It Was Just An Accident directed by Jafar Panahi is a moral examination of what happens when former political prisoners think they have seen a former torturer.
To Be or Not To Be?
by Alexa DalbyIt Was Just An Accident
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
First, the shocking news this week that despite, or perhaps because of, the slew of awards the film and its director have won worldwide, Jafar Panahi has been sentenced again in absentia to jail in Iran and given a two-year travel ban. He says he intends to return to serve his sentence.
Second, the film itself. In It Was Just An Accident, a simple accident results in a series of darkly comic and tragic events like a cross between Becket’s Waiting for Godot and The Pardoner’s Tale in reverse. Centrally, there’s a moral debate about justice, retribution and mercy.
Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) is the ordinary, decent man, slightly past his sell-by date, still suffering with his kidneys after being beaten up and tortured in prison and still struggling to rebuild his life. He is the moral centre of the film and he ultimately decides what happens. Unsure he has got the right person presented to him by accident, he drives around and assembles a diverse group of ex-torturees (political prisoners) to identify him, who, because they were blindfolded in prison, all have different sensory memories of their interrogator – hearing, smell and touch.
There are many criticisms of modern Iran, including the constant touting for “gifts” or tips by anyone in a position of authority, and their use of a card reader when no cash is available. and the quick donning of a headscarf before appearing before strangers.
But enthralling is the moral debate and blackly comic road trip that ensues while the group decides if the man lives or dies. Like Vahid, Panahi is generous. His filmmaking concentrates on morality without showiness. Like so many of his films, the action takes place in a car or in this case a van, the enclosed space contrasting with the expanse of the desert Vahid finds to dig a grave.
It Was Just An Accident premiered at Cannes, where it won the Palme d’or, screened at the BFI London Film Festival and is released on 5 December 2025 in the UK.
