The President's Cake
What starts as a simple errand – a little girl sent to bake President Saddam Hussein a birthday cake – quietly turns into a full-blown odyssey. The President’s Cake follows Lamia through sanctions-era Iraq, where every egg, every handful of sugar, feels like a small act of defiance against a regime that wants pageantry from people who can barely afford bread. Hasan Hadi shoots the marshes, markets and cramped flats with a dusty, lived-in beauty that never tips into postcard prettiness.
I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting it to be this heavy. The synopsis hints at a farce; what you get is a quietly bruising drama that asks you to see the world through nine-year-old Lamia’s eyes, as she queues for eggs and stares up at yet another presidential portrait. It is funny in places – the absurdity of the “honour” she’s been given – but the jokes mostly land with a wince.
Baneen Ahmad Nayyef is terrific in the lead – stubborn, funny, uncertain and brave, often in the same beat, and never remotely cutesy. The adults around her feel painfully real: loving, tired, occasionally compromised. And that ending… it lands with a soft, devastating thud, pulling all the small humiliations and tiny acts of resistance into focus. You leave thinking less about the cake and more about the childhood it cost.
I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting it to be this heavy. The synopsis hints at a farce; what you get is a quietly bruising drama that asks you to see the world through nine-year-old Lamia’s eyes, as she queues for eggs and stares up at yet another presidential portrait. It is funny in places – the absurdity of the “honour” she’s been given – but the jokes mostly land with a wince.
Baneen Ahmad Nayyef is terrific in the lead – stubborn, funny, uncertain and brave, often in the same beat, and never remotely cutesy. The adults around her feel painfully real: loving, tired, occasionally compromised. And that ending… it lands with a soft, devastating thud, pulling all the small humiliations and tiny acts of resistance into focus. You leave thinking less about the cake and more about the childhood it cost.
Mini Review: What starts as a simple errand – bake Saddam a birthday cake – becomes a small epic. The President’s Cake follows nine-year-old Lamia through sanctions-era Iraq, where every egg feels like an act of defiance. Baneen Ahmad Nayyef is terrific, Hasan Hadi’s direction is quietly sharp, and the ending lands with a soft, devastating thud. You leave thinking about the childhood it cost.
Watch the Trailer