On October 11, 2024, The Apprentice was released to theaters, retelling the life story of a young Donald J. Trump. The movie starts with Trump’s attempts to change the Gulf and Western Building into a hotel, leading to a meet up with lawyer Roy Cohn. Throughout this movie Cohn starts to shape Trump in his own image, eventually leading to the Trump we know today.
Sebastian Stan, the actor who plays Trump, takes advantage of this character that Trump has built to tell an incredibly vivid story. While many actors try to impersonate the character, Stan does not. Instead, he lets the makeup do the impersonation and simply allows this character flow as it wants to show the story of the young Trump.
This movie is not meant to be an escape from reality, but is meant to be a wake up call to those who are blind to the darker sides of capitalism. One of the first scenes in this movie is Trump walking down the garbage ridden streets of New York, pleading with a businessman to fund his renovation of the Gulf and Western Building. This movie shows the harsh realities of falling behind in a capitalist society and how many will try to take advantage of your misfortune.
This movie also represents how people can change under stress and how they are most vulnerable to peer pressure at times like these. When Trump first meets Cohn he is offered a drink but declines, however, Cohn pressures him into taking it with the threat of not helping him. Events similar to these continue to happen, leading to Trump’s complete loyalty to Cohn, because Cohn has manipulated Trump into believing that there is only one path to success.
Despite how it might seem, this movie doesn’t paint either Trump or Cohn in an unfavorable light. It instead focuses more on teaching a lesson to its audience. This movie could have very easily taken shots at Trump and Cohn but it doesn’t. It simply uses Trump and Cohn as characters to teach a lesson. Movies such as these teach us about the many unfortunate realities of living in a capitalist society that people might not want to talk about.
