THE APPRENTICE Review: Or, How To Use Film To Capture An Essence Of Donald Trump

How do you capture the essence of Donald Trump? In this case, by capturing an underexposed, pivotal period in his life. The period from 1970 to 1980, when Donald Trump was shaped by his relationship with lawyer Roy Cohn. Or perhaps one should say could have been shaped. After all, the film is fiction, and the story suggests how it might have been. But the portrayal remains close to the reality of the time when Trump was about thirty years old.

It is the time when he breaks away from his father and is taken under the wing of lawyer Cohn. Cohn had and maintained a reputation as a tough, ruthless lawyer who would stop at nothing to win. He saw something in the young Trump, who wanted only one thing: to become big and rich in real estate.

Cohn taught Trump three rules that he believed were necessary to be a winner. Rule 1 - Attack. Attack. Attack. Rule 2 - Admit nothing. Deny everything. Rule 3 - Claim victory and never admit defeat. Live and in person, you can see these three rules reflected in every current performance in Trump's campaign and in the lawsuits he is involved in.

Cohn can be seen as the Doctor Frankenstein who created the real estate developer-turned-politician Donald Trump. Unscrupulous, amoral, focused on efficiency. Trump is played by Sebastian Stan (who we know from several Captain America films). Roy Cohn is played by Jeremy Strong (The Big Short). An important role is played by Maria Bakalova (Guardians of the Galaxy) as the beautiful and headstrong Ivana, who would become Trump's wife.

One of the film's strengths is that it makes absolutely no attempt to create a psychological or childhood-determined image of the man Donald Trump. The film just does it. Rich kid Donald Trump has only one obsession from an early age: to become very rich, richer than his father. What is special is that the excellent Iranian-Danish director Ali Abassi filmed the story of journalist/screenwriter Gabriel Sherman. Sherman had all the filmmaker's experience of the far-right milieu, having made the series The Loudest Voice about the infamous Fox News founder Roger Ailes.

In an election year, it is easy to think of this as a gimmicky marketing tool. It is not. A well-researched, focused scenario and good acting and directing make the film good and better than expected. The theme remains pitch black. The Apprentice, for example, paints a devastating picture of a monomaniac.

Why people still vote for Trump, even after seeing the film, is that they don't care if their hero lies, is unscrupulous, amoral, everything is in the service of his goal, as long as this goal coincides with what they also want: to go back to a fictional America, where everything was still good and everyone had enough money for everything and America was the promised land, especially for Americans. MAGA, make America great again, even if you need a villain like Trump.

And you can use him well, because he will go through anything - doors, norms, laws - to win. He is the man who will use any means to bring down his opponents - the others - the 'them', the elite. Trump is also entertaining for many people, and sometimes quite inflammatory to listen to at rallies. A man who, like Wilders or Orban, is appreciated for 'telling it like it is'. Fresh from the liver, as it can also be done on social media, on the street, at the market or in old-fashioned cafes and family gatherings. Not fact-checked, just for gut feeling. Since Cohn's Rules we know how it is: Attack, attack, attack.

Somewhere towards the end of The Apprentice - it is 1980, he is 34 years old - Trump is being interviewed by Rona Barnett ( link original interview). Barnett asks him what he would do if he lost all his money. 'Maybe I'd try to become president, I don't know,' he says.

The film thus makes a suggestion about Trump's thinking. It can be read as devastating for the protagonist by opponents, but it will have little impact on reality, just like this review. After all, the people have their positions fixed. Admit nothing. Deny everything. Attack, claim victory no matter what. Regardless of the outcome of the upcoming election, The Apprentice makes for a fascinating dark film.

Ali Abassi's The Apprentice (2024) is now in cinemas.