“Yes, They Will Execute a Child”: A film about a girl who has to bake a birthday cake for Saddam Hussein | film

TThere were no movie theaters in Iraq in the 1990s, when Hassan Hadi was growing up under Saddam Hussein’s regime. But he still manages to fall in love with movies – after a family member forces him to help distribute VHS tapes of banned foreign films. “I was a kid, so no one suspected I was smuggling,” says the 37-year-old. “I would put the tapes on my shirt or in my bag.”

Hadi started secretly watching movies too, everything from Bruce Lee to Tarkovsky. At night, he would sneak into the living room after everyone was asleep, keeping the volume low in case his family woke up.

I ask how the authorities would punish you if you were caught with banned films? Hadi stops. “It depends. There were no specific rules. But if it was a political film, or something really banned by the regime, it could go to death penalty.” Will they execute a child? Hadi nodded. “We are talking about a period when childhood lost its innocence.”

Hadi’s own film, President’s Cake, is about to be released. Warm, funny and sometimes heartbreakingly sad, it perfectly captures the innocence of childhood. The film is set in early 1990s Iraq: Saddam’s brutal rule and the hardship of the sanctions are seen through the eyes of a nine-year-old girl named Lamia, played by Benin Ahmed Naif, along with her pet rooster. She is the unluckiest child in the class, as her name was picked out of a hat, which means she has to make a cake for the president’s birthday – a mandatory national holiday in Iraq.

Everywhere in the film we see the cult of personality that Saddam has established around him, with his picture hanging on every wall. Hadi says that when he was overthrown in 2003, there were more statues and pictures of him than there were people in Iraq. “He was obsessed,” says Hadi, sitting in the office of his film production company in London. “It really felt like he was watching you everywhere. You couldn’t go from home to school without seeing him.”

President’s Cake is the first Iraqi film ever to be shortlisted for the Academy Awards for Best International Film, although it did not make it to the final list. The film follows young Lamia as she tries to collect cake ingredients at the height of sanctions when food is scarce and prices are exorbitant. But she is not alone. Her grandmother collects their most prized possessions – a radio and an old watch – to sell, and the two take a trip to Baghdad. Lamia brings with her her pet Indian rooster, who almost steals the movie with his growling crowing.

Hadi, who is due to return to Baghdad soon, told me that baking a cake for Saddam was mandatory in schools. Despite this, the children were never able to eat it. “The teacher usually takes it home to his family,” he says. “I didn’t taste cake until I was 13 or 14.” never? “It sounds unbelievable, but no, not fancy cream cakes. There were cakes, but they were depressing, just dates stuck together to trick the kids.” He’s laughing now. “I spend hours sometimes looking at cakes in the bakery window.”

Like all Iraqi children, he grew up fearing Saddam. No one ever told you: Don’t talk bad about Saddam. They didn’t need that. You customHis father was opposed to the regime: “There was a lot of hiding, a lot of running away, all of that.”

Hadi talks about being raised by strong women, although no one was immune to fear. He remembers one occasion when soldiers stormed their house. His father wasn’t there. “They asked my grandmother her name. I forgot it in horror. She looked at her daughters and asked them: What is my name?” Helplessness and despair – these memories burn into your soul.

One of the most disturbing scenes in the film is when Lamia’s teacher steals an apple from her school bag. It seems like a terrible betrayal, and the apple is a special gift from Lamia’s grandmother. These were the times, Hadi says. Corruption was widespread. Before the sanctions, the teacher earned $800 a month; Then it could be $5. “I think sanctions are more violent than bombs,” he says. “The damage is invisible, but it runs deeper.” His cousin became deaf because, due to sanctions, there were no antibiotics to treat ear infections.

Hadi studied cinema in New York. When he sat down to write The President’s Cake, he vowed to himself never to make a political film. “I don’t want to be political. I want to be faithful to what life was like under those circumstances. But I don’t come with an agenda — I come with stories. The real story is about these two kids.” It talks about Lamia and her best friend Saeed, who accompanies her. Both were played by untrained actors. “There are no drama schools in Iraq.”

Hadi filmed the opening scenes – of marshes filled with buzzing mosquitoes – by filming on water, an apparently treacherous act. “It was crazy,” he says. “I have gray hair now.” Will he continue making films in Iraq? He nodded, looking at his bag. “I want to make films about Iraq. Yes.”