The premise is simple enough: A man finds his family trip interrupted when his car breaks down. A mechanic thinks this stranger in town was the same person who tortured him for years in prison. He abducts the traveler, takes him to the desert, and digs a grave. Then a thought occurs to him: What if this is not my tormentor, and I am committing a moral injustice equal to the one committed against me?

Revenge has always been a great catalyst for narrative conflict, one of the rare storytelling formats that usually fly arrow-straight: Someone has been wronged, they eventually confront those that have crossed them, payback is a bitch. If you can serve this dish cold, all the better. Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi — a contemporary world-cinema giant who deserves a spot on the auteur equivale

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