- Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi
- December 5th 2025
- 104
- Jafar Panahi
Vahid and fellow former political prisoners try to figure out if they’ve found their tormentor and what to do with him.
Iranian director Jafar Panahi won the Palme d’Or for best film at the Cannes Film Festival for It Was Just An Accident earlier this year and it is emerging as the top contender for the Best International Feature Film Oscar.
The story follows mechanic Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) after he crosses paths with a man with a prosthetic leg.
He believes the man to be “Eqbal the Peg Leg”, a guard who interrogated and tortured him while he was in an Iranian prison.
However, Vahid was blindfolded for all of his encounters with his tormentor behind bars, so all he has to go on is his voice and the sound of his prosthetic leg hitting the floor when he walks.
Initially confident, Vahid kidnaps Eqbal (Ebrahim Azizi) and starts to bury him alive in the desert. But when the man insists he is not Eqbal, Vahid starts to have doubts. Has he got the right man?
He decides he needs confirmation before he can proceed, so he puts Eqbal in a box in the back of his van and takes him to former political prisoners Shiva (Mariam Afshari), Goli (Hadis Pakbaten) and Hamid (Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr) to verify his identity.
To begin with, Panahi must be recognised for his extraordinary courage.
It Was Just An Accident is inspired by his own story; he was subjected to torture and interrogation when he was imprisoned in 2010 and 2022 for making films critical of the Iranian regime.
Despite this, he has continued to make more movies critical of the government and authoritarianism. He made his latest in secret, without the permission of the Iranian authorities, and received a new prison sentence for doing so earlier this week.
However, if you take the film at face value and brush all that aside, you may find a tonally confused story.
Vahid’s actions set off a chain reaction of escalating events, and it feels like it should have been a farce or a comedy caper – but it’s played with total seriousness and laughing doesn’t feel right. Did Panahi want us to laugh or not? It’s hard to say.
It Was Just An Accident has been described as a thriller, but it only truly becomes one in the final act. It is more of a chaotic drama that poses a great moral dilemma. Is it right to kill Eqbal after what he did? Will it make them feel better?
The excellent cast has major debates about his identity and the correct course of action.
However, they actually talk and argue a bit too much and make the film outstay its welcome (slightly).
Although it may be tonally uncertain, It Was Just An Accident is a remarkable achievement from the daring Panahi. For his bravery alone, he deserves to win all of the international film categories this awards season.
In cinemas from Friday 5th December
By Hannah Wales.
© Cover Media