"A Cake for the President" - Intensive and Touching - A Child's Impossible Quest: Baking for Saddam Hussein's Birthday

A new Iraqi film, A Cake for the President, offers a stark look at life under Saddam Hussein's rule. Set in the 1990s, it follows a young girl's desperate struggle to bake a cake for the dictator's birthday—a task made nearly impossible by crippling sanctions. The story centres on Lamia, a nine-year-old girl living in southern Iraq. With Saddam Hussein's birthday approaching, she and her grandmother face an impossible mission: finding flour, sugar, and other basic ingredients. Under UN sanctions imposed after the 1991 invasion of Kuwait, even simple supplies had vanished, leaving families to scavenge or barter. The film draws heavily from director Hasan Hadi's own childhood in Basra. He witnessed firsthand how sanctions led to food shortages, soaring prices, and widespread desperation. Theft and prostitution became survival tactics, yet Saddam's regime still demanded public displays of loyalty—like birthday celebrations—under threat of punishment. Banin Ahmad Najef delivers a powerful performance as Lamia, carrying the film's emotional weight. Her quiet determination contrasts with the brutality around her, making the story both intimate and devastating. The film was selected as Iraq's official entry for Best International Feature at the Oscars. A Cake for the President highlights how sanctions under dictatorships punish ordinary people more than their leaders. Lamia's struggle for cake ingredients becomes a symbol of a stolen childhood. The film leaves no doubt: under Saddam's rule, even the simplest acts of life became battles for survival.