Iran’s Regime Hates This Film (w/ Sonny Bunch) | Mona Charen Show
Quick Read
Summary
Takeaways
- ❖Jafar Panahi, a dissident Iranian filmmaker, created 'It Was Only an Accident' in secret while under a filmmaking ban and house arrest.
- ❖The film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and was France's selection for the Academy Awards.
- ❖It subtly depicts the omnipresence of authoritarian control, such as the mandatory hijab, through everyday scenes.
- ❖The film's central plot involves political prisoners attempting to identify a suspected torturer using non-visual senses (sound, touch, smell) due to being blindfolded during their imprisonment.
- ❖Panahi's career is marked by consistent defiance of the Iranian regime, including imprisonment in the notorious Evin prison.
- ❖The film explores complex moral questions for victims of oppression: whether to seek retribution or reconciliation, and the necessity of truth for any resolution.
- ❖Petty corruption, like bribing police and hospital staff, is portrayed as a realistic aspect of daily life in Iran.
- ❖The Iranian regime may allow dissident filmmakers to receive international awards, viewing it as a domestic propaganda tool to label them as 'traitors' aligned with the 'corrupt West'.
Insights
1Dissident Filmmaking Under Authoritarianism
Jafar Panahi, banned from filmmaking and under house arrest in Iran, secretly created 'It Was Only an Accident.' The film was smuggled out and won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, serving as France's Academy Award selection. This act of clandestine filmmaking underscores the extreme risks artists take to expose truth under repressive regimes.
Panahi 'makes this film in secret. He is not he is banned from film making in Iran while he is shooting it.' () It 'comes out via France. This is France's interestingly selection for the Academy Awards.' ()
2Subtle Depiction of Authoritarian Control
The film masterfully illustrates the pervasive nature of authoritarian control through subtle details. A female photographer character, initially without a hijab in a private setting, immediately dons a headscarf when leaving for a public pharmacy. This small act serves as a constant reminder of the regime's omnipresent surveillance and enforcement of social norms.
When she leaves this area... she gets out to go into a pharmacy, she has to put on a headscarf. It's this very subtle little reminder about the omnipresence of authoritarian living.' ()
3Non-Visual Identification of Torturers
A core premise of the film involves political prisoners, blindfolded during their torture, attempting to identify a suspected torturer using senses other than sight. Characters recognize him by the distinctive sound of his artificial leg, the scars on his legs (felt by touch), or the smell of his breath. This creative narrative device emphasizes the dehumanizing nature of torture and the desperate measures victims take to seek justice.
One premise of the film is that all of these people were blindfolded while they were being tortured... one person recognizes that sound that the man's artificial leg made when he walked, but another guy recognizes him by the scars on his legs which he feels... and a third person recognizes him by the smell of his breath.' ()
4Universal Moral Dilemmas in a Repressive Context
The film explores profound moral questions faced by the victims: whether retribution is just, if they should behave like their oppressors, and the possibility of reconciliation without punishment. These struggles—defining justice, right, and wrong—are presented as universal human experiences, transcending cultural and political boundaries.
They have arguments among themselves about whether retribution is just and whether they should behave just like the regime... The moral question at the heart of the film is if he did it then what? Can you have reconciliation without punishment.' (, , )
Bottom Line
The Iranian regime may strategically permit dissident filmmakers like Panahi to receive international awards, not as a sign of tolerance, but as a domestic propaganda tool.
This allows the regime to frame internationally recognized artists as 'traitors' collaborating with the 'corrupt West,' thereby shoring up support among its base and discrediting internal dissent.
Analysts of authoritarian states should consider how external validations (like awards or media attention) for dissidents can be co-opted and weaponized internally by the regime, rather than solely seen as a win for free expression.
Key Concepts
Wages of Authoritarian Doublethink
This model describes how living under an authoritarian regime, where official narratives are often untrustworthy, leads to widespread public distrust in all government communications, even regarding genuine crises like a severe water shortage. This societal skepticism makes it difficult for citizens to discern truth from propaganda and plan their lives effectively.
Art as Dissident Action
This model highlights how artistic creation, particularly filmmaking, can serve as a direct and dangerous form of political dissent in repressive societies. Filmmakers like Jafar Panahi risk imprisonment and abuse to expose societal truths and challenge state narratives, making their art a powerful act of courage and resistance that can reach international audiences.
Lessons
- Watch 'It Was Only an Accident' (also known as 'A Simple Accident' or 'It Was Just an Accident') to gain a unique, real-time perspective on life under an authoritarian regime.
- Explore other Iranian neo-realist films by directors like Muhammad Rasoulof ('The Seed of the Sacred Fig') and Asghar Farhadi ('A Hero') to deepen understanding of Iranian society and its challenges.
- Consider how artistic works from repressive states can offer insights into universal moral and political struggles, providing a 'life of the mind outside yourself' to better understand your own culture.
Notable Moments
The host notes that the podcast was recorded before the current unrest and protests in Iran, explaining the lack of direct references to those specific events in the conversation.
This provides crucial context for the discussion, clarifying that the film's relevance to Iranian society is ongoing and predates specific recent events, rather than being a direct commentary on them.
Discussion of the 'quiet revolution' among women in Iran since the 2022 Masa Amini protests, where defying hijab mandates is becoming increasingly common in cities like Tehran.
This highlights a significant, ongoing social shift and a form of civil disobedience that indicates the regime is 'losing this battle slowly,' demonstrating grassroots resistance.
The inclusion of petty corruption in the film, such as police accepting credit card payments for bribes and hospital staff requiring bribes for care.
These details offer a realistic, unfiltered glimpse into the daily functioning of a society under an authoritarian regime, where corruption is normalized and impacts ordinary citizens.
Quotes
"No one should dare tell us what kind of clothes we should wear, what we should do, what we should not do."
"It's just this very subtle little reminder about the omnipresence of authoritarian living, about of living under an authoritarian regime, about the the constant ways you have to check yourself, the way you ways you have to fit in."
"It's so interesting because you mentioned the sound. So the the first person that we are introduced to here, he recognizes that sound that the man's artificial leg made when he walked, but another guy recognizes him by the scars on his legs which he feels, right? And a third person recognizes him by the smell of his breath."
"The moral question at the heart of the film is if he did it then what? If he did it then what? And that is and and so you know the movie kind of starts at this... the real question that they all have to answer is okay if he is the torturer what does it do to us to take revenge on... what is the difference between do we forgive do we uh do we do we try to reconcile?"
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