TIFF 2025 | Movie Review: Iranian Ethical Thriller "It Was Just An Accident" is One of the Best Films of the Year
11/12 ForReel Score | 4.5/5 Stars
Early in Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, Eghbal (Ebrahim Azizi) hits and kills a dog with his car, terrifying his daughter. His wife reassures the young girl, insisting that “it was just an accident”. Eghbal’s wife could not be more wrong. Panahi takes this small instigating incident and stretches its consequences into an immaculately paced thriller that drives a stake through the heart of the Iranian regime and delivers a nuanced commentary on PTSD and revenge as a cure for one’s ails.
The aforementioned accident leads to car trouble, and with no garages around, Eghbal accepts help from a local business. Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri), an employee of the business, thinks nothing of it, until he hears a seemingly familiar sound that has haunted him for years: the scraping of a false leg against concrete. Vahid was a political prisoner in Iran, and the only identifying factor of the man who tortured him for months was his fake limb. Rage builds inside of him, and soon, Vahid has stalked Eghbal, kidnapped him, and is burying him alive. Before he can finish his deed, however, a twinge of doubt takes hold, and he decides to put the murder on hold until he can confirm the man’s identity with the help of his other colleagues who were imprisoned alongside him.
Much of the film is Vahid recruiting former prisoner after former prisoner into his scheme, the doubt (and consequences of their actions) ramping up minute by minute as none of them can ensure with 100% certainty that the kidnapped man is their enemy. Panahi employs few, if any, flashy camera moves or tricks, instead relying on long takes with a relatively stationary camera. This allows most of the focus to remain on the characters, who have differing proposals on how to escape their quagmire. Crucially, the female dissidents have just as much agency and impact as the men, and even shed their hijabs, a clear challenge to Iran’s oppression of women’s freedom.
The film most clearly explores the morality of “an eye for an eye”, a concept that Sharia law in Iran takes quite literally. However, it also delves into both the physical and psychological impacts of the torture that Iran inflicts on its people. Vahid is constantly reminded through a nagging pain in his abdomen, requiring medication, but it also clearly left a mental impact on him. The dragging of Eghbal’s leg resulted in Vahid taking drastic impromptu action without contemplating the consequences. If a single sound can impact him in this way, what is he capable of when he finally unmasks the man of his nightmares?
Is it right for Vahid and his fellow victims to inflict torture on their torturer, especially if they aren’t even sure they’re punishing the right man? I won’t spoil what they conclude, but regardless, their pain and sorrow from their imprisonment doesn’t just vanish instantaneously. Like the scars on Eghbal’s missing limb, it seems sure to last for a long, long time.