The Apprentice – Film Review
by Brian Merriman

Directed by Ali Abbasi
Written by Gabriel Sherman.
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova, and Martin Donovan.

We have lived in a decade where we have been saturated with the comings and goings of Donald Trump. Trump has turned the political moral compass on its head, fuelled by a cult-like following which remains loyal despite any proven criminal activities.

In the week when the ‘Joker’ sequel is also released, which deals with a similar central character. It is interesting to see how both films expose the blind devotion that fuels the persona and actions of an individual, who considers himself not only a winner but one with patriotic motives which justify his bizarre actions and discourse.

I didn’t know what to expect and confess to Trump fatigue, not helped by the few who tease that I could pass for his doppelganger! But very early into the well-structured, Sherman screenplay, we realise ‘The Apprentice’ is something different. The release date, a month out from November 5th, prompts the question, was this to be a ‘Michael Moore’ type expose, designed to influence the election? Perhaps. But considering Trump’s base does not shift, regardless of whatever revelations emerge, this documented film may even harden and embolden his base of support, which lauds his ‘America first’ mantra, knowing that he sees and equivalences his billionaire self, as ‘America’.

The impressive Abbasi/Sherman film examines Trump’s emergence as a real estate businessman in New York in the 1970s and 1980s. It opens with Richard Nixon assuring us that he always put America first and continues to backdrop footage and iconic names from the era, throughout the film. It is a perfect opening sequence.

Trump is not the star but the apprentice, firstly to his controlling father. Later, he finds himself in the circle of ruthless and powerful lawyer Roy Cohen, well known for his prosecution and persecution of ‘liberal’ people during the notorious McCarthy era.

The film is equally about Cohen in a gripping and mesmerising performance by Strong (Succession). He takes Trump as his apprentice and embeds in him the mantras that Trump continues to mouth four decades later. Cohen coaches the gullible young Trump, that there is no truth and insists that you never acknowledge defeat, no matter how great the loss. To know that even these are not original Trump thoughts, but lines he was taught to repeat, is powerful and persuasive. Cohen still pulls the political strings well into this century, ensuring his warped cult of ‘patriotism at all costs’ prevails. He identified and groomed his willing apprentice with an enviable skill ensuring a solid legacy.

Sebastian Stan is a studied and convincing ‘Trump’. Strong’s chilling ‘Cohen’ is the real barometer of power, abuse and hate in this impactful story. Cohen is empty of all moral values and human emotion. His legal successes are based on blackmail recordings exploiting the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of public officials and businessmen.

Cohen is gay and exploits that identity in every other person he encounters without a blush. The closeness of Trump to the rich gay community in NYC is a revelation and the film is opaque in exactly how Trump fits into this world.

As taught by Cohen, Trump learned to ruthlessly ‘knife’ all who helped him up the ladder as he climbed to the top, on borrowed money and illegal tax breaks. It is a sombre enactment of a time, further complicated by the onslaught of AIDS, which devastated the network of power Cohen controlled and fed. The acts of the Trump presidency to erase any policy references to the LGBT+ community in his first days as President is another complex reminder of his ability to make revenge a policy. Why did he do that?

Maria Bakalova’s striking ‘Ivana Trump’ showcases how much she contributed to his successful brand and there are some shocking domestic scenes as we get an insight into his home life. Only his Mother, Mary Anne Trump, (Catherine McNally) seemed to have any moral barometer or control over Donald and her husband’s excesses. His relationship with his flawed father ‘Fred’ (Martin Donovan) and his alcoholic brother Freddy (an empathetic Charlie Carrick) are equally challenging to the viewer.

The absence of any original political thought, the bribery, corruption and denial that seeps out of so many of the cinematic episodes, is clearly a learned and relished behaviour that endures. We are reminded that even his current MAGA slogan is one word less than Ronald Reagan’s successful soundbite. But crucially Reagan encouraged all to make the achievement a collective with ‘Let’s Make America Great Again’ while Trump wants it to be another solo run.

I admit to being ‘Trumped out’, and exhausted with the never-ending repetition of negativity and victimhood that has needlessly dominated a decade of public discourse. This fine Abbasi film caught, maintained and enhanced my interest from the beginning. It is a well illustrated dramatic scrutiny of a unique individual, who is still on a journey to make his mark. Unlike the ‘Joker’, no one is laughing. We see Trump’s graphic apprenticeship where we, as the audience are allowed to assess the performance of the young apprentice and perhaps decide whether he passes muster, as either a person or a potential later president.

‘The Apprentice’ is also a reminder, and a visual demonstration of the heady dilapidated New York era of 40 years ago which created the space for Trump to prosper. It sets out how it shaped a damaged, privileged man, whose ambition far outstripped his intellect. Even if you are exhausted by Trump, this film will engage and inform you throughout two hours. It is a  very clever, well-produced and skilfully performed movie, that sadly will probably not set the record straight in time for November 5th.