BEFORE THEY STARTED EATING THE DOGS….AND THE CATS.

I recently watched an excellent Channel 4 documentary from the UK called Trump’s Heist-The President Who Wouldn’t Lose. It shows how, against all the counsel of his advisors, The Donald insisted on claiming that his loss of Presidency of the United States to Joe Biden in 2020 was fraudulent, despite all evidence to the contrary, and a great deal of that evidence coming from his fellow Republicans.

In The Apprentice, director Ali Abbasi charts the rise of Donald J Trump, here played brilliantly by Sebastian Stan, and dramatises his coming out and coming up party; out of the shadow of his father and up to becoming the real estate magnate. We see his relationship with famous New York right-wing lawyer and political fixer, Roy Cohn, who teaches his new acolyte how to amass wealth and power through deception, intimidation and media manipulation.
Cohn urges Trump to deny deny deny and even if you lose, claim victory.
He teaches him his 3 rules for success:

Rule 1. Attack. Attack. Attack.
Rule 2. Admit nothing. Deny everything.
Rule 3. Claim victory and never admit defeat.

All that matters is winning or the appearance of it and here are the origins of the current state of American (and world) politics that has turned law, rule and constitution into a pantomime where the loudest voice is the one that is heard.

Nowadays, truth is trumped by bombast and volume.

Having a director who is not from America enables access to a point of view that has a more balanced, nuanced and deeper perspective than a home-grown American film maker. Take a look at Veep, run by Brit, Armando Iannucci or similarly Succession, created by Brit, Jesse Armstrong, both political shows about America filled with biting satire and pointed observation. And so, with the Iranian/Danish director Ali Abbasi, who recently directed 2 episodes of HBO’s brilliant first season of The Last of Us and the excellent serial killer film Holy Spider, it makes sense that the film feels like the view is from the balcony and works much better for it.

Abbasi took Barry Lyndon’s journey as principal reference for Trump’s early odyssey. Executive producer Amy Baer said: “I thought that was a brilliant and unexpected comparison for this movie—a social climber who absorbs the affectations of the people and cultures around him because he himself stands for nothing, that, in many ways, is Trump.”

Gabriel Sherman, author of the best-selling biography The Loudest Voice in the Room about Fox News founder Roger Ailes, crafts a tight script that allows the actors to fully bring these real-life characters to life and cinematographer Kasper Tuxen, gives New York City a grainy edge that presents an authentic look of the city in the 1970s.

Sebastian Stan imbues the young Donald with humanity who, here is not portrayed as a ‘killer’ but a flawed human being who is desperately seeking power, wealth and acceptance. The mighty Jeremy Strong delivers another fantastic character performance as the lawyer Roy Cohn, who has a journey of his own that is both tragic and again, given dimensionality by the talented Mr Strong. Maria Bakalova portrays Ivana, Trump’s first wife, and through her performance, we come to understand and believe how she was drawn to a man like him.

This is a ‘chapter in the life of’ story, not a full biography, specifically focussing on that time of New York in the 1970s and the relationship between Trump and Cohn; the passing of information in the dark art of gaining power. It is about a young man trying to carve out his place in the cut-throat world, a man not without sympathy, searching for validation from his father (the brilliant Martin Donovan) and peers to becoming the bully that he is today.

Abbasi takes us on journey that shows us how the path was forged for the Donald to become the TV star turned ex President of the U. S. of A. we now know today.

See it at a cinema near you now.