In 1972, photographer Robert Frank was given carte-blanche to follow and film The Rolling Stones on their American tour. The result was a film deemed unreleasable by the band, but not because of the overwhelming amount of sex, drugs and rock ān roll on display. Rumour has it the band banned the film because Frank unblinkingly showed the tedium of life on the road and revealed the real lives of the band members.
It's hardly the high-glam life that would be expected from the āWorldās Greatest Rock and Roll Band,ā but these are the scenes that humanize the group and put a pinprick in the bubble of fame that surrounded the Stones in their glory days.
Director Jim Jarmusch said, āIt makes you think that being a rock star is one of the last things youād ever want to do.ā
I mention all of this because I think there is a correlation between the Rolling Stones film (whose title I canāt print here) and āThe Apprentice.ā
The Trump campaign unsuccessfully worked to suppress this film, and I would guessāand thatās all this isāthey wanted it shelved not because of the harder-edged portrait of Trump in the filmās second half, which falls in line with the candidateās strongman image, but because of the softer, more humanist tone of the first hour.
When we first meet Trump (Sebastian Stan) heās a desperate man, going door-to-door in his fatherās buildings to collect rents from tenants who clearly loathe him, a lawsuit looms that could potentially bankrupt the Trump family and his brother Freddy is an alcoholic who is slowly losing his battle with the bottle.
Enter Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), a lawyer Trump affectionately calls āevil incarnate.ā The prosecutor in the espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and chief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy's investigations of suspected communists, he had a fearsome, take-no-prisoners reputation. The lawyer took Trump under his wing, greasing the wheels for him socially and professionally in 1970s New York City.
āYouāre the client,ā says Cohn, ābut you work for me. You do what I say, when I say.ā
The ambitious Trump begins as a lump of clay, but is soon molded into an effigy of Roy Cohn, merciless in business and in life.
āThe Apprenticeā is several things. Itās the making of MAGA. Itās a story of unchecked ambition. Itās a cautionary tale. Itās a period piece of New York City in the go-go 1980s.
Mostly though, itās an entertaining character study of one of the worldās most famous people that comes with the good, the bad and the ugly.
The good? Stan, who (mostly) avoids doing an āSNLā style Trump caricature. In the last hour, when he has absorbed Cohnās lessons and the student has surpassed the master, heās recognizably Trump.
Before that, he is more fully rounded as a character. There are flashes of compassion when he interacts with Freddy, frustration at being under his fatherās thumb and vulnerability. When he becomes the blustery Trump weāre more familiar with, it becomes less interesting, but still avoids imitation.
As Cohn, Strong is serpentine, to the point of predatorially flicking his tongue. Eyelids at half mast, he exudes maximum confidence in his ability to control every situation. When the tide turns for him, Strong manages to create empathy for a character who never had any in real life. When he complains to Trump that heās "lost the last trace of decency you ever had,ā the words hit hard.
The bad? While Maria Bakalova, who plays Trumpās first wife Ivana, is credible in the role, it feels a bit cheeky to cast her, given her headline-making encounter with Trump associate Rudy Giuliani in āBorat Subsequent Moviefilm.ā
The ugly? The casual venality on display. Itās the kind that powerful people use to intimidate and control the people in their lives, and it is gruesome. Itās an ugly glimpse into the halls of power where cold-blooded mercenaries like Cohn will do anything to win.
Thereās also a graphic and cruel scene of sexual assault, unflinchingly captured by director Ali Abbasiās camera.
Donald Trump dismisses āThe Apprenticeā as āpure fictionā and for sure it isnāt the whole truth and nothing but the truth. An opening title card acknowledges that, announcing that āsome events have been fictionalized for dramatic effect,ā but it does capture the tenor of the times and the dynamic between Trump and Cohn. Itās an origin story, and while you may not learn anything new, it paints a potent picture of pure ambition run amok.
