It Was Just An Accident

The whole movie was shot illegally in Iran.

Movie: It Was Just An Accident

Running Time: 1:43

Nominated for: International Feature, Original Screenplay

How I watched: Hulu

When it had me: Rash Decisions

When it lost me: Not a bit

What systems does it challenge: Authoritarianism, Religious Extremism

It Was Just an Accident plays like a comedy of errors, only it's lighter in the comedy and heavier on the errors. A man accidentally runs into someone who was his torturer when he was a in political prison, and decides impulsively to detain him. From there on there is an undeniable forward motion that sweeps these characters and many more along on a very uncertain path.

I love a movie where good people are caught up making bad choices and getting in over their heads. It makes me so invested and amused in equal measure.

At times it has the tone of a light romp but the more you learn about the pain that these characters have endured, the more grounded it becomes. In the end it feels like it brings into focus the beautiful/horrible contradiction of humanity. The film arcs from apathy to empathy and that journey may be the most important one that we can consider right now.

The human experience is pretty universal and it is only through the accident of circumstance that we set out to hurt and destroy one another. What a terrible tragedy we are. And what a powerful film to capture that!

Director Jafar Panahi lives under threat of arrest and worse at the hands of the Iranian government. (Of course that regime has been mostly murdered by US and Israeli forces, so who knows if that situation will change.) This film is based in part on his own experiences in detention for illegal propaganda against the regime. Brave film making, to say the least.