1980s. During those ten years, Donald Trump went from being an aspiring businessman, living off and guided by his father, to one of the wealthiest men in the United States of America. How did he achieve it? Well, the entire process behind Donald John Trump is seen magnificently, I must add, in the nearly two-hour runtime of The Apprentice. A film that shows how the desire for power and status is an old American vice that almost no one escapes. People with power and money, clearly, cannot escape this habit...
However, I want to pause to explain why the film is called The Apprentice. Evidently, it is a nod from the production and the screenwriter to that famous cable television show where Trump became a star. But unlike that reality show, what we see in the feature film is properly documented and based on multiple sources. The film itself did not escape controversy and threats from the U.S. President.
We are, without knowing it, witnesses to the metamorphosis of a man in his early thirties, obsessed with fame, respect, and money at all costs, who will spare nothing to achieve it. A certain type of wife, a certain philosophy of life. Morality as a second- or third-tier topic, always repeating slogans. For example, Never admit you were wrong. Always deny failure. Deny it, even if it costs you your life. No doubt, a cult film for the keyboard kids trying to sell courses online about trading and financial security.
I see in the tone of the film a directorial approach very similar to Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, with much less humor and more focus on the psychology of the character, which Sebastian Stan develops wonderfully. Not for nothing, he has been nominated for an Academy Award for his outstanding performance in this film. But if there is a supporting character worth highlighting, it is the role played by Jeremy Strong. Curiously, in the film he portrays a famous conservative U.S. lawyer accused of being homosexual, who was with Donald Trump at the very beginning, acting as a mentor.
Roy Cohn, that was the name of the person who taught the apprentice to become who he is today. Ruthless, cruel, merciless, ambitious, fierce, voracious, obsessed with power and respect from everyone at all times. Seriously, this film is one of those gems that, at the peak popularity of the newly elected U.S. President, has seen an unfair and undeserved contrast of acceptance. Additionally, it is visually stunning. The texture of the images in the film has been intentionally aged to make it look like the 1980s. Details, script, satire, and a view of how Donald became Trump.
