Does retribution, no matter how satisfying and deserved it might feel, justify killing?
That is but one of the moral questions raised in Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s hard-hitting, sometimes funny and multi-layered thriller. It confirms from its metaphorically dense opening to its blood-chilling finale that Panahi — banned from his homeland — is one of our foremost living filmmakers.
Shot on the sly in Iran, since Panahi’s screenplay had zero hope of getting a greenlight from the government, “It Was Just an Accident” doesn’t for a second look like it was furtively filmed or made underground. It’s a flat-out masterpiece of tone, mood, style and theme and is one of the very best films of 2025. It also fuses in, as Panahi loves to do, elements and techniques ranging from Hitchcock and neorealism classics.
His film deserves to become a classic, too.
The tightly focused screenplay hinges on mechanic Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) and his chance encounter with a family man (Ebrahim Azizi) he suspects could be the former jailhouse tormenter that left him traumatized forever. Vahid reacts rather than thinks, through his need for vengeance, and kidnaps Eghbal in a van. Then he starts to question the man as if he is indeed his former captor. To get at the truth, he stuffs the possible Eghbal in a box and seeks out others who had been subjected to the man’s torture to see if they can positively ID him.
Vahid’s ensuing road trip leads to mayhem and outbursts as well as some quite funny moments. Vahid even interrupts an engagement photo shoot of Shiva’s (Mariam Afshari) for Goli (Hadis Pakbaten) and Ali (Madj Panahi) to see if two of three can tag him. They go on to pick up volatile Hamid (Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr) who wants immediate blood justice.
You never quite know where Panahi is leading audiences and if indeed the man in the box is the notorious Eghbal. But once you arrive at the ultimate destination — a primal, furious cinematic scream at all the injustices that have happened in Iran and throughout the globe — you will never forget it. This is essential viewing and essential filmmaking.
Contact Randy Myers at [email protected]
‘IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT’
4 stars out of 4
Rated: PG-13 (thematic elements, violence, language, smoking)
Starring: Vahid Mobasseri, Ebrahim Azizi, Mariam Afshari, Hadis Pakbaten, Madj Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Director: Jafar Panahi
Running time: 1 hour, 44 minutes
When & where: Now showing in limited release, opens in more theaters Oct. 30
