In It Was Just An Accident, director Jafar Panahi imagines an Iran where women freely appear and work in public without headscarves and wear Western-style bridal gowns openly. Modern bookshops thrive, and paroled dissidents rebuild their lives without harassment. This hopeful vision marks a departure from Panahi’s earlier, more constrained films. Now able to work and travel freely after his convictions were overturned, Panahi sets the story in a brighter future where authoritarianism and religious dogma have receded.
However, beneath this veneer of relative freedom lies a darker reality. The film explores whether past traumas can ever be fully erased and how survivors of political oppression confront their tormentors. Shot covertly in Iran without official approval, It Was Just An Accident is a contemplative, masterfully scripted drama about the lingering scars left by tyranny.
The first half-hour blends acerbic humor and dark comedy reminiscent of Beckett, with a direct nod to Waiting for Godot. The story begins with Vahid, a car mechanic played with subtlety by Vahid Mobasseri, capturing a man named Eqbal, who he claims was a brutal state security officer responsible for torturing him in prison. However, Eqbal vehemently denies these accusations, and the audience is left questioning his true identity, especially after a prologue shows a shell-shocked Eqbal dealing with the aftermath of a dog-related accident.
Vahid’s search for the truth leads him back to town, accompanied by a diverse group: photographer Shiva, her temperamental ex-boyfriend Hamid, a young bride-to-be named Goli, and her frail fiancé Ali. Trapped together in a stalling van, their heated debates about what to do with their captive gradually give way to memories of their own imprisonment and suffering.
The film delves into moral dilemmas surrounding revenge and forgiveness, forcing the characters to reconcile their hatred for Eqbal while caring for his pregnant wife. Panahi criticizes the pervasive abuse of power enabled by authoritarianism, illustrated through petty corruption such as guards demanding bribes and nurses threatening scandal over unpaid tips.
Hamid’s impassioned rants highlight the deep-rooted paranoia and surveillance culture ingrained in Iranian society. Through shifting tones and urgent storytelling, It Was Just An Accident offers a profound examination of trauma, power, and the fragile quest for justice and healing in a society emerging from repression.
READ MORE: