While working in his garage, Vahid is approached by a customer with car trouble and suddenly thinks he recognizes Eghbal, the officer who tortured him in prison. Consumed by thoughts of revenge yet plagued by doubt, Vahid and several fellow survivors launch a desperate investigation to uncover the truth. Their quest leads them into increasingly risky and absurd situations as they struggle to confirm they have the right man.
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Read the complete plot breakdown of It Was Just an Accident (2025), including all key story events, major twists, and the ending explained in detail. Discover what really happened—and what it all means.
One night, a man with a prosthetic leg drives home with his wife and daughter, only to hit and kill a dog. To repair his car, he visits a nearby garage where Vahid Vahid Mobasseri recognizes him from the distinctive sound of his prosthetic leg after he speaks to his mother on the phone. The next day, Vahid trails the man, abducts him, and tries to bury him in the desert. He tells him that he recognized his voice and stumbling walk as that of Eghbal ([Ebrahim Azizi]), his former tormentor in an Iranian prison. The man denies being Eghbal and begs not to be killed, insisting that the scars on his leg are recent, unlike Eghbal’s.
Doubting the man’s identity, Vahid places his unconscious body into the van and visits Salar George Hashemzadeh at a bookshop. Salar refuses to help identify the man but directs him to a photographer named Shiva Mariam Afshari, who is in the middle of taking wedding photos of Goli and Ali, an engaged couple to be married the next day. Reluctant to assist, Shiva recognizes the smell of the man as that of Eghbal but remains unsure due to the fact that they were blindfolded during their torture. Goli reveals she was also tortured by Eghbal but cannot confirm his identity, so they seek out Hamid Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr, Shiva’s former partner, and drug the captive before plugging his ears.
Hamid instantly identifies the man as Eghbal after touching his legs and urges killing him immediately, but Vahid and Shiva restrain him, wanting a formal testimony first. At that moment, a cellphone rings from the man’s body. Vahid answers and hears the man’s daughter, who says that her pregnant mother has fainted. The group visits the man’s house and drives his daughter and her mother to a hospital, where the mother gives birth to a son.
Frustrated, Hamid, Goli, and Ali decide to leave Vahid and Shiva behind. The remaining two drive the man to a quiet location at night, tie him to a tree, wake him, and demand a confession. The man initially again claims mistaken identity, but then concedes that he is Eghbal, arguing that his actions were justified for the good of the Iranian regime and that killing him would only make him a martyr. Vahid and Shiva recount the torment they endured and tell him that his wife has given birth to a son. Shiva insists that Eghbal apologize, and after a tense exchange, he relents and apologizes, claiming he was only trying to make a living. Vahid then frees Eghbal and drives away with Shiva.
Later, Vahid and his mother prepare the van for his sister. A white car, similar to Eghbal’s, enters the area as Vahid moves through the house to retrieve something. The familiar squeak of Eghbal’s prosthetic leg grows louder, approaching the scene.
Last Updated: December 04, 2025 at 15:32
Still wondering what the ending of It Was Just an Accident (2025) really means? Here’s a spoiler-heavy breakdown of the final scene, major twists, and the deeper themes that shape the film’s conclusion.
Vahid finally drags the trembling man into a remote clearing, ties him to a tree, and forces him to listen as the victims lay out every detail of the torture they endured. The prison‑camp rhythm of the shovel, the prosthetic‑leg click, the scarred wounds on the shins – each piece matches what the survivors remember of Eghbal, the “peg‑leg” intelligence officer who broke their bodies and spirits. When Vahid mentions that his wife has just given birth, the captive’s composure cracks; he stages a feigned innocence at first, but then, almost defiantly, admits he is indeed Eghbal, the very monster they have hunted.
Shiva, who has been quietly watching, can no longer contain herself. She strikes him with a shovel, demanding that he own his crimes instead of hiding behind ideology. Under the relentless pressure, Eghbal’s façade collapses and he bursts into a raw, broken confession – “I’m sorry.” The apology is not a clean absolution, but the first moment his self‑justifications drown in the weight of the victims’ testimony. Vahid, refusing to become a killer, slides a penknife to Eghbal so he can free himself, then he and Shiva drive away, leaving the man to decide his own fate.
The next morning, as Vahid helps his sister prepare a wedding trousseau, a white car pulls up outside his house. He hears the familiar, squeaky footstep that once signaled the terror of the secret police. The sound pauses, then recedes. Whether it is Eghbal’s car pulling away, a phantom of Vahid’s trauma, or a hint that the former torturer has chosen to walk away, the scene suggests that revenge would not have healed anyone, but a forced confession can at least begin the process of confronting the past. The film closes on the ambiguous echo of the footsteps, underscoring that the road to redemption is uncertain, and the scars left by oppression linger long after the gunfire stops.
Last Updated: January 05, 2026 at 08:31
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