THE PRESIDENT’S CAKE – ★★★☆

Iraqi film set in the 1990s at a time when Saddam Hussein was president, and America was bombing it with regularity. It’s centres around a young grade three girl, who despite living in poverty is tasked by the teacher to make and bring in a cake to class to celebrate the president’s birthday. It’s well made, and had some great set design and shots; depicting several examples of the expectation by the Iraqi population to give up everything for their president regardless of their plight, with many images of him in hospitals, murals, and other places, always keeping a watchful eye. It didn’t paint either side of the conflict as the good side or the bad side specifically, but showed how the situation was a complicated one, with the citizens themselves often losing out to the actions of those performing actions beyond their control. Excellent performance by the young lead actress as she traverses the challenges of trying to gather the ingredients needed to make the cake.

BUT ALSO JOHN CLARKE – ★★★☆

I don’t know what it is about the late John Clarke, but his presence always resonated warmly with me. And his style of humour was right up my alley. This documentary was an excellent look at his life, presented through a good curation of private home videos, photos, and audio recordings amassed and presented by his daughter, Lorin. It seems like his impact on others was similar to mine, and of his friend’s comments about the glint in his eyes with a sense of mischief hit the nail on the head. I didn’t realise he was from New Zealand before his Australian work, and you can see how his methods have influenced a lot of the great NZ comedy we have today. If you like John Clarke, documentaries, or feeling good about a human, this one’s recommended.