Ruthless lawyer of New York, Roy Cohn spots a timid blond in a private club. Inviting him to his table, he makes the acquaintance of Donald J. Trump.
Read more: “The apprentice” by Ali Abbasi: how Trump became TrumpIn the seventies, Manhattan is nothing but a rotting apple. Sex, drugs, poverty, and violence haunt its long avenues. An aspiring real estate developer, Trump dreams of restoring its splendor and prestige. Through lawsuits, blackmail, and corruption, he will succeed, under the guidance of his new mentor.
Jeremy Strong’s piercing gaze as Cohn leaves no doubt about who he has chosen for his succession. Like a bird of prey, the champion of McCarthyism has found his target: an immature greenhorn puking his first vodka shots. But “Donnie Boy,” a young man scorned by his father, shows boundless ambition. The devil wears oversized suits, and a Faustian pact is sealed with three golden rules: always attack, deny everything, and claim victory even in defeat. A future president is born.
In a convincing reconstruction—yellowed image, worn grain—the diabolical duo works its dastardly magic, pulling off a staggering power shift. The narrative takes its protagonist seriously, even as it repeatedly points out his weight and baldness issues. In the role of the ugly duckling, Sebastian Stan is impressive, morphing through the physique, gestures, and grimaces of a failed Robert Redford lookalike into the political figure we know today. Damn morality, good, evil, and truth. Growing in confidence, the beast unchains itself from its master and turns his principles against him. The thirsty vampire gradually drains his mentor’s vitality. A homophobic homosexual, Roy Cohn fades away, struck down by AIDS. The Shakespearean tragedy sparkles gaudily and leaves a bitter aftertaste… Today, this “killer machine” driven by ego holds the fate of the world in his hands. And it is no longer fiction.
The apprentice by Ali Abbasi can be (re)discovered on DVD at the Library:
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