When people talk about the power of art, they’re talking about people like Jafar Panahi. Because of his films lambasting the Iranian government, Panahi has been arrested twice, gone on a hunger strike, and been officially exiled from his home country. The world knows he’s that special kind of person that’s equally brave and artistic, dangerous to those in power fearful of the downtrodden rising up. It Was Just An Accident is the name of Panahi’s latest film, but it wasn’t an accident how special this movie is, because of the special filmmaker behind it.
The accident in question is Eqbal’s (Ebrahim Azizi) car. On a dark road, with his pregnant wife and daughter, Eqbal hits a stray dog, The car stalls out in front of Vahid’s (Vahid Mobasseri) business/repair shop. A stroke of fortune…or is it? Vahid is giving Eqbal a bunch of weird looks, and for some reason follows the tow truck with his white van to Eqbal’s home. That van is about to go on the strangest road trip, pulling in a photographer Shiva (Mariam Afshari), bride and groom Goli (Hadis Pakbaten) and Ali (Majid Panahi), and the highly combustible Hamid (Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr). Hijinks ensue.
Except it’s not hijinks. It’s a fraught, well put together morality play. Panahi plays with the audience expectations right from the beginning. We’re watching Eqbal and his adorable daughter and pregnant wife just driving home, knowing immediately the audience is going to be on his side since he’s the first person we see. That gets further cemented as Vahid keeps showing this increasingly ominous behavior toward this guy who’s just trying to get his car fixed. Panahi deploys a lot of voyeuristic camera work here, to make the audience be Vahid, creeping on Eqbal making us complicit in Vahid’s schemes. The tension escalates to where you think its going to go, then takes us to the desert, where Panahi makes you think Vahid was gonna try to convince a bunch of people It Was Just An Accident that put a dead body out here and he’s gonna go on the run to cover it up.
But then Vahid says something, and Panahi flips the movie on its head, taking us on the road. We pick up all these random people, who give more context to the situation. Plus, a little light humor around the darkness of the story to keep things from plunging into chronic despair; keeping Goli in the wedding dress was a chuckle gift that kept on giving. But those are minor moments. As we get more passengers, the debates and questions intensify on what the right thing to do actually is. Each new passenger reveals new justifications for what to do with Eqbar. Revenge is definitely on the table, but is violence the answer? Also, what are the consequences of their current predicament if they just let Eqbal go? It all boils down to what is the right thing? The tension reaches its boiling point in the final 15 minutes, which Panahi shoots magnificently, letting some characters see the perspective of the other characters, buoyed by incredible performances from the actors in that scene. And, as one final gift, the the final shot has a scene that is as scary as anything I’ve seen on camera this year, featuring one of the best sound effects of the year that I won’t be able to unhear anytime soon.
I do believe as Martin Luther King Jr. said, the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. It Was Just An Accident I think shows Jafar Panahi believes the same thing. But also, that we have to be the benders of that arc. It’s up to us to do something, and hopefully we all find the courage to do the right thing like the greats before us: MLK, Nelson Mandela, and now the great Jafar Panahi.