Review: A power broker takes on a quick study in ‘The Apprentice,’ a window onto Trump’s rise

As a cinephile who has witnessed the evolution of cinema and politics over several decades, I must say that “The Apprentice” by Ali Abbasi is a masterful portrayal of the making of a monster. The film’s central focus on the relationship between Donald Trump and Roy Cohn, skillfully played by Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong respectively, offers an unnerving insight into the genesis of the Trump phenomenon.

Toward the end of “The Apprentice,” a movie directed by Ali Abbasi exploring the bond between Donald J. Trump and his lawyer and guide Roy Cohn, there’s a moment reminiscent of when Dr. Frankenstein suddenly comprehends with shock the monster he has created.

At the luxurious Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, a sick man named Cohn (Jeremy Strong), suffering from AIDS, is awkwardly celebrated on his birthday. His former protege, Trump (Sebastian Stan), appears to have reached the peak of his influence (though the events of three decades later remain unforeseen during this mid-1980s period). Driven by his own overconfidence, Trump aggressively constructs, borrows, and romances without restraint—all with a boisterous spirit of confrontational enjoyment.

Following a boisterous and somewhat disrespectful birthday speech laced with subtle insults, Trump presents an American flag-decorated birthday cake adorned with sparklers, symbolizing Cohn’s frequent expressions of patriotism. For the first time in the movie, Cohn appears visibly unsettled. This moment serves as a cherry on top of his growing suspicions: that he has unleashed a beast, a creature who views America as nothing more than a joke, a laughing stock, something to be exploited and used up, much like a can of Diet Coke, a beautiful woman, or a bottle of pills – all items that Trump voraciously consumes throughout the film.

Gabriel Sherman’s book “The Apprentice” by journalist and Roger Ailes biographer, Abbasi, offers a depiction of Donald Trump during his younger years. Stan delivers an outstanding portrayal, bringing Trump to life from the 1970s through the 1990s. The story revolves around Trump’s education under Cohn, a powerful political manipulator famous for his association with anticommunist Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.), who boasted about playing a role in executing the Rosenbergs by electric chair.

In the opening scene, Abbasi presents the film with a lively punk-rock vibe, as young Donald, sporting a hairstyle reminiscent of Robert Redford, struts through the streets of Manhattan, gazing longingly at the shabby Commodore Hotel. He eventually enters Le Club, a high-end establishment where Cohn will dispatch one of his associates to extend an invitation for Donald to dine with him and his influential gangster companions. Desiring to win over his demanding father, Fred (Martin Donovan), Donald sees this alliance as a means to triumph over the housing discrimination lawsuit filed against the Trumps by the Department of Justice.

Through a lawsuit, Cohn shares with us three principles that Trump has followed and applied during his administration. First, attack aggressively, second, deny everything and admit nothing, third, always claim victory and never concede defeat. As we look back at the way these rules have influenced the governance of the United States over time, it’s disheartening to see their impact.

In their approach to arguing about Trump, Abbasi and Sherman don’t explicitly state the message they want us to infer; instead, they present all the evidence for us to interpret. As the film unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear that Trump exhibits growing signs of narcissism and psychopathy. The character we initially see as naive transforms into something much more alarming as he gains power, fueled by dubious diet pills, and guided by the intricate teachings of his enigmatic father figure, Cohn.

Both the movie’s style and the performances evolve to capture the eras we traverse. Cinematographer Kasper Tuxen uses different film formats, with grainy Super 16mm (and European disco hits) of the ’70s giving way to the camcorder and VHS images from news cameras in the ’80s, reflecting the environments in which the media-obsessed Trump exists. The rich, dim interiors of Cohn’s cloistered world give way to the gaudy, golden posturing of Trump’s living spaces.

Throughout the movie, both Stan and Strong’s captivating portrayals progressively intensify. Initially, Stan subtly emulates Trump’s well-known style; however, as Trump matures on screen, his performance becomes more distinct, blending elements of Fred and Roy’s accents and speech patterns. On the other hand, Strong metamorphoses into Cohn: a character who is slack-jawed and vacant-eyed, yet always in motion, propelling his lean, tanned body forward with an intense determination in both business and pleasure. The sudden shock we feel at the end of the movie when Cohn exhibits signs of conscience is surprising because it suggests that Roy might possess some moral compass, a revelation that overshadows even his insatiable hunger for power, which is exceeded only by his student’s.

As a movie critic, I might rephrase it like this: “Personally, I found ‘The Apprentice’ intriguing, as it offered a glimpse into Donald Trump’s character, humanizing him in a way that no other media has done. However, the series also paints a chilling portrait of how an individual can transform into a figure of power and ambition, given the right personality traits, background, and mentoring. It leaves me wondering if there’s anything more it could add to this compelling narrative.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

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2024-10-11 04:01