{"id":501044,"date":"2026-02-26T15:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T15:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/501044\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T15:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T15:18:08","slug":"heartfelt-and-ambitious-iraqi-drama-the-presidents-cake-is-a-true-cinematic-treat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/501044\/","title":{"rendered":"Heartfelt and ambitious Iraqi drama The President\u2019s Cake is a true cinematic treat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Baneen Ahmad Nayyef as Lamia in The President’s Cake.Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics<\/p>\n

The President\u2019s Cake<\/p>\n

Directed and written by Hasan Hadi<\/p>\n

Starring Baneen Ahmad Nayyef and Waheed Thabet Khreibat <\/p>\n

Classification N\/A; 105 minutes<\/p>\n

Opens in select theatres Feb. 27<\/p>\n

Critic\u2019s Pick <\/p>\n

In a rustic marshland village located somewhere in Iraq, nine-year-old Lamia (Baneen Ahmad Nayyef) lives a simple if struggle-filled life with her grandmother Bibi (Waheed Thabet Khreibat). Lamia goes to school, she comes home, the two scrounge for the daily necessities to get by: milk, flour, sugar. It is sometime in the mid-1990s, and after Saddam Hussein\u2019s invasion of Kuwait, economic sanctions against Iraq have crippled its economy, conditions fiercely exacerbated by the cruel hold Baghdad\u2019s leader has over his people. And then, when it seems as if Lamia\u2019s days cannot become more challenging, she is ordered to bake a cake. <\/p>\n

Not just any cake, that is, but a treat to commemorate Hussein\u2019s birthday. The command comes down from Lamia\u2019s cruel schoolteacher, a toady of the administration who knows the task is nigh impossible for the impoverished children he oversees. But fearing any kind of comeuppance, Lamia sets off on a perilous day-long journey to procure the necessary baking ingredients. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The President\u2019s Cake sees Lamia go in search of the ingredients to bake a cake in honour of Saddam Hussein\u2019s birthday.Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics<\/p>\n

This is the small-in-perspective but grand-in-execution story behind The President\u2019s Cake, the feature directorial debut of Hasan Hadi, which portends tremendous things for its Iraqi-born filmmaker. Shot entirely in the director\u2019s home country with a largely amateur, untrained cast, the film blends a striking sense of street-level realism, political commentary and poetic nostalgia for the naive innocence of youth. <\/p>\n

As Lamia\u2019s journey becomes more perilous by the minute, and Bibi becomes increasingly concerned about her granddaughter\u2019s whereabouts and safety, Hadi rebuilds an entire cinematic era from scratch. There are certain sequences, including one in which Lamia weaves between large-scale protests, that feel Hollywood-sized in their size and scope. And all the while, the director coaxes a remarkably affecting performance from his young, untested lead actress. You believe in Lamia\u2019s drive to bake this ridiculous cake because you believe in Nayyef\u2019s conviction and commitment to her character. <\/p>\n

Just as Hussein deserved no such dessert, the film does not deserve the ignorance that can so often greet foreign-language indies. Make a cinematic shopping list of your own, and put The President\u2019s Cake at the very top. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef as Lamia in The President’s Cake.Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,48,42729,75,17262,337,2922],"class_list":{"0":"post-501044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-criticspick","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-film-review","13":"tag-movies","14":"tag-noastack"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}