In today’s binary world, the film The Apprentice ran the risk of displeasing many people, but it did not miss the opportunity to cast a look — not necessarily a sympathetic one — at businessman, millionaire, and American President Donald Trump. Idolized by conservatives, and hated by liberals, the former TV host is a phenomenon in politics and communication, which is why it is irresistible to get to know him better.

Only in the United States could a film like this be made while the subject is alive and preparing to return to the White House. The Apprentice explores Donald Trump’s rise in the New York real estate sector during the 1970s and 1980s, where he created his persona and made a fortune.

Well-known directors such as Paul Thomas Anderson and Clint Eastwood were invited to direct the film, but both declined the offer, considering the project a “commercial risk.” As a result, Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi, known for works such as Border (2018), which won an award at the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, and Holy Spider (2022), which won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival, was left with the unfortunate task of creating a film that officially avoids getting too close to Trump’s political career but doesn’t fool anyone and revisits his past only to highlight the present.

There are some big surprises: Sebastian Stan is great as the young Trump, but Jeremy Strong is even better as the even more controversial Roy Cohn, the lawyer who mentored Donald Trump and whose story is even more fascinating.

If only an E.T. doesn’t know who Trump is, if you don’t follow American politics you’ll have a hard time understanding who Roy Cohn is, who is the soul of the film. The Apprentice is the name of the reality show that the millionaire starred in for years, but here is exactly how he was embraced by the most hated man in the United States and gained political and business wisdom in exchange.

The film portrays the trajectory of Donald Trump, still an unknown young man full of ambitious dreams, and his relationship with the controversial lawyer, who was an important figure in McCarthyism and in the administration of Richard Nixon, as well as in that of Ronald Reagan. Cohn “adopted” Trump and transformed him from an ambitious businessman into a media celebrity.

With an excellent period reconstruction, the film premiered in the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024, where it received mixed reviews due to the script, but Stan and Strong were widely praised. In an attempt to stay in the middle ground, the script is superficial and does not even scratch the surface of Trump’s complex figure or delve deeper into Cohn’s. This is a shame because Jeremy Strong once again scares us with his dedication to the role.

Roy Cohn was an American lawyer and political strategist who rose to prominence as an advisor to Senator Joseph McCarthy during the infamous anti-communist investigations of the 1950s, known as McCarthyism. As Donald Trump’s mentor, he taught him confrontational tactics, media manipulation, and aggressive legal strategies. It was unethical: victory was the goal at any cost. He died in 1986 from complications related to AIDS but publicly denied his condition until the end.

It is rare to have a figure as universally hated as Cohn, and it is frightening that Strong can make us feel sorry for him at any point. The real man did not deserve it and had no empathy or sympathy while alive. He was, without fear of being accused: a monster. He was the one who condemned the Rosenbergs to the electric chair (with Rose being innocent) and, during the period when AIDS was a health crisis, deliberately hindered the studies and distribution of drugs (while using them himself). Having Trump as a protégé is a fact and the undeniable connection between the two bothers supporters. And it is precisely this polarity that “saves” The Apprentice in some way.

Ultimately, The Apprentice may not be the definitive film about Donald Trump, but it manages to offer a provocative look at the forces that shaped the man behind the media and political persona, highlighting the rise of a polarizing icon, shaped by an immoral mentor and the gears of a system that rewards ambition at any cost. Perhaps the greatest merit of The Apprentice is to remind us that figures like Trump and Cohn are products of the same context that we insist on ignoring — and that their story, ultimately, is as much about them as it is about the current moment.

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