Cannes Review: ‘It Was Just An Accident' Examines Torture
Cannes Review: 'It Was Just An Accident' Examines Torture
Jafar Panahi is one of Iran's most celebrated and defiant filmmakers. He rose to international prominence with his debut feature The White Balloon, which won the Caméra d'Or at Cannes in 1995. From the beginning, his films stood out for their deep empathy for the struggles of ordinary Iranians. Works like The Circle, Offside, and Taxi pushed the boundaries of Iranian cinema with their sharp social commentary. He often likes to blend fiction with a documentary-style of storytelling. But Panahi's refusal to conform to state expectations has come at a heavy cost.
In 2010, after years of government pressure, he was arrested and handed a six-year prison sentence along with a 20-year ban on filmmaking, interviews, and travel. He was accused of spreading propaganda against the regime. Remarkably, he continued making films in secret and smuggled them out of the country to major festivals. For example, This Is Not a Film (2011) was shot while under house arrest and became a symbol of artistic resistance.
His latest film, It Was Just An Accident, has perhaps the most fascinating premise of Jafar Panahi's career. What if, on a random ordinary day, you suddenly come face-to-face with the man who tortured you? The man who drove your fiancé to commit suicide? What if he denies who he is? Worse yet. What if he's now a seemingly gentle man with a family of his own? Panahi spins this ethical dilemma into a gripping psychological thriller that's as morally complex as it is emotionally shattering.
Yet, even with such a harrowing premise, It Was Just An Accident is surprisingly light-hearted. Panahi infuses the film with deadpan humour that recalls the quirky charm of Little Miss Sunshine. A significant portion of the film takes place in a run-down minibus. More and more people join the ride. We gradually learn that they too were tortured by the same man. To reveal anything more would ruin the film for you. But I will say this, It Was Just An Accident contains perhaps the most perfect ending of any film I've seen this year.
The film makes us question whether we are to blame the individual torturer, or if he is merely a component in a much larger and more insidious machine. Panahi deliberately invited viewers to reflect on Hannah Arendt's concept of the 'banality of evil'. This notion suggests that some of the most horrific acts in history have not been committed by monsters. Rather, they were being committed by ordinary individuals who were simply obeying orders and conforming to oppressive systems.
Panahi frames the torturer as a husband, a father, and a man performing the mundane rituals of daily life. Can someone be both a loving parent and a former agent of terror? Can humanity and monstrosity co-exist in the same person? The film avoids offering easy answers. Instead, it invites a kind of active spectatorship where audiences must reckon with the discomfort of moral ambiguity. It's one of the best films of the year.
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CairoScene
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Cannes Review: ‘It Was Just An Accident' Examines Torture
Cannes Review: 'It Was Just An Accident' Examines Torture Jafar Panahi is one of Iran's most celebrated and defiant filmmakers. He rose to international prominence with his debut feature The White Balloon, which won the Caméra d'Or at Cannes in 1995. From the beginning, his films stood out for their deep empathy for the struggles of ordinary Iranians. Works like The Circle, Offside, and Taxi pushed the boundaries of Iranian cinema with their sharp social commentary. He often likes to blend fiction with a documentary-style of storytelling. But Panahi's refusal to conform to state expectations has come at a heavy cost. In 2010, after years of government pressure, he was arrested and handed a six-year prison sentence along with a 20-year ban on filmmaking, interviews, and travel. He was accused of spreading propaganda against the regime. Remarkably, he continued making films in secret and smuggled them out of the country to major festivals. For example, This Is Not a Film (2011) was shot while under house arrest and became a symbol of artistic resistance. His latest film, It Was Just An Accident, has perhaps the most fascinating premise of Jafar Panahi's career. What if, on a random ordinary day, you suddenly come face-to-face with the man who tortured you? The man who drove your fiancé to commit suicide? What if he denies who he is? Worse yet. What if he's now a seemingly gentle man with a family of his own? Panahi spins this ethical dilemma into a gripping psychological thriller that's as morally complex as it is emotionally shattering. Yet, even with such a harrowing premise, It Was Just An Accident is surprisingly light-hearted. Panahi infuses the film with deadpan humour that recalls the quirky charm of Little Miss Sunshine. A significant portion of the film takes place in a run-down minibus. More and more people join the ride. We gradually learn that they too were tortured by the same man. To reveal anything more would ruin the film for you. But I will say this, It Was Just An Accident contains perhaps the most perfect ending of any film I've seen this year. The film makes us question whether we are to blame the individual torturer, or if he is merely a component in a much larger and more insidious machine. Panahi deliberately invited viewers to reflect on Hannah Arendt's concept of the 'banality of evil'. This notion suggests that some of the most horrific acts in history have not been committed by monsters. Rather, they were being committed by ordinary individuals who were simply obeying orders and conforming to oppressive systems. Panahi frames the torturer as a husband, a father, and a man performing the mundane rituals of daily life. Can someone be both a loving parent and a former agent of terror? Can humanity and monstrosity co-exist in the same person? The film avoids offering easy answers. Instead, it invites a kind of active spectatorship where audiences must reckon with the discomfort of moral ambiguity. It's one of the best films of the year.
