The President’s Cake

• Director: Hasan Hadi
• Writer: Hasan Hadi
• Starring: Banin Ahmad Nayef, Sajad Mohamad Qasem, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Rahim AlHaj, Muthanna Malaghi

Grade: B+

Life under a dictatorship has a range of consequences, both intended and unintended. The President’s Cake, the directorial debut from Hasan Hadi, explores the oft-ignored economic effect of life under the Saddam Hussein regime in the 1990s, but it tells a universal story that can be felt beyond the specific place and time. It’s a quietly radical experiment, eschewing a traditional story structure to make a larger point about governmental control and how it affects the innocent.