Joseph Moser
What if a decent person who has been wronged, rather than pursuing an all-consuming mission for revenge, has their former tormentor show up randomly one night outside their door? But the decent person isn’t completely sure it’s their tormentor? In “It Was Just an Accident,” the decent person facing this dilemma is Vahid, a former political prisoner who was tortured by Iranian officials.
Writer-director Jafar Panahi, who himself has suffered imprisonment at the hands of the Iranian regime, shot this movie secretly in and around Tehran and, for his efforts, won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Although it concerns victims who pursue vengeance, Panahi’s film is no Tarantino-esque bloodbath or Marvel spectacle. It’s a subtle, intensely challenging work that includes moments of humor and unlikely human connection. “It Was Just an Accident” plays at the Savoy Theater in Montpelier through Thursday, Nov. 20.
Relying on the intelligence and patience of his viewers, Panahi brilliantly employs sounds and offscreen events to create tension. Everyman protagonist Vahid, proprietor of an auto shop, has his life upended when a family with car trouble arrives at his garage seeking help.
The seemingly benign family includes a man, a woman, and their young daughter, but the squeak of the man’s prosthetic leg immediately triggers Vahid, who hides from these customers as his associate repairs their car.
Panahi slowly unspools the chain of events behind Vahid’s fearful, angry behavior, and viewers need to focus and analyze the characters’ reactions and words to grasp what is happening. There is no spoon-feeding from the filmmakers here. Above all, like we would at the performance of a great play, we need to listen (and read subtitles) closely to keep up with this movie and grapple with its piercing questions and insights.
Most of the film takes place over twenty-four turbulent hours in the lives of Vahid and his suspected torturer, whom he calls Peg Leg. Vahid drives a van around Tehran to seek advice on handling his conundrum, assembling a group of mostly reluctant avengers. These include Shiva, a photographer; Goli and Ali, an engaged couple who are customers of Shiva; and Hamid, Shiva’s jilted ex-boyfriend. Shiva, Goli, and Hamid were all victimized by Peg Leg, and their responses to Vahid’s news about their torturer span a wide swath of complex emotions: denial, fury, grief, and self-doubt among them.
Vahid is a compelling protagonist, in part, because of how normal he is. Somewhat schlubby and avuncular, he looks nothing like an avenging angel or a raging demon. He shows dutiful kindness to his mother and even to Peg Leg’s family, leading to an absurdly comical hospital sequence.
As most sensitive people would, Vahid evinces as much confusion as resolution in confronting Peg Leg, a character who is slightly humanized throughout the film. Vahid has some questions about his captivity answered, but these revelations yield further questions and doubts. Panahi conveys details of the characters’ imprisonment and torture with the utmost sensitivity, not through flashbacks but by seamlessly integrating moments when Vahid, Shiva, Goli, and Hamid break down and recount their most painful memories. On their fitful journey, these characters attain catharsis but little moral clarity.
In this humane but deeply unsettling film, revenge is a waiting and wondering game. Thus, it’s fitting that Hamid compares the predicament of this everyday band of avengers to the plot of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot,” and several of the barren landscapes in the movie clearly evoke the setting of that classic play as well. The compassion and intertextuality of Panahi’s movie serve as a heartening reminder that, while injustice and authoritarianism affect the lives of people throughout the world, art can transcend borders, political divisions, and enmities. While it doesn’t intend to propose solutions, this great film has the power to increase our human capacity to resist dictators, propaganda, dehumanization, and violence.
“It Was Just an Accident” plays at the Savoy Theater in Montpelier through Thursday, Nov. 20
