November 30, 2025 – A group of people debate the fate of a man who is now in their power. He had damaged all of them through torture when they were in his power. Now, they can do what they want with him. This Persian language movie is a production of Iran, France, U.S. and Luxembourg, and is written and directed by Jafar Panahi (“Taxi” and “No Bears”).

The story begins with a car being driven by a man with a prosthetic leg (played by Ebrahim Azizi) breaks down in front of a house. A man agrees to try to fix the car, while another man, Vahid, thinks he recognizes the man with the prosthetic leg. After the car is fixed, Vahid secretly follows the man home to find out where he lives.

Watching the man closely, Vahid becomes convinced that this man is Eghbal, known as “Peg Leg” in an Iranian prison, where he had repeatedly tortured and tormented prisoners. Vahid captures the man and takes him to a remote place where he plans to bury him alive, but the man says he is not who Eghbal. Vahid has doubts about this. He has never seen Eghbal's face, since he had always been blindfolded during their encounters. The voice and the walk are the same, but maybe this is not Eghbal.

Vahid goes to some friends who were also in the same prison, trying to confirm the identity of the man with a prosthetic leg. Pretty soon there are four other people, all former prison inmates, examining this man, trying to figure out if he really is the hated Eghbal, and also trying to decide what to do with him if he is.

In addition to Vahid, there is Shiva (Mariam Afshari) and Goli (Hadis Pakbaten) and an angry, but slightly crazy man, Hamid (Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr) who might be the only one who can positively identify the man in question. Vahid, Hamid, Shiva and Goli were all in prison with Eghbal, but Goli's fiancé Ali (Majid Panahi) is just an unwilling accomplice, who happens to get caught up in this mess.

There is a wide ranging discussion about what to do with this man, who may or may not be Eghbal. Hamid is the only one who is absolutely sure what to do, while the rest have doubts. One thing is for sure Eghbal has done some terrible things to these people and they all hate him. There are a couple of endings to this movie, both filled with tension, but the second one is more ominous.

There are some truly surprising twists and turns in this story. It is a wild ride and is not at all straightforward. It is a fascinating tale of psychological damage, high emotions, humanity and morality. This film rates a B+.

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