A Brave and Interesting Film About Repression (w/ Sonny Bunch)
The Mona Charen Show
The Bulwark
4.5 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 19 January 2026
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sonny Bunch joins to discuss “It Was Just an Accident” a film from dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi. It raises profound questions about guilt, judgment, and revenge. Also, amazing that it was made at all.
Get 15% off OneSkin with the code MONACHAREN at https://www.oneskin.co/MONACHAREN
#oneskinpod #ad
Films & References Mentioned:
It Was Just an Accident (dir. Jafar Panahi)
The film discussed throughout the episode — a clandestinely made Iranian dissident film that won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30841958/
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (dir. Mohammad Rasoulof)
Recommended by Sonny as further viewing; set during post–Mahsa Amini unrest in Iran.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29362290/
The Lives of Others (dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
Cited as a thematic comparison for life under a surveillance state.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405094/
A Hero (dir. Asghar Farhadi)
Mentioned as another standout contemporary Iranian film about truth, lies, and social pressure.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11777738/
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me today. The podcast you're about to view or listen to, |
| 0:06.4 | it concerns Iran and events in Iran. It's by an Iranian filmmaker. But we recorded it before the |
| 0:14.8 | current unrest and protests in Iran. So that's why you won't hear any references in the conversation to what is |
| 0:22.8 | currently roiling that country. Thanks so much. Welcome to the Mona Charrin show. So glad you could |
| 0:29.3 | join me today. I recently watched a very interesting film from Iran. And so, and it, it, it is stimulating and politically relevant and, uh, I think a |
| 0:44.0 | worthy topic of conversation. So I've invited the bulwarks movie critic, Sonny Bunch, to, uh, |
| 0:50.7 | come and discuss it with me. Sunny, thanks so much for joining me. |
| 0:55.8 | Mona, thank you for having me on. |
| 0:56.2 | It's a pleasure. |
| 1:01.1 | So this film is called, well, it's called different things in different languages. |
| 1:02.6 | I was calling it. |
| 1:03.7 | It was only an accident. |
| 1:07.4 | I noticed in the French subtitles it said, a simple accident. |
| 1:10.5 | It's been translated as it was just an accident. Anyway, it is a movie that |
| 1:14.6 | depicts modern Iran, but through the eyes of a filmmaker who is basically a dissident, right? He is |
| 1:24.4 | not allowed to make movies in Iran. Tell us about Jafar Pani. Sorry if I'm |
| 1:30.7 | mispronouncing the name. If there are any native Persian speakers on this, listening to the show, |
| 1:36.9 | they're going to be very mad at me because I'm going to butcher every name in this podcast. I apologize |
| 1:41.3 | ahead of time. But it's a really interesting, it's a really interesting moment |
| 1:45.7 | in world cinema in Iran. The last 10 to 15 years in particular have been, have seen kind of this |
| 1:52.4 | explosion of, you could say dissident cinema. I mean, he is, so he, uh, Jafar Panah, Panah, |
| 1:59.5 | uh, he, he makes this film in secret. he makes this film in secret he makes this film in secret he is not |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Bulwark, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Bulwark and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.