From its opening shot, “It Was Just Accident” reveals itself to be worthy of the coveted Cannes Palm D’Or award. Something as a simple as a family on a dark Iranian road has never felt more enthralling, unsettling, and in control, something only a filmmaker as skilled and incisive as Jafar Panahi can pull off. And then the chaos starts, and we bear witness to an unrelenting pressure cooker, a gripping thriller with no easy answers, no easy characters, and no easy resolution. A complex, intense, and shockingly humorous film constructed with the most astute confidence and rage at an authoritarian regime, “It Was Just An Accident” makes an argument for being one of the best films of the year and is sure to find itself on the Best International Feature list come Oscar season.
A film as complex, dark, bleak and traumatic as “It Was Just An Accident” should simply not be as funny as it is. Panahi perfectly balances the shifting tones to deliver a gripping thriller packed to the brim with twists and turns, sadness and humor. The way Panahi oscilates between unnerving trauma and retribution to laugh out loud comedy is a testament to the films careful and thoughtful construction. “It Was Just An Accident” is thematically rich enough to support both without every undercutting either emotion, its small cast deeply adept at being able to handle the complexity of their characters. There is such anger simmering beneath Panahi that he in turn injects into each of his characters as they join the moral quagmire that looms over the film like a dark cloud filled with oppressive rain and revolutionary thunder.
“It Was Just Accident” follows a man and his family on a dark road who accidentally hit and kill a dog. Their car is badly damaged, and they make it to a local repair shop before making it home. From his office out of sight, the shop owner hears something hauntingly familiar; the sound of his squeaky artificial leg that he heard in prison where he was tortured and humiliated by a man with that same squeak. The following day in a moment of desperation, he assaults and kidnaps his presumed torturer. Except, he’s not 100% sure it IS that same man, and begins tracking down fellow former prisoners to help him confirm the man’s identity and decide what to do. The consequences regardless of their collective decision become increasingly dangerous, and everything and everyone is called into question as they struggle to identify their enemy and what they should do if it turns out to be the right or wrong man. “It Was Just An Accident” stars Vahid Mobasseri, Maryam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Paak Baten, Majid Panahi, and Mohammad Ali Eliyas Mehr.
You would think that that synopsis gives too much away and the story sounds too simple to be that thrilling, but I can assure you “It Was Just An Accident” keeps plenty of tricks up its sleeve and unfolds with such straightforward ambiguity it becomes impossible to look away. The small but mighty cast are all firing on all cylinders, and Panahi’s ability to capture this whole film inside of Iran despite being in exile is astounding. Everything in “It Was Just An Accident” feels alive and lived in, capturing a bustling city shrouded under the darkness of an oppressive regime. Anxiety and desperation flow like a river through every escalting situation, each character forced to grapple with their own complicity and level of involvement in a situation no one can really know for sure what they would do in. Clashing ideology and solutions fueled by trauma and regret spill over into every interaction, each person broken by the state and trying to put their lives back together while being forced to confront their own pasts and how much horrific experiences have changed them.
It is truly masterful how much profundity Panahi packs into “It Was Just An Accident,” enveloping his engrossing story and characters into multi-layered prisons. Just because you walk free from a cell doesn’t mean freedom is granted, our memories trap us and shape us and change us indefinitely as we try to recapture or humanity after someone has worked tirelessly to take away from you. In an authoritarian regime, no one is truly free. Not the oppressed or oppressors, torturers and victims, everyone and everything is at the whims of those in power and “It Was Just an Accident” expresses these deeply complicated and poignant ideas beautifully. The film is razor sharp and captivating, shifting at every turn without ever once losing its footing or grounding. Just a powerful, sometimes terrifying sometimes hilarious examination of pain and anger and the intangible forces of oppression that, when stripped of their larger contexts are enforced and upheld by people.
I was blown away by “It Was Just An Accident,” a film that hooked me from the moment it began and never let go of its ironclad grip until the final frame, and then stayed in my mind indefinitely. Speaking of final frames, “It Was Just An Accident” just may have one of the best endings of the year, maybe even the decade. My jaw hit the floor and I felt incapable of picking it back up for what seemed like forever as the credits rolled. THIS is how you stick the landing and end a film, and you’ll be hard pressed to find a better final 3 minutes of cinema.
Believe the hype, “It Was Just An Accident” is a masterwork of tone and thrill, a film worthy of its awards and praise and one that is sure to grow in both as the year continues. What a film.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars
“It Was Just An Accident” is in select theaters Oct 15th. You can watch the trailer below.
