★★★★☆
The Apprentice, a docudrama from the burgeoning director Ali Abbasi, is a cutting, yet often comedic, look into Donald Trump’s rise to notoriety. The film, released on Oct. 11, stars Sebastian Stan of Marvel fame alongside Jeremy Strong, most known for his Emmy-winning role as Kendall Roy in the decorated HBO series Succession.
The Apprentice follows Trump (Stan) on his journey from bumbling status-seeker to conniving businessman with the mentorship afforded to him by Roy Cohn (Strong), a prosecutor who was a prominent figure in both the federal government and New York City during the 1970s.
The first part of the film introduces the audience to the gritty reality of New York City during the ’70s, a scene that may be familiar to those who either have lived through it or seen Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver.
The cinematography adapts characteristics of the time period’s most acclaimed films—dark, obscuring shadows, grainy film, and jarring camera shots. These effects place the audience in the year the film starts following Trump: 1973.
Trump’s characterization over the course of the film, with the help of Cohn’s mentorship, transforms him from an awkward and unpolished laughingstock into a cutthroat businessman whose success seems to be linked to his ability to lie, cheat, and be morally bankrupt.
Trump’s true “killer,” a term used many times by both Trump and Cohn in the film, emerges in the film’s second act and becomes prominent by the film’s end. He commits a number of heinous acts, including raping his wife, Ivana, and tossing Cohn to the side when he is diagnosed with, and eventually dies of, AIDS.
The film as a whole dives into Trump’s inner psyche, and how his mentee relationship with Cohn allowed his inner qualities of narcissism and his lack of empathy to emerge fully, transforming him into the Trump infamous today.
It also, through a deeper read, provides an insight into the dangers of American conservatism and capitalism. Using Trump as a character study, the film showcases how the pursuit of these ideals is dangerous to those inherently oppressed by their systems or how this pursuit leads one who would be advantaged by these systems to adopt a mindset lacking emotion for anyone but oneself and one’s accumulation of wealth.
Specifically, Cohn and Ivana try to align themselves with conservatism and capitalism in the film through their business pursuits. Yet, because these systems are set up against them, they eventually are oppressed by those who hold power in these systems: Trump.
Cohn is rejected due to his inner identity, and Ivana is tossed aside and abused by Trump when other women begin to excite him more. While this gives Trump power in the systems he exists in, the film showcases how empty and soulless he and his life must be to perpetuate this oppression. Thus, conservatism is seen as a danger to all, even those who may benefit from its effects.
Overall, The Apprentice was a rich look into Trump’s psyche and what made him into the man he is today. It also, being released about a month before the presidential election, serves as a moral warning to its audience about the oppression he endorses and perpetuates as a candidate.
