It Was Just An Accident: Justice and revenge in Jafar Panahi’s Iranian drama

For the past two years, a pair of Iranian films have been nominated for a best international feature Oscar.

They have not been submitted by Iran. Last year, Seed of the Sacred Fig was the German entry, and now, It Was Just An Accident officially hails from France. At least when it comes to the Academy.

But they are unmistakeably Iranian, made by two Iranian filmmakers and deeply engaged with the social, political and personal turmoils of a nation besieged by its theocratic, authoritarian government.

It Was Just An Accident, directed by Jafar Panahi, had French co-funding and finished its post-production in the land of “Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite” because in Iran, there is no freedom of artistic expression.

Panahi has twice before been imprisoned, and was in December convicted in absentia of “propaganda activities” against the state. He was out of the country at the time, promoting It Was Just An Accident, a film he had to shoot in secret.

That the external narrative of Panahi’s film converges with its in-universe story is infuriating, tragic, and all-too-unsurprising. As we’ve seen across decades and even more acutely in recent weeks, the Iranian regime knows only brutality and repression.

Which make It Was Just An Accident an even more magnificent, because its willingness to ask questions about the very nature of justice and revenge comes from a place of great generosity and humanity – and no one would have blamed Panahi if he was lacking in either.

Considering that he was inspired to write and make this film in part because of his time spent in prison, and his conversations with other political inmates, It Was Just An Accident is surprisingly light. It’s not weighed down by bitterness or rancour. It is often funny.

It is not, as some audiences might believe, homework.

The film opens with a car driving down a stretch of country road at night. Visibility is poor and the family – dad (Ebrahim Azizi), mum (Afssaneh Najmabadi) and small girl (Delnaz Najafi) – does not see the dog it is about to hit.

The car sustains some damage and the father pulls the vehicle into a nearby garage. Upstairs, a mechanic named Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) hears something that makes his blood run cold. It’s the distinct footfall and creaking of a prosthetic leg.

Vahid recognises the sound as that belonging to a man he knew as Eghbal, a guard who tortured him and others when he was in jail as a political prisoner. But, he’s not sure, as he never saw Eghbal.

Vahid abducts the man, hoping “Eghbal” will confess but when the man doesn’t, and Vahid is not 100 per cent sure he has the correct person, Vahid drives around Tehran to seek out others who had been tortured by the same perpetrator.

None ever laid eyes on Eghbal when they (Hadis Pakbaten, Mariam Afshari and Mohammad Ali Elyasmehr) were in prison but each claim to be able to recognise him by his smell, the feel of his scarred leg or his voice. Each recalled the horror they experienced behind bars.

It Was Just An Accident is, at-times, madcap as it organically portrays the many absurdities of living in a country with a depleted economy, a corrupt bureaucracy and the ever-present risk of political persecution – it’s where a lot of the film’s good-natured humour comes from.

But it’s also a thoughtful and philosophical debate about justice and retribution.

A positive identification is uncompromising if they are to exact their revenge, to kill Eghbal, and as certain as they all are at various points, no one can be 100 per cent sure.

There are also disagreements on exactly what to do with him if it is indeed Eghbal, or if it’s just most likely him. Will eye-for-an-eye be satisfaction, or is it just perpetuating a cycle of violence?

Panahi plumbs these quandaries with alacrity and clarity, and with great compassion for his characters.

Iranian filmmakers have become adept at clandestine production tactics, and in a film such as It Was Just An Accident, that agility has worked in its favour. It’s always on the move and has a kineticism that propels the story without feeling rushed.

The ending throws up more questions than it answers, and challenges the audience to consider that revenge, especially the simpler, one-sided pursuit of it in Hollywood films, is never not complicated.

Rating: 4/5

It Was Just An Accident is in cinemas