海角大神

In an extraordinary film, an Iranian director explores forgiveness and mercy

The backstory to 鈥淚t Was Just an Accident,鈥� the extraordinary new movie from the Iranian director Jafar Panahi, is integral to its meaning. Winner of the 2025 Palme d鈥橭r at Cannes 鈥� that festival鈥檚 highest honor 鈥� it鈥檚 about the ways revenge and mercy play out among a group of ordinary citizens who suffered the tyrannies of the Islamic Republic.

Panahi himself has famously endured the ongoing wrath of a regime of which he has been openly critical. In 2010, he was sentenced to six years in prison, later commuted to house arrest, plus a 20-year ban on filmmaking. He repeatedly circumvented the ban, filming in secret. One of his clandestine movies, the acclaimed 2011 video memoir 鈥淭his Is Not a Film,鈥� was shot on an iPhone and smuggled out of Iran on a USB stick.聽

鈥淎ccident鈥� is his first film since his latest arrest in 2022, when, after almost seven months in detention, he was released after undergoing a hunger strike. No longer subject, at least for now, to a travel ban, he has accompanied his new film to festivals and screenings around the world. But as with his other films, he had to direct it in secret, in part because its lead women violated the law by not wearing hijabs.

Panahi has stated that 鈥淎ccident鈥� derives in part from anecdotes he heard from fellow prisoners. Because he is first and foremost a storyteller, the movie is framed as a kind of slow-burn thriller. His rage at the brutal system is palpable but not propagandistic. He understands that humanity, and not hatred, ultimately drives his scenario.

It all begins when Eghbal (Ebrahim Azizi), a middle-aged man driving at night on a country road, accidentally hits a dog, damaging his car鈥檚 engine. With his young daughter and pregnant wife in tow, he finds a local mechanic, Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri), who comes to believe that Eghbal is the officer who tortured him in captivity years before. Because Vahid was blindfolded the entire time he was imprisoned, he can鈥檛 be absolutely sure that Eghbal, who like his torturer, has a prosthetic leg, is the real culprit. After kidnapping him, Vahid prepares to bury him alive in the desert 鈥� despite Eghbal鈥檚 furious denials 鈥� but relents.

With Eghbal bound and gagged in the van, Vahid that same day seeks out four other former victims of the torturer鈥檚 handiwork: Shiva (Mariam Afshari), a feisty wedding photographer; Goli (Hadis Pakbaten), a bride-to-be still wearing her wedding dress; her groom, Ali (Majid Panahi); and the hotheaded Hamid (Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr). They all pile into the van as it makes its rounds through the city streets and the hills above Tehran. Like Vahid, none of them as prisoners ever saw Eghbal鈥檚 face. They can鈥檛 be certain they have the right man, although Hamid is in favor of disposing of him anyway.

What ensues over the course of a day and night is a kind of black comic roundelay, in which each of the participants voices their full-throated recriminations and doubts. Squabbling in and out of that overcrowded van, they鈥檙e like a dysfunctional family wailing their pent-up woes.

Without being explicit about it, Panahi has crafted a morality play. Is Eghbal really the torturer these people nicknamed Peg Leg? Although the truth finally comes out, the stakes are much the same either way. What are the limits of forgiveness? Of mercy? In seeking revenge, do the members of this cohort risk losing their souls?

The film鈥檚 moral issues don鈥檛 come across as tacked on. They arise organically and register as both intensely personal to the filmmaker and much larger in scope. The film even offers up, against all odds 鈥� and a truly chilling final moment 鈥� a measure of hope. Vahid may bemoan his ruined life, but Panahi, who has suffered for his art, remains undaunted. This film is his Exhibit A.

Peter Rainer is the Monitor鈥檚 film critic. 鈥淚t Was Just an Accident鈥� is rated PG-13 for thematic elements, violence, strong language, and smoking.