Late in Jafar Panahi's Oscar-nominated film, It Was Just an Accident, comes a confrontation. An Iranian woman looks into the face of a sadistic prison official and taunts, 'You think this country belongs to you'' Panahi, who wrote and directed the film, describes it as an artificial fast-forward, set in a time when the violence has died down, the prisoners have been released, life has returned to normal, and the urgent open question is to forgive or to take revenge. Of course, that time still feels far away. The Iranian regime has recently killed thousands of protesters and sentenced even moderate dissenters to long prison sentences. Panahi's co-writer Mehdi Mahmoudian was recently jailed after signing a letter objecting to the crackdowns. Panahi, who also signed the letter and has been touring the United States to promote his film, has been sentenced to one year in prison in absentia. His lawyer has said they plan to appeal the sentence. Still, he insists that as soon as Oscar...
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