‘The President’s Cake’ review: An adventure through adversity

Hasan Hadi’s The President’s Cake shows how friendship and family can bring light into a dark time of dictatorship for a nation.

Who knew that Eddie Izzard’s question, “Cake or death,” is actually hard for a nine-year-old Iraqi schoolgirl to answer. Writer and director Hasan Hadi’s first fictional feature, The President’s Cake, answers that question by putting her and her loved ones on an illuminating quest. The film shows Iraqis in the early 90s being forced to celebrate the birthday of then-President Saddam Hussein, even as they struggle to find daily necessities because of sanctions in response to the Kuwait invasion. When Lamia (Baneen Ahmad Nayyef) receives an assignment to bake the titular dish, she, her grandmother Bibi (Waheed Thabet Khreibat), and her pet rooster head into the city. Lamia’s classroom is not a place for learning, but the scene of the crime; systematic state-authorized extortion. It’s the men who act like spoiled children by tasking the kids (and elderly) with adult responsibilities.

Three great debuts.

Photo Credit: Sony Pictures Classics

Do children make better actors because they still play pretend? While it’s tempting to call Nayyef a natural, it also denies all of her hard work in conveying Lamia’s emotional and literal journey. Nayyef is repeatedly willing tears in her eyes while rarely letting them fall. Because she’s a kid, she understands that getting the ingredients for the cake is virtually impossible, but she’s more determined to make the cake and get back to some sense of normal. It’s certainly better than trekking through a city of unfeeling people or facing punishment at home for disobeying an order, as if compliance is in her control.

Equally impressive is Sajad Mohamad Qasem as Saeed, Lamia’s classmate and best friend. The duo’s favorite game is staring at each other to see who blinks first, and he’s willing to bend the rules to complete their assignments. This dynamic makes The President’s Cake feel like a French movie (such as Arco) because the implication is that if these children survive, they’ll fall in love with each other. They clearly adore each other and watching these two navigate the city is the most stressful way to spend your free time. Two children unsupervised in a city is a recipe for disaster anywhere, but Saeed has the added stigma of being seen as a criminal and everyone knows what happens to unattended little girls. Endangering children’s lives for any reason is a huge red flag.

Khreibat as the resigned and stubborn grandmother is another first-time actor. When an actor like Khreibat has an audience that does not speak Arabic, it’s harder to discern whether lines are being delivered in a way that would not be as naturalistic if spoken in the viewer’s native tongue. Either way, Bibi is the kind of character that makes a big impact because her full story is unknown. The fierceness of her love for Lamia means that she would face down an army to protect her and context clues suggest that the lack of more family members means she has already lost too many loved ones.

Lost in time.

Photo Credit: Sony Pictures Classics

The President’s Cake shows how three determined, vulnerable people fare in a land designed to serve the insatiable ego of men who act with impunity. Their journey gives a grounded view of the condition of Iraq: education, public transportation, hospitals, markets, police stations, and mosques are all in danger. It’s easier to count on one hand the kind people than the ones who just see the kids as a nuisance or an easy mark. Whether in the city or their hometown in the Mesopotamia Marshes, a beautiful site where people travel via boat on Biblical rivers instead of highways, the image of revelry or Hussein is like state is similar to some kind of twisted rock star status. This creates a grim image where public life must revolve around one man and treated as if it is the most important thing matter to devote all time and resources to.

It’s easy to empathize with anyone who just wants to go back home to the marshes. The picturesque land is so peaceful and timeless even if people don’t have much and live in a sparse way that bears a closer resemblance to prior centuries than any time after the advent of electricity. The city is so comparatively hostile and cantankerous in comparison. Lamia and Saeed, both innocent children, are branded as thieves by the callous adults they should be looking to for guidance. It’s as if existence without the privilege of proximity to the leader is inherently criminal. The diegetic sound of jets flying overhead keeps the war in the forefront.

According to Hadi, the story’s inspiration is a childhood classmate who not only got expelled for failing the baking assignment, but later got recruited to Saddam’s Children Army. That’s still still horrific, but more static and offers fewer opportunities to examine a cross section of society and change location. If there is one criticism of The President’s Cake, it is how isolated Lamia and Saeed are from the other children. Why are other children seemingly such enthusiastic participants in state rituals while they are not? Why does Hadi and presumably his friend see the assignment as a punishment and others as an honor within the film’s world? It’s as if the film is neglecting the world of children in favor of said kids plunging into adult, public spheres. A childhood under Saddam should include more children.

The bottom line.

Oddly enough, The President’s Cake may remind one of A Serious Man in which the protagonist is almost in an existential siege. For Hadi, he lets Lamia and the audience begin to relax though still forever changed before he lets the other shoe drop. It is systemic abuse on a national scale as melodrama as opposed to targeted reprisals. The message resonates, but of course Americans would like it. Hadi’s vision of Iraq in the 90s validates our homegrown assumptions and is allegedly based on his childhood memories. The way he uses those memories to craft something this vivd and gripping is something truly worthy of celebration.

The President’s Cake is now playing in select theaters. Watch the trailer here.

Images courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics. 

Sarah G. Vincent

Originally from NYC, freelance writer Sarah G. Vincent arrived in Cambridge in 1993 and was introduced to the world of repertory cinema while working at the Harvard Film Archives. Her work has appeared in Cambridge Day, newspapers, law journals, review websites and her blog, sarahgvincentviews.com.