Original Language Titles: «یک تصادف ساده» / «Un simple accident»
“It’s him! It’s the shitty leg he lost in Syria! He took his anger out on guys like me! I’ve been running my hand over his leg for five years, in my nightmares. He made me touch his rotten leg, blindfolded, to show off his deeds in their bullshit holy war! You’re all crazy, seriously! Do you think he’ll confess? One slip up and he hangs us!”
In spite of the fact that the current government of Iran is one of the most repressive in the world, Iranian cinema has still managed to flourish with some of the most acclaimed filmmakers of all time working there. Aside from Abbas Kiarostami and Ashgar Farhadi, the most notable Iranian filmmaker on the international stage has to be Jafar Panahi. Since he released his film “The Circle” in the year 2000, calling out how women have been systemically mistreated in the country, all of his films have been banned and starting in 2010, he was placed on house arrest and prohibited from making movies entirely.
This still did not stop him, and he released his next movie in 2011 titled “This Is Not a Film,” documenting his persecution and struggle to make art. And after the 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini for not wearing a hijab, he felt compelled to make a statement with another film.
The plot follows an auto mechanic and former protester named Vahid (played by Vahid Mobasseri) who meets a new client with a peg leg. Vahid, believing that this could be his former torturer named Eqbal (played by Ebrahim Azizi), kidnaps the man and drags him out to the desert with the help of his fellow compatriots, the photographer Shiva (played by Mariam Afshari), the couple Goli (played Hadis Pakbaten) and Ali (played by the director’s nephew Majid Panahi), and Hamid (played by Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr) who were tortured alongside him as they try to wring a confession out of Eqbal and have him repent for his crimes.
After premiering to rave reviews this year at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, this film won the coveted grand prize of the Palme d’Or in an upset over Best Picture nominees “Sentimental Value” and ”The Secret Agent.” Although the film itself did not get a best picture nomination, it did get two nominations for Best Original Screenplay and the French submission and nominee for Best International Feature.
This film becomes so much more impactful when you realize that it was made completely in secret. All of the actors in the film are non professional and are doing this knowing full well that the very act of telling this story could get them thrown in jail. All of the female main characters in this film do not wear hijabs, directly protesting the very law that resulted in Amini’s death. In fact, less than a month ago, Panahi was once again charged for crimes against the Iranian regime and sentenced to prison in absentia. He has stated that he will willingly return to Iran to carry out his sentence in order to protest further against the Iranian government and his right to make art.
The film’s screenplay is also the most original and well structured of the year, and the direction helps serve the story by constantly building tension with several of the most pivotal scenes being shot in unbroken long takes. Each cut hits you like a pile of bricks and just builds and builds until it releases all at once in one of the best final acts of the year.
This is easily one of the best films of the year and truly undeniable filmmaking. Although this film did not ultimately earn a Best Picture nomination, truly powerful films like this will always endure, and storytellers like Panahi should always remind us of the importance of creating great art even under the most repressive circumstances. I highly recommend this film to everyone who can see it, and my final rating for “It Was Just an Accident” is a revolutionary 10/10.
