Authoritarian regimes produce enduring legacies that often outlive the violence itself, shaping collective memory, political institutions, and everyday life long after repression has ended. Nowhere is this tension more pronounced than in Iran, where society continues to grapple with the dilemmas of transitional justice: whether justice is pursued through legal accountability, public truth-telling, reconciliation or retribution. Crafted by Jafar Panahi, It Was Just an Accident (2025) enters this debate through an intimate yet profoundly political narrative which seeks to uncover the ethical complexities of confronting past violence in the absence of justice.
Moving beyond a classical political thriller, the narrative gradually evolves into a philosophical dialogue centred on justice and revenge when a group of former political prisoners find their tormentor. As uncertainty surrounds his identity, each character portrays different moral responses to trauma— ranging from revenge, due process, forgiveness, scepticism, and the pursuit of truth. Panahi’s restrained direction, long takes, naturalistic performances, and minimalist visual style sustain the film’s moral ambiguity without resorting to melodrama. Echoing the aesthetics of Iranian New Wave, the film’s colour palette, measured pacing, and visual composition produce emotional intimacy right from the outset. Moreover, the screenplay deliberately withholds easy answers, compelling viewers to confront unsettling possibilities of narration.
Panahi’s craft cuts across Iranian settings to become a universal reflection of authoritarianism, human dignity, and the unresolved politics of memory. Its greatest achievement lies in rejecting the simplistic binaries of victims and perpetrators across spacio-temporal contexts, thereby situating transitional justice within the broader social order. Winning the Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and bagging multiple awards and nominations, It Was Just an Accident is a must-watch for anyone interested in exploring questions of political philosophy and transitional justice. It offers a compelling reminder that the deepest consequences of authoritarianism are often ethical rather than physical.
