A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #370 - Culture - Watch: Hasan Hadi, "The President's Cake" (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The President's Cake, originally titled Mamlaket al-qasab, literally 
"The Kingdom of the Reed," is a feature film directed by Hasan Hadi, his 
first feature film. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 
2025. ---- A Chronicle of a Country at War ---- The film takes us back 
to Iraq in the early 1990s during the first Gulf War, where we primarily 
follow nine-year-old Lamia, played by Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, her 
grandmother Bibi, played by Waheed Thabet Khreibat, and her classmate 
and friend Saeed, played by Sajad Mohamad Qasem, who live in the marshes 
along the Euphrates River, in a country under international embargo 
following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

It is in this context that Lamia is randomly selected from her 
third-grade class to bake a cake for President Saddam Hussein's 
birthday, at a time when the country is experiencing shortages, 
skyrocketing prices, and the militarization of youth and society is on 
the rise.

Without money to buy eggs, flour, and sugar, Bibi and Lamia set off for 
the nearest town to trade for the necessary ingredients. A series of 
adventures ensues, forcing Lamia and Saeed to use their resourcefulness 
to acquire the cake's ingredients. The children encounter numerous 
adults, mostly merchants, throughout the town, while Bibi, meanwhile, 
finds herself in trouble with the police at a local station. Throughout 
the film, the viewer is primarily confronted with the disintegration of 
most bonds of solidarity, coupled with the repeated abuse of power by 
most of the secondary characters, especially the merchants and 
officials, perhaps veering at times into questionable pathos; possibly 
one of the only criticisms to be made of the film and its team.

The President's Cake is, nevertheless, a very beautiful film, featuring 
poignant performances from its actors and actresses, and brilliantly 
directed with, for example, superb shots of the Euphrates River, and 
offering a highly credible reconstruction of Iraq during the First Gulf War.

Hasan Hadi, The President's Cake, 102 minutes, released in theaters on 
February 4, 2026.
It's a subtle film that denounces without being heavy-handed: the 
consequences of sanctions declared by the international community and 
the UN are made palpable through the mention of exorbitant prices 
demanded by shopkeepers for even the smallest goods, or through the 
occasional mention of a medicine shortage; the war and American bombs 
are made visible through wounded soldiers and the constant, menacing 
ballet of jet planes in the sky; and so on.

The Consequences of Imperialist Wars
The President's Cake is therefore a good reminder of reality, showing 
concretely the material consequences of American and Western policies 
regarding international justice through economic sanctions and bombings, 
hiding behind the "liberation of peoples" or the "promotion of 
democracy," and targeting a supposedly faltering regime.

The regime then sank even deeper into the cult of personality, 
militarization, and fanaticism, while the supposed targets of these 
policies-Saddam Hussein and his court-remained safe in their palaces and 
bunkers, continuing to enjoy lavish birthday cakes, suggesting that the 
dictator and his inner circle did not seem, as one might expect, to 
suffer the consequences of war and hardship.

Warning: This is a film that, while not gory or voyeuristic, is harsh 
and spares the viewer virtually nothing.

Ultimately, we can see in this film a critique of Western imperialism, 
showing its unvarnished consequences on the ground. The film also avoids 
the trap of portraying the national bourgeoisie as a bulwark against 
imperialism, but, by offering no solutions, it nevertheless leads to a 
paralyzing political pessimism. This reminds us more than ever of the 
need to organize collectively in the face of the march to war and 
capitalist barbarity.

Oli (UCL Alsace)

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Voir-Hasan-Hadi-Le-Gateau-du-president
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