‘It Was Just An Accident' REVIEW: The 2025 Film That Dared to Be Made
‘It Was Just An Accident REVIEW: The 2025 Film That Dared to Be Made
Vahid Mobasseri in It Was Just An Accident | Still from IMDb
This film is certainly no accident. Made secretly from the Iranian regime by Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, It Was Just An Accident is both a bold, remarkable feat of powerful performances and filmmaking precision, and an angry, passionate protest against state oppression.
From minute one, Panahi immediately hooks you in with an astounding oner: we see — through the windshield of a car — a family of three on a night drive home. After a moment of levity and connection, the patriarch, who's behind the wheel the entire time, hits a dog. When that's taken care of, the mother comforts the child. “It was just an accident,” she says as the father looks on with guilt.
This is a brilliant cold open, not just because of how the scene is presented but also of how this represents how the film alternates between the light and the dark in the next ninety minutes.
Mariam Afshari in It Was Just An Accident | Still from IMDb
Later on, the patriarch is kidnapped by Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri), a mechanic who recognizes the former as the latter's torturer, Eghbal, while having the car fixed. However, Vahid has his doubts since he deduced that the man is Eghbal by the squeaking of his prosthetic leg. He then turns to former political prisoners (whom Eghbal also tortured) for confirmation, and what follows is a riveting debate between those who are wronged about what to do with the man who wronged them.
As is often the case, the pursuit of vengeance is ugly and messy, bringing out the worst in people. Much of the film revolves around this group of people deducing whether or not the man is actually their tormentor, and if so, whether or not they should kill him. At one point, they consider taking their anger out on his family.
It seems grim, but Panahi manages to find a somewhat childlike innocence and empathy in its subjects that contrasts with the malevolence. As the group argues over choices and suggestions, they also have to ensure that they aren't seen with a man hogtied, blindfolded, gagged, and locked in a box at the back of their van. That leads to a series of intense yet hilarious situations where they risk being caught.
The film evokes humor in the characters’ dilemma, and yet it never laughs at them. Instead, that humor comes from a place of understanding that these people are not violent individuals. They're just a group of innocent people whose pain is ignored, whose spirits are broken, whose rage is suppressed for so long that it becomes volatile once allowed to be released.
Ebrahim Azizi in It Was Just An Accident | Still from IMDb
But even with that humor, Panahi never loses sight of how grave the story is. This film deals with a lot of high emotions, and the tension becomes so unbearably high that it has left me breathless by the end. And yet it never loses control; it keeps things focused and simple, utilizing minimalist techniques to help realize the screenplay and the performances to their fullest.
Panahi knows that these people are being pushed to the brink of bearing that same blackness of heart as their abuser, even if it's against their principles. And there is always this looming sense of trepidation where every choice they make has dire consequences that would forever change them as a person.
At a lot of points in my life, I found myself pondering the idea of forgiveness, the question of whether or not those who hurt us in the past deserve one. There will be peace in our suffering, they say. Closure in deep, festering wounds. But no matter what, a scar will form in its place.
Perhaps it’s more than that. Maybe the question isn’t, “Should we forgive?” but rather, “Should we stoop as low as the violators and inflict the same level of suffering they inflicted on us?”
Regardless, whatever decision they made, it will forever be an itch that they can't soothe, a phantom echo that can't be silenced.
As long as the rotten tree remains rooted in the earth, there will be no grave left undisturbed.
P.S. I have to admit and I’m not exaggerating: there’s probably no film in 2025 that has come close to the final thirty minutes of It Was Just An Accident. Or that showstopper of an ending. If you know, you know.
‘It Was Just an Accident’ was screened in Philippine cinemas as part of FDCP Presents: A Curation of World Cinema from January 28 to February 3, 2026.
