One of the best revenge thrillers from any country.
I’m told that the filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who was also an Iranian political prisoner, didn’t get official filming permission from Iranian authorities to make his latest entry “It Was Just An Accident.” He was arrested in 2022 after a 2010 sentence of 6 years and a 20 year ban on working. However after 7 months and a hunger strike, he was set free. And even though the ban was lifted, he makes his films in secrecy with a limited cast and crew.
“It Was Just an Accident,” which won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, also revolves around political prisoners who decide to get revenge on one of the people to ruin their lives, and let’s consider this movie poetic justice. But I’m not throwing Panchi under the bus; I’m praising him for delivering a crime film that knows what it wants to achieve. And I hope it also wins an Oscar, too.
The movie begins with an accident that sets off a chain of events. A father named Eghbal (Ebrahim Azizi) drives his wife and daughter home at night. It’s dark out with no street lights, which is why they hit a dog. Their car ends up at an auto shop, whose employee Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) is a former Iranian political prisoner vowing revenge on the prison guard Peg Leg. He’s nicknamed that because of his prosthetic leg. He discovers Eghbal might be that monster, especially since he also has a prosthetic leg, so Vahid starts tracking and capturing the man.
As he’s burying the guard in the desert, he’s now unsure if he really is that sadistic man. So he turns to a colorful reign of characters for help, consisting of a wedding photographer named Shiva (Mariam Afshari), her former partner Hamid (Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr), and a newly wed couple Goli (Hadis Pakbaten) and Ali (Majid Panahi). And to speak out against Iran’s hijab law, “It Was Just an Accident” doesn’t have the women wearing hijabs. So the actresses didn’t always wear them during the film process.
As I was watching this movie, I was feeling some Coen brothers vibes, because of the kidnapping plot and how the humor elevates the genre. But maybe it might be on a completely different level, and Panahi breaks the rules of the genre. It’s funny because I just reviewed Kelly Reichardt’s “The Mastermind,” which was about a struggling family man not planning an art hiatus accordingly. That was a good movie, but “It Was Just an Accident” is the better one.
Not seeing a trailer for this movie and not knowing about Panahi’s activism, I was taken his writing and direction, which fights against oppression and blends comedy and pathos to express revenge. And yet, he doesn’t want to be labeled a hero, just a guy who loves making films. It’s proof he has courage and spirits to keep his skills alive.
The performances from Mobasseri, Afshari, Elyasmehr, Pakbaten, Panahi, and Azizi are all universally excellent. Each character has their moments of value, and you love how they all refuse to succumb to cliches and try some new angles. And I really like the idea of a bride and groom being implicated in this caper, because it shows a sign of the film’s whimsy and the unexpected situations that pop up in life.
When the crime story is coming to a close, we might expect that the authorities would be involved and that things might deteriorate. But we shouldn’t expect that at all. We should see and appreciate how “It Was Just an Accident” wants to be a different kind of revenge thriller and how the filmmaker keeps his passion alive, despite his unfortunate circumstances. I’m glad I didn’t watch a trailer for this, but experienced the film itself with a sense of discovery. If you see this movie, you will not forget it.
Now Playing in Select Theaters
Expanding Throughout the Month
