Surviving Evil in 'It Was Just an Accident'
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Surviving Evil in It Was Just an Accident
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By Ben Elliott
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While driving home on a dark road, a father admonishes his young daughter for playing music too loud, telling her they have to be considerate of their neighbors.
“It’s not done,” he says.
It’s a rote moment of parenting that quickly becomes an ominous echo in Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, coming to The Triplex this week.
It Was Just an Accident, 2025When the man and his family pull into a mechanic’s shop to repair their car, Vahid, one of the employees, hears the clicking of the man’s prosthetic leg and becomes convinced he’s the intelligence officer who tortured him in an Iranian prison.
A hasty abduction ensues, but doubt creeps in as Vahid wonders if this is really the man. He reaches out to a network of fellow survivors to help confirm the captive’s identity, pulling a thread that quickly unravels their fragile, reconstructed lives.
It Was Just an Accident, 2025
Panahi places us squarely in the midst of the survivor’s decision making, often leaving the camera still, creating an obstructed view as the characters move in and out of frame. There’s no music to pump up the drama here, either — he instead relies on the rustle of nature, the whir of traffic, and other noises from a world moving on that highlights the isolation of these characters.
As the moral complications pile up, the benefits of revenge blur to abstraction. Panahi, a director who has been repeatedly jailed and tortured for his work by the Iranian regime, instead finds power and beauty in absolution during the film’s stunning final act. Forgiveness won’t rid the world of evil, he seems to say, but it may be the only way to survive it.
Showtimes
Showtimes Zootopia 2 | 12:45PM, 3:30PM, 6:15PM Wicked: For Good | 1:30PM, 4:45PM, 8:00PM Sentimental Value | 2:30PM It Was Just an Accident | 5:30PM, 8:15PM
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