After numerous previews in October and a lifetime achievement award received at the Rome Film Festival, the director Jafar Panahi returns to the cinema with his latest work, Palme d’Or at Cannes. Distributed by Lucky Red with the support of Amnesty International Italy, Simple accident This is by no means a simple work, dramatic especially in the long monologue about rape in prison but not without funny moments.
The car’s engine wouldn’t start again due to a “simple” traffic accident. But it’s time to move on the storywhich revolves around seeking confirmation that the driver of the car that broke down is a former prison guard. To dispel these doubts, the mechanic assistant who kidnapped him asked for cooperation from those who experienced his brutality and sadism prison.
The result was a long and painful confrontation between those who wanted to forget, those who finally saw an opportunity for revenge, those who feared retaliation, and those who could not make up their minds. But there is a fundamental problem: how to recognize someone who always closes his eyes in prison? Another sense is needed besides sight, namely hearing, and it is not a matter of activating it by listening to sounds.
Repentance and recognition of responsibility must be a prerequisite for everyone Sorry. But there is a much more important feeling that emerges and makes it a secondary question of whether regretting the torture ordered and carried out is a sincere act or not: mercy.
Clean from religious meaning Of the various terms (including revenge!), forgiveness requires an evaluation of the person and the actions they took. Mercy, on the other hand, is the action by which a person decides to save a human life. Which it will happen last resortpeople in the theater will find out after 105 minutes of watching. Or maybe that won’t be enough…
Whatever happens, what Panahi wants to remind us is that, beyond individual decisions, there is a need to fight impunity. Of course, this is impossible if there is a chance meeting between the victim and the perpetrator. We need impartial justice independent and fair.
It is no coincidence that, in Simple accidentnot even a judge is visible: in Iran The judiciary is an instrument of repressive power. Therefore, we add, we need instruments of international justice.
Article Deciding between revenge and mercy: Panahi’s new masterpiece in cinema comes from Il Fatto Quotidiano.
