In 2016, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences made a series of changes after no people of colour received acting nominations at the Oscars for two consecutive years.  One initiative has been to significantly increase the number of voting members with a focus on women and non-white individuals.  An outcome has been heightened recognition for “international” movies.  Ten different directors have been nominated for non-English language films in the last eight years – compared to just one in the decade prior.

The Cannes Film Festival has long been a focus of cinephiles but, given the above, its role in chaperoning the best of Asian and European cinema has taken on more prominence.  Parasite, The Worst Person in the World, Drive My Car, Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest, and Emilia Pérez all premiered at Cannes.  This year’s Festival included another stellar crop of interesting releases, including Sentimental Value, The Secret Agent and Sirāt, but the jury bestowed the top prize on It Was Just an Accident, a co-production between Iran, France and Luxembourg.

Wikipedia labels it a “thriller” but the plot is so absurd (in a good way), that I’ll describe is as an extremely dark comedy.  Vahid (Mobesseri) is a mechanic who, until recently, was incarcerated and tortured inside an Iranian prison.  He never knew the identity of his captors as he was blindfolded in their presence.  However, he distinctly remembers a heinous man nicknamed “Peg Leg” because of the squeaky sound made by his prosthetic limb.  The memory has come flooding back when a customer enters his car repair shop making the same noise.

Overcome with shock and terror, Vahid kidnaps the man, knocks him unconscious, and locks him in a large toolbox in the back of his minivan.  He intends to kill and bury him in the desert but there’s a slight element of doubt.  What if it’s not his torturer?  What if it’s just a random stranger with the same prosthetic?  Vahid needs certainty and so he drives the van across town and reunites with friends who also spent time inside the jail.  The hope is that one of them can formally identify but the longer the day drags on, the weirder it gets.  If it is their target, will have they have the collective courage to kill him?  If it’s not, how will they return the innocent man to his family without retribution?

I’m iffy on the final scene (a little too Hollywood for me) but loved the nutty storyline, and the way it explores the shadowy line between punishment and forgiveness.  It also shines the spotlight on political oppression within Iran.  65-year-old writer-director Jafar Panahi (This Is Not a Film) has been incarcerated multiple times for “propaganda against the Islamic Republic” and this new film led to an additional one-year prison sentence.  Thankfully, it’s a punishment he won’t serve as Panahi is now living outside Iran and travelling the world to promote the film.

Showered with awards since its release, It Was Just an Accident is a movie you won’t soon forget.