Film: The President's Cake

Today, decided on another film - second in a row - and what came up was The President's Cake, set in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was in power, and schoolkids had to prepare a gift for his birthday.. the rating has dropped, but I preferred it to anything higher-rated. It's showing in a couple of Curzons - I decided on the Curzon Bloomsbury, it's handy for shopping. Later showing, obviously - at least giving me time to blog first!

Before setting out, I decided to book the ticket - I still have credit for free tickets, and it's handier to do the booking in advance. Now, when I checked, it looked as though most of the seats were free - however, it turns out that Curzon has an annoying policy of displaying the free seats in black, the occupied ones in a pale colour: the opposite of what you'd expect. So I was to discover that, in fact, there were only two seats left, in the front row! I booked one straight away.

Headed off in good time. The bus journey - a speedy one, the driver obviously an impatient sort (no wonder it beat the ETA of both my apps by 10 mins) - was enlivened when a couple of young women got on: the uninterested, rather bored-looking kind, stuck in their phones. The payment from the second one didn't go through - the driver tried to get her attention: nothing doing. They made their way upstairs, the driver still shouting after them - a passenger near the stairs tried to get their attention: none paid. Fair play to the driver, out she came and followed them upstairs, demanding that that woman come back and try her card again. Now, I actually think there was a glitch in the machine, because she swore she'd paid, and when she tried the card again, nothing was doing - you can't pay twice with the same card, and the driver eventually let her off. It wasn't so much the fare, I think, however - it was the sheer lack of interest shown by either woman when the driver was trying to get their attention.

And so to the cinema, and my usual habit of scanning my membership card to get a discount on consumables, then trying to find the cinema ticket again as the app shows me I have a booking, while simultaneously showing me, under "Upcoming bookings" that I have none. And by the time I've finished all that, it always escapes my attention that I haven't actually paid for what I just bought! Anyway, I managed to manoeuvre everything I was carrying over to the guy to scan my ticket, then down four flights of stairs to the bottom level, where it transpired that they had just cleaned the cinema, and I was first in. I'll say this for the front row, there's plenty of legroom, and - crucially - plenty of space for people to pass without you having to move your stuff. Sure enough, by the start time, the place was pretty full.

Ah, this is lovely. It occurred to me pretty quickly that the characters in this film are the "marsh Arabs" we heard so much about at the time (it's set in 1990, around the time that the wars with the West started). They live in the marshes, after all, getting around by boat. And we meet our 9-yr-old protagonist, Lamia, as she navigates her way through school, with a teacher who seems pretty unpleasant to everyone, and particularly looks down on her - as people did, apparently, look down on the marsh Arabs in those days. They were, apparently, notoriously poor. Her best friend is a boy in her class called Saeed, whose father is "a cripple", and who therefore has to act as the breadwinner of his family as best he can - primarily by stealing what he can.

So, imagine their shock and horror when, in the annual lottery of names, theirs are drawn - Saeed to provide the fruit to celebrate the President's birthday, and Lamia to bake a cake. This, as the poorest of the poor, in a country where food staples are beyond the reach of most people on average incomes. Lamia seems to be orphaned, and lives with her grandmother, Bibi, to whom she now turns - Bibi gives her a list of ingredients, and says they'll go to the city the next day to sort everything out. But that's just the start of the story..

It's a fascinating peep into the lives of the people. We get to see the daily lives of people living under a cultish regime, we get to see some of the effects on the people of the American bombs. And as Lamia sets about trying desperately to get her cake ingredients together, we see sides of Iraqi life we wouldn't have suspected. Meanwhile, we're following two kids around the city (Saeed comes too) - and boy, what terrific actors! Lamia, in particular, is very affecting, and it's a moving film, although never mawkish. Very highly recommended - I'm not surprised it sold out.

Headed to GBK afterwards, at about 7.50pm, only to discover that, although people were still finishing meals at tables, they were now takeaway only! Fine, I headed to Nando's, which was still seating people by the time I'd eaten and was leaving. Funny how they always look surprised when I order a second wine, there..

Tomorrow evening, assuming I'm not ripped to shreds by the chiropractor, back with Shake it Up! The Improvised Shakespeare Show, at the Hen & Chickens. And my dinner companion from last Monday is coming too. We'll be trying 314 Bar and Kitchen, across from the pub, for dinner.

On Tuesday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) for Ukraine Unbroken, a set of five short plays at the Arcola, incorporating Ukrainian music.

On Wednesday, back with storytelling - and the Crick Crack Club has a new idea, the Story Pick + Mix - apparently rough cuts, experimental work. This one, The Bodies on the Beach, is the story of the legendary Irish hero, Fionn MacCumhaill, and is said to combine elements of 15th-century manuscripts, archaeology, and folklore. And these shows are happening at some place called Theatre Deli, right in the City. Eating in La Spezia restaurant next door beforehand.

On Thursday, back with UITCS for Blink, at The King's Head. A romcom that asks, in the digital age, when we can see everything someone is doing, what does it actually mean to know someone? And then I'm heading back to Ireland for the weekend - a little earlier than anticipated, but I'll be busy for the rest of the month, so might as well go now, before things hot up!