‘It Was Just An Accident’ Review – Humanity Battles Vengeance In Panahi’s Latest Brilliant Feature

The inciting event. This is a deeply important moment in every story, no matter the format. As there is an audience watching (or reading), it can be difficult as you must call attention to said event, but not so much that it will be obvious that it is coming, or worse, where the story is headed. Try as you might, there are no specific rules to the inciting event, but the best ones are memorable. Some because of high drama, and others because when you look back, they are the key to the story, even if you didn’t recognize it at the time. It Was Just An Accident gives us a perfect example of the latter, and the film feels all the more realistic and full because of it.

The film, directed and written by Jafar Panahi, first introduces the audience to an unnamed man (Ebrahim Azizi), his wife (Afssaneh Najmabadi), and his daughter (Delmaz Najafi) driving in an automobile. After a moment or so, the titular accident occurs. They sadly hit a dog in the road, and later, the car breaks down. Due to this, the family is forced to try to get assistance at a nearby garage. And, in a masterful feint, the audience realizes that we have not been following our protagonist, at least not yet. In the garage is Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri), who is talking to his mother on the phone before the shop closes for the evening. As he tunes in to the sounds of the man walking and talking, the expression of abject horror on Vahid’s face tells us nothing and everything, all at once. We do not understand why this unnamed man creates this terror, but we feel it. Mobasseri’s performance, particularly as he pulls on the inside of his cheek to hide his own voice, is both confusing and wildly effective. As the film continues, the story makes itself clearer with each moment until a frightening and thought-provoking climax.

To anyone familiar with Panahi’s work, a major award winner with films like The Circle and Taxi, it is no surprise that this film is meticulously crafted. After tracking the nameless man, we slowly learn that Vahid was a political prisoner and was tortured repeatedly by a soldier named Eghbal, whom he believes this man to be. After a very slow tracking through the city, Vahid manages to capture the man, drive him out to the desert, and begin to bury him alive. But importantly, Vahid is not the hero of a vengeance-driven action story, nor is he a perfect hero who has no second thoughts. As the man yells and cries that he is mistaken, he becomes unsure of what he was so certain of moments before. He realizes, as we do, that he must be sure that he is punishing the right man. Yes, he sounds like the man, and his prosthetic leg squeaks in the same way, but Vahid was blindfolded, so how can he be sure?

So, the film changes course once again. Now, Vahid must find others he was imprisoned with to be sure that he is making the right decision. The changes in the film are not simply plot-driven, either. Panahi, a master of tone, flips from ultra serious to a Shakespearean comedy of errors, to a family drama, and finally all the way back to where the film started; all without ever missing a beat or feeling inauthentic. 

As Vahid gathers other ex-prisoners–wedding photographer Shiva (Mariam Afshari), her sister and future bride Goli (Hadis Pakbaten), and Hamid (Mohamed Ali Elyasmehr)-the screenplay, also from Panahi, allows us to know each of these characters, but never in a way that feels contrived. They all have similar traumas, but express themselves differently, as real people do. Panahi never takes an easy route, despite numerous opportunities for simple answers. The script mostly avoids long monologues, but when they do occur, especially from Hamid, they land with a tremendous wallop, forcing us to endure, in some small way, the pain of captivity, torture, sexual assault, and the long-term effects of these traumatic events.

And somehow, in the midst of all of this suffering, the moments of levity never feel disrespectful. This change in tone is both dangerous and needed. In the hands of a lesser writer-director, the humor would fall flat or the drama would distract. But, as these characters’ lives intersect and affect one another, the surprising lessons of the film come into much sharper focus. 

Even things that seem simple, like taking revenge on someone truly evil, are never straightforward. Movies sometimes seem to teach us that this is an uncomplicated matter, but moments like this change us, sometimes irrevocably, as surely as the original traumatic acts do. Panahi, ever the expert on the human condition, teaches us that we always have a choice. We do not have to become like our captors, and our best selves would never take this step, for it will damage us more than the violence done against us ever could. Even if it may be our undoing, our humanity must persist. 

It Was Just An Accident is currently playing in New York courtesy of NEON. The film will begin expanding to additional markets on October 24th.