Resistive Cinema of 2025 Explores Global Struggles Through Interconnected Stories
Three films—It Was Just An Accident (Iran), The Secret Agent (Brazil), and One Battle After Another (US)—have been highlighted as this year’s key examples of resistive cinema, shifting focus from sci-fi and fantasy genres to urgent, real-world political concerns.
It Was Just An Accident, created clandestinely by Jafar Panahi after his imprisonment for making cinema deemed propaganda, centers on former political prisoners suspecting their torturer. This film was awarded the Palme d’Or.
The Secret Agent follows Armando, a professor in hiding during Brazil’s 1970s dictatorship. The narrative shifts to present-day archival testimony and memory, drawing parallels to Bolsonaro’s regime, which currently faces a 27-year coup sentence.
One Battle After Another tells the story of Bob, a former revolutionary pursued by a US colonel. It begins with a sequence reminiscent of migrant detention and jumps 16 years ahead to focus on Bob’s daughter Willa, who represents future hope.
Together, these films form a triptych emphasizing communities bound by systemic oppression and solidarity, rather than lone heroes. Cross-film resonances highlight shared themes.
Humor punctuates the oppression depicted—ranging from bribe-seeking security guards and a dismembered leg to a spoof of white supremacist groups—while underscoring the stakes of living under tyranny.
The article connects the films to real events, noting Mahmoud Khalil’s ICE detention for pro-Palestinian protest and ongoing conflict in Gaza, illustrating how the films mirror contemporary struggles.
Critics have praised this trilogy for their prize-winning prestige and for continuing a tradition of examining genocide and complicity, while foregrounding intergenerational memory and activism.
