Jafar Panahi’s ‘taut revenge thriller’ becomes frontrunner to take Cannes’ top prize

After years of imprisonment and travel ban in his hometown of Iran, Jafar Panahhi is furious but amused, and is able to return to Cannes in a funny revenge thriller, aiming to be an oppressive regime and scoop the Palme de Orle.

The film opens one night with his happy pregnant wife driving in the countryside and carrying their playful daughter in the back seat, unbreakable, unbreakable, seemingly charming shots, and his happy, pregnant wife driving in the countryside. When the car breaks down, the husband convinces the mechanic to tinker with it, but then Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri), the mechanic’s crumpled colleague, realizes the calm combination of sounds.

One of the themes that will drive through competitive films at this year’s Cannes Film Festival is how difficult it is to fight your path when the nation is in your way. In two prosecutors, Stalin’s Soviet bureaucracy crushes the truth into dust. In Eagles of the Republic, Egyptian actors find themselves being directed by slippery officials at work and at home. Document 137 is set in today’s France, but even there, police investigations are hampered by systems that protect some kind of fraudster than other types.

The most direct and personal of these films was merely an accident written and directed by Jafar Panahi. Panahi has been repeatedly imprisoned and is banned from making films in his hometown of Iran, and is subject to so many travel bans. He has not been in Cannes since 2003 (I have his films though). It is therefore not surprising that his latest films are very open about life under a oppressive regime. What’s even more surprising is that it was just an accident, balancing the anger with the warmth, humor and sympathy of the character.

These sounds have been plagued by Vahid’s nightmares for years, but they recall someone he calls Peg Leg. Peg Legg recalls the sadistic interrogator who tortured him while he was in jail on trumpeted instigation charges. With the Impulse, Vahid shovels the man and packs it into the box behind the van. He plans to liven up Peg’s legs in the desert. And with its dusty mountain views, the film begins to feel like a classic Western tale of frontier justice.

But wait. Vahid is blindfolded all the time while he is in prison, so he can’t be sure the man he caught is Peg’s legs. He decides to drive to town to get a second opinion from a friend trapped by him, but still, things aren’t that simple. Eventually, Vahid’s van is full of former prisoners discussing the question, including a clever wedding photographer (Mariam Afshari), an angry woman who will marry the next day (Hadis Pakbaten), a bitter man (Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr), whether or not he is a Vahid prisoner or not.

It’s just an accident, a tense, twisted revenge thriller with heavyweight ethical difficulties. It’s heartbreaking about the suffering of well-drawn characters, but we ask if they can justify them by using the same methods (adduction, torture) as oppressors. Even if they can be sure the prisoner is the leg of the Peg, do they have the right to carry out him? On the other hand, do they have options? If they release him more than they had finished their work, if they released him, have they ever been gone?

Panahi mixes these issues with healthy comedies. Vahid and his companions are not bloodthirsty vigilantes, but a bunch of arguments that may be thwarted by their mission by running out of gasoline. Meanwhile, they not only look over their shoulders for the secret police, but are also irritated by the low level of endemic corruption. In one of the few surprising examples, two security guards produce their own portable card readers, allowing them to accept bes from people who don’t have cash.

However, these Farcical Vignettes are not just mild relief. They reinforce the powerful point of Panahhi that the heroes and villains are not all monumental figures in uniform. Those who committed the worst evils, those who endured them, and those who rose up and made them commit those evils, can be seen in all sunny city streets and continue to live normal lives with friends and relatives.

Panahi puts these horrifying, movingly humanitarian insights into films that are as fast-moving and unpretentious as criminals. He was able to return to Iran with Cannes’ top prize, Palme de Orle, after the festival ended this weekend.