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Cannes film festival winners - Screens - Arts & Culture
The 78th Cannes film festival ended Saturday on the French Riviera with the award of its top prize, the Palme d'Or. Here is a list of the winners in the festival's main competition: - Palme d'Or: Jafar Panahi for "It Was Just an Accident" by (Iran) - Grand Prix: Joachim Trier for "Sentimental Value" (Norway) - Jury prize: Oliver Laxe for "Sirat" (Spain-France) and Mascha Schilinski for "Sound of Falling" (Germany) - Best director: Kleber Mendonca Filho for "The Secret Agent" (Brazil) - Best actress: Nadia Melliti for "The Little Sister" (France) - Best actor: Wagner Moura for "The Secret Agent" (Brazil) - Special prize: Bi Gan for "Resurrection" (China) - Best screenplay: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for "Young Mothers" (Belgium) - Camera d'Or for best first film: Hasan Hadi for "The President's Cake" (Iraq). Special mention for "My Father's Shadow" by Akinola Davies (Nigeria) - Best short film: Tawfeek Barhom for "I Am Glad You're Dead Now" by (Palestine-Greece-France) Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Egypt Independent
03-12-2024
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Iranian dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi released from prison
London CNN — , an Iranian dissident rapper and activist, has been released from prison, according to Toomaj Salehi , an Iranian dissident rapper and activist, has been released from prison, according to a statement issued Monday by his international legal team. Salehi, 32, had been held in the Dastgerd prison in the city of Isfahan for 753 days in total, according to his team. The rapper was arrested in October 2022 for supporting the nationwide Woman Life Freedom protests, which erupted following the death of Mahsa Jhina Amini, a young Kurdish-Iranian woman who was detained for wearing her headscarf improperly and later died in police custody. Salehi had long been a voice of anti-government dissent in Iran. He had often used his music and social media posts to make political statements criticizing the repressive nature of the Iranian regime. During the Woman Life Freedom demonstrations, he called on Iranians to protest against the government and posted videos of himself alongside protesters on the streets. 'Someone's crime was dancing with her hair in the wind, someone's crime was that he or she was brave and outspoken,' read the lyrics in one of his songs from October 2022, posted shortly before his arrest. When he was briefly released from prison last year, Salehi posted a video to social media describing how he was tortured and held in solitary confinement. He was re-arrested shortly after, on charges of making false claims and spreading lies, according to Iranian judiciary news agency Mizan. Salehi thanked his supporters on social media on Monday, writing: 'Over the past two years you have done things for me that were unpredictable, glorious and unbelievable.' Earlier this year, the United States imposed sanctions on 12 Iranian officials over human rights abuses. One of the officials oversees the province where Salehi was allegedly tortured while in prison. In April, a lower court in Isfahan sentenced Salehi to death for 'spreading corruption on earth.' But in June, Iran's Supreme Court overturned that sentence. 'The regime tried to silence Toomaj with a death sentence, tortured him to death to break his spirit and now, after so much pain and injustice, they released him,' his cousin Arezou Eghbali Babadi said in a statement Monday. 'Toomaj should never have been in prison at all.' Though Salehi's case was processed in Iranian courts, his family had the support of international lawyers. The London-based Doughty Street Chambers and non-profits the Index on Censorship and the Human Rights Foundation filed appeals and complaints to the United Nations to challenge his detention. 'This is a time of celebration: Our brave, brilliant client Toomaj Salehi is finally free,' Caoilfhionn Gallagher, a lawyer with the Doughty Street Chambers who is the international counsel for the Salehi family, said in a statement. Gallagher said Salehi had been targeted for years by the Iranian authorities, who attempted to silence him through arrests, imprisonment, torture, assaults and the death penalty for his support of human rights in Iran. 'This is also a time for vigilance,' she cautioned, crediting Salehi's release to sustained pressure put on the Iranian authorities from both inside and outside the country. 'The world must not look away now: We must ensure Mr Salehi remains free and is never again subjected to the egregious violations of his rights.' Calls for caution were reiterated by Salehi's political sponsor in Europe, German member of parliament Ye-One Rhie. Such sponsors are parliamentarians across Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Canada who advocate for the release of individual political prisoners in Iran. 'We should remain cautious and keep both eyes on his freedom and safety. Especially with how sudden his release happened tonight,' she wrote on X. Last month, Iranian journalist and activist Kianoosh Sanjari took his own life in Tehran, after threatening to kill himself if four activists detained by the Islamic Republic were not released. One of them was Salehi. Salehi returned to his family last night, according to a statement by Negin Niknaam, his friend and the manager of his social media accounts. 'While expressing joy and happiness … we will wait for the end of all cases and false accusations, and for Toomaj's complete and unconditional freedom.'
