Ali Abbasi’s Cannes competition entry ‘The Apprentice’ is one of those rare bio-pics which doesn’t need to be accompanied by caveats of creative liberty, despite its disclaimer of being lightly fictionalised: a subject as controversial as Donald J Trump comes with so many jaw-dropping stories, that there is no need to embroider or embellish.
The film, a Canadian-Irish-US-Danish co-production, gives us the early years of Trump in the 70s and 80s, starting from when he is trying to find his feet in the tough real estate business started by his father Fred, to when he becomes the magnate with his taking over choice locations in New York City and building ultra-plush skyscrapers carrying his name.
The rise and rise of Donald Trump, played by Sebastian Stan who looks remarkably like the former, may be the focus of the film. But Abbasi and his writer Gabriel Sherman foreground Trump’s staggering growth in the connection he makes with his mentor, the lawyer Roy Kohn, played by Jeremy Strong.
In an impactful early scene, we see Donald being summoned to Kohn’s table at the fancy club that he’s just become a member of, the former clearly unsure of his standing, the latter seeing something in the younger man. It is a shorthand for many things : in the way the young Trump is seated alone at the bar showing us his outsider status, and in the way he doesn’t quite know how to respond to Kohn’s overtures which are a mix of patronage and curiosity but instinctively understanding how useful the older man can be, we see the beginnings of a seminal relationship.
This affinity, between the lawyer who had by then made a name for himself for being McCarthy’s lawyer and enthusiastic accomplice in his hunt for suspected Leftists, and the young Trump, deepens as time goes on, and helps shape the unformed Trump’s character. Kohn is not just a powerful political fixer, he is classy, knows how to spend money, and is aware of how much appearances matter : ‘when you look good, I look good’, he tells Trump at the tailor’s establishment which is clearly out of the younger man’s league, while stumping up for his expensive suit.
Kohn doesn’t only show Trump how to dress for the job, he teaches him everything else too: how pre-nuptials are the most important part of a marriage, and how he must be saved from being taken to the cleaners once the marriage breaks up. To spend time on Trump’s warm initial relationship and marriage with first wife Ivana ( Maria Bakalova) is a smart move on the script’s part, because it tells us that the man who has a terrible reputation running through women like water, was once likeable and vulnerable.
And it is an even smarter move that the film chooses to foreshadow his ‘running for office’, winning the elections and his tumultuous White House years. We know too much about the latter-day Trump, as he has been documented minute-by-minute while he was in office: the film ends just at the right stage.
Strong, who won an Emmy for his part of Kendall Roy in ‘Succession’ is wonderful as Kohn, as he goes about teaching the young Trump his mantra for success — attack, attack, attack, never accept, always deny, and to be a winner.
A line in the movie goes, ‘it sounds like American foreign policy’, and leading to a gust of laughter in the press show. But these have also been the rules governing Trump’s phenomenal run.
Abbasi manages to skate on very thin ice — being objective about his subject while being clear-eyed about all his faults– with a great deal of conviction. The film doesn’t vilify, but it is also not a hagiography. What we get is a fascinating look at a man who wasn’t born with vaulting ambition and staggering self-belief, but who acquired it all from a legal eagle who helped him climb the ladder of success.
Through the transformation of Trump, from a somewhat nice guy capable of love to a hard-edged, brash billionaire, the film also critiques capitalist excess : how much is too much, or is it ever? And feeds into the portrait of a man who is continuing to shape American culture and politics.
You wonder how much of the ‘truth’ the film was able to show, and how much of it is tamped down. Without giving too much away, I can tell you that there are some extremely uncomfortable sequences in here which would never pass an ‘authorised bio-pic’ : it also makes you wonder just how long it will take for Indian cinema to be quite as frank and forthright in making of its biographies.
Click for more updates and latest Hollywood News along with Bollywood and Entertainment updates. Also get latest news and top headlines from India and around the World at The Indian Express.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
