moments feel somewhat clichéd and shift the film's tone from metaphorical to allegorical.

It's also essential to remember that in Iran, every filmmaker must obtain permission from the autocratic regime before making a film. Jafar Panahi, however, created It Was Just an Accident without such approval - courageously defying censorship. By portraying the taboo subject of brutal interrogators, he demonstrates remarkable artistic bravery. For that, we should all admire and celebrate his courage.

• Watched at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) one Sept. 13, 2025 (First Watch)
• Format: Regular theatre
• Rating: 8.5/10

It Was Just an Accident starts off with a heavy and confusing situation. But the deeper you get into it, the more intense and emotional it becomes. Director Panahi fills the movie with small details that tie back to the title. Most of what happens in the story feels like an "accident," but those accidents carry a lot of meaning. I especially liked how stray dogs kept showing up-they weren't random, but connected to different characters and the film's bigger message.

The story follows five people whose lives cross. What they all share is one thing: a hunger for revenge. The movie doesn't use flashbacks or jump back in time. Instead, it tells the story through long takes, monologues, and conversations. This makes the acting even more powerful. Vahid Mobasseri really stood out-his expressions and body language brought so much tension to the screen. And that final shot at the end... it was the perfect way to close the film.

There's no music at all in the movie, which at first felt strange. But then I realized that the silence made it feel more real and raw, almost like you were right there with the characters. My only small complaint is that the first hour is a bit slow, and some people might lose interest early on. But if you stick with it, the payoff in the end is worth it.

There's a lot to say about this film. If there's one thing Iranians share as a nation, it's intergenerational trauma, rage, and hatred toward the last two regimes - one, the other, or both - and the lingering question of what to do with all that, with or without the current regime. This masterpiece by Jafar Panahi captures it perfectly.

The premise of this movie didn't grip me from the start. Instead I became more invested in this movie and these characters as Jafar peels back the layers of the history and lived environment of this movie. I was dragged through the same feelings of confusion, anger, sadness, compassion, and eventually forgiveness alongside the protagonists in this story of revenge. This is an extremely human movie taking place in a time where we need to hear these stories. It is one of the best of the year for sure.