The President's Cake

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Joanne S 3d An intimate experience of Iraq under Saddam Husseins rule. Told from the perspective of two young schoolchildren, this film is heartwarming and heartbreaking. See more Matt Feb 18 Outstanding film. The young girl was so talented I was shocked to hear it was her first film. It was both heartwarming and devastating. The rooster did a great job too. See more Georges C 4h A masterpiece. A must see! See more Deena C @Deeday 1d Not much known about this time and place. This movie casts a light through the darkness. Shows humanity at its most vunerable, most ugly, most kind. Shows the different faces of a nation that grew with suffering over decades, a nation that almost lost its purpose and deep heritage in the endless quest of surviving the every day challenge under the brutal and inhumane rule of one man. It is full of light and dark humer. Quite, poignant. See more Erik G. @GWVet4Peace Feb 22 “The President’s Cake” is a gorgeous film. I saw it last night and was floored. The film is entirely shot on location (Chibayish, Nasiryah, the Great Ziggurat of Ur, and Baghdad) with breathtaking cinematography, a beautiful soundtrack, and great accuracy and authenticity. Set in the mid-1990s, “The President’s Cake” tells the story of 9-year-old Lamia, a rural Marsh Arab girl who lives with her Bibi (grandma) and cockerel Hindi. In a classroom raffle, Lamia is selected by her teacher to make a mandatory birthday cake for Saddam. Her classmate friend, Saeed, is also selected. He is required to provide a basket of fruit for the mandatory celebration. Rural, poor, and under sanctions and authoritarianism, those requirements lead to adversity, adventure, and tragedy, taking Lamia and Saeed from the marshlands to Baghdad. It has been a long time since I was moved by a film like I was last night, and can’t recommend it more. See more Sir G @Robert11 Feb 15 Very strong movie which gives one a good feel for how fragile and difficult life was under Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Well paced film, which brought together a number of different threads very well at the end. Baneen Nayyef also performed very well, no mean feat given how young she is and how big her role was. All round, a very well directed, produced and acted film, which went very quickly. I thoroughly recommend this film, although it is not always an easy watch. See more Read all reviews

The President's Cake

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