
Synopsis: The narrative here details the life of a young Donald Trump, his real estate business, and how he sought the infamous lawyer Roy Cohn for assistance during the 70s and 80s in New York.
The American Dream is portrayed in some films such as Rocky, The Pursuit Of Happyness, and Minari as a dream in which there is opportunity for all, and there is peace and prosperity. Once again, we see a familiar pattern the storyline revolves around ordinary individuals who, despite undergoing a difficult life, have done everything in their power to improve the situation not only for themselves but also for their families. Imagine if there was a tale about the American Dream, but this time the protagonist was lucky from the start. The protagonist is such a person who to what the majority would consider impossible to achieve by just working dirty instead of working hard. This is the aim of Ali Abbasi’s sequel to Cannes winner Holy Spider, The Apprentice, which follows Donald J. Trump’s life.
The Apprentice begins with an excerpt from Richard Nixon’s speech, People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I‘m not a crook. I‘ve earned everything I have. What a way to describe his colorful life that ends in more controversies than accomplishments. With such remarks, it is not surprising that the first scene is a depiction of a child Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) who starts with the youngest member of a private club and quite a pretty young member too. This, however, makes Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong) who is giving invitational to the youthful Trump to his table. However, Cohn’s voiceover is interesting, when Cohn finds out that Trump is a real estate businessman, he identifies Trump as the son of Fred Trump who was sued by the US Government and NAACP in Trump Village for racial discrimination. Cohn supplanted himself behind Trump and then later on moved himself forward to become his new lawyer.
We see Sebastian Stan as young Trump, who was hungry for success and was aptly shown locking up his gaze at every detail during the Shark Attack. A sense of awe can be felt around the performance. It is depicted that Cohn outspokenly encourages young Trump to draw no lines when getting ahead. This is how Stan and Strong combine to display a monstrous Trump filled with grand lust. We now turn our focus to Stan and Strong who combine to display the rising power of Trump, but Cohn stays constant throughout. Lastly, we see Cohn’s manipulating side through Strong’s performance during the series, this character fits beautifully with Stan’s portrayal of easily influenced young Trump.
The story certainly seems to be somewhat thin and lackluster, serving more like a prologue to how Trump apparently was able to accumulate wealth via shady dealings and extortion in the first place. However, when the documentary progresses to its latter portion, where Donald has been completely hollowed out to a power-hungry goldfish, that’s finally when The Apprentice actually begins to buckle down to the point.
Ali Abbasi has always been quite happy to exhibit Trump in an unattractive light and that perhaps explains why he has not impressed many of his critics. While Donald Trump, for instance, attempted to comply with the law and file a court action with the docu-drama, his spokespersons aver that it “should barely come to light”, one of the unwritten laws of the universe is probably the reason he overturned it. The real estate tycoon must lock himself in the bathroom if he has any desire to avert the onslaught of publicity generated by the unveiling of his Trump Tower. For him nothing is sacred, not even the ugly woman known as his wife whom he beds before foreplay, not even the brother he sent off just in time for him to die, and certainly not even Roy Cohn who got him into the business and turned out to be a monster himself. Two types of people exist in this world. Trump’s observation as he lays waste everything dear to him in exchange for power says it all.
Whatever the truth is, he doesn’t care about what happens to these people, as the more he grows both physically and in the figurative sense the less he becomes human. The analysis of Abbasi’s film seemingly leads to an almost Frankenstein’s narrative in the sense that the beast is now peeled off and it is everyone’s problem to solve.
Most probably, these are the moments when both Roy Cohn and Strong shine the most. Suffers from the worst diseases and although it is a character that deserves nothing but hate, Strong manages to identify him in a sense that as a viewer one can simply overlook it. There is a heart in Strong’s shift of becoming a monster and turning back that makes one pity the one who waits upon pain. There is more banter where feelings are directed at Trump, for example, and this Stan finds very funny. Of all people in the world, Donald Trump is in the topmost likely to be impersonated but what Stan does is engaging. He doesn’t only bear the looks, the actions, and the voice that all impersonators bear but he convinces that the person who is giving the impersonation is Donald Trump. As far as I am concerned, Sebastian Stan performs of the year while walking out and into what is one of the most awful and scariest characters of the year in my opinion.
The Apprentice This is not a cinematic work that will unveil previously hidden facts to you or should I say it does not defy your concepts. Directed by Ali Abbasi, it is exceptionally layered with the best impression from Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan this year, however, the strength of The Apprentice is to serve as a reminder to those people who may have been dazed how wicked Donald Trump is where it is. It’s a biopic that does not afford any redeeming qualities for its subject and this should sound alarm to everyone who is Watching it.
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