IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT
(The Middleburg Film Festival runs October 16-19 in Middleburg, Virginia, and lead critic Chris Reed is on the ground doing coverage for us. Check out his It Was Just an Accident movie review! Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)
Imagine suffering through innumerable tortures while in prison and then, once out and resettled in the world, eventually coming upon the man who once caused you pain and suffering. Even were that person but a small instrument of government repression—a cog in a vast machine—he is still, to you, the angel of death. What then? Would you exact revenge? This is the question posed in It Was Just an Accident, the latest from Iranian director Jafar Panahi (No Bears) and winner of the Palme d’Or (or top prize) at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
We begin with a family of three driving home after some kind of event: father and mother in front, young daughter in the rear. Unfortunately, they hit a dog on the dark country road and then experience car trouble, eventually pulling into a nearby mechanic’s place. There, Vashid, working in back, hears the father’s distinctive step—he has a prosthetic leg—and becomes convinced that it’s the same as that of Eghbal, the interrogator who made his life a living hell for years.
Not content to just let his suspicions lie, Vashid follows the family and then follows Eghbal (if Eghbal it is) into town, where he knocks him cold, throws him into his van, ties him up, and prepares to bury him alive. The problem with that plan is how vehemently Eghbal, lying in the open grave, denies being Eghbal. In addition, his ID lists his name as Rashid. What to do?
Simple: find more former prisoners and ask them. And so, little by little, this tense movie about state violence and retribution becomes something of a comedy of errors, Vashid joining (initially unwilling) forces with a ragtag band that includes Shiva, a photographer; Golrokh (Goli), the bride Shiva is photographing, and Ali, her groom; and Hamid, the angriest of the lot (and Shiva’s ex). Driving around, they contemplate next steps and whether it is justified to kill someone who is, in their minds, pure evil.
I prefer less directly spoken conflict than what we have here (Panahi usually demonstrates greater expositional restraint), yet the premise still compels. As Vashid and his motley crew navigate murky ethical terrain, their actions are further complicated by a sudden call on Eghbal/Rashid’s phone. It’s his daughter, plaintively trying to reach her father to let him know that mom, who is pregnant, has collapsed. This unexpected development further raises the stakes.
By the time It Was Just an Accident reaches its uncomfortable conclusion, very little has actually been resolved, even as much has happened. There are no easy answers in the battle for truth, nor in the struggle for freedom. We are all prisoners of belief, whichever side we’re on. As always, master of his craft, Panahi makes us think deeply about the themes he presents.
– Christopher Llewellyn Reed (@ChrisReedFilm)
Middleburg Film Festival; Jafar Panahi; It Was Just an Accident movie review
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