It Was Just An Accident
Official Oscar© Selection—France
Palme D’Or Winner, Cannes Film Festival
A minor mishap spirals into an escalating cycle of chaotic uncertainty in Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi’s (3 Faces, No Bears) thriller. While traveling with his family, Eghbal gets into a car accident that leaves him stranded at a nearby garage. There, former political prisoner Vahid hears the sound of Eghbal’s prosthetic leg and immediately identifies him as the torturer who left him with life-altering injuries. With a ragtag group of fellow ex-prisoners, Vahid takes Eghbal captive to enact his revenge. As the night stretches on, doubt creeps in, and antics intensify as Vahid and the group grow increasingly unsure of whether they have the right man.
Darkly funny and morally gray, It Was Just an Accident confronts the legacy of political repression in Iran through its volatile portrayal of vigilante justice, raising questions about memory, accountability, and the cycle of retribution.
“A movie of righteous fury and bleak comedy…it takes your breath away.”
-Sam Adams, Slate