While some view it with a sense of immense joy, and others with a sense of apocalyptic dread, it’s impossible to deny that the rise of Donald Trump from real estate mogul and television personality to President of the United States over the past decade has been nothing short of fascinating, even if it has proven to be quite a polarising series of events (as is any political scenario, but this one, in particular, has proven to be even more divisive than many in recent history), and divided not only the United States but the entire world. His rise to power was inevitably going to be used as the foundation for a film, but oddly enough the first major work we get on the subject is not directly related to his efforts to seek and later win the presidency, but rather looks at his earliest years, and how they essentially instilled the cutthroat principles and egomaniacal tendencies that would become the cornerstone of both his business and political endeavours. Directed by Ali Abbasi (who has made something of a career out of taking simple concepts and weaving them into sprawling, existential odysseys that are as inventive as they are unsettling), The Apprentice is a film that covers Trump’s life in the 1970s and 1980s, following his rise from a skittish landlord working for his abrasive father’s company to running the entire organisation and becoming one of the most powerful businessmen in the United States, and one whose aspirations and genuine belief that he can challenge the system led him to earn the power everyone around him never believed he was capable of garnering. A fascinating deconstruction of the life and times of one of the most powerful and controversial figures of the past century, the film proves to be quite an unsettling affair, especially in how it quietly weaves correlations between Trump’s business dealings and his eventual move towards politics, both of which were rife with immoral decisions and efforts to take advantage of a system that he immediately recognized as inherently flawed, but could still manipulate in his favour. Challenging and captivating, while also being layered with a sense of existential despair, The Apprentice is one of the year’s most puzzling masterworks, and yet another tremendous glimpse into the human condition, fostered by one of its steadfast critics.

Any film about a figure like Trump was going to be difficult work to market, especially in light of the recent election, which has divided the United States in a way that we have rarely seen before. However, the belief that such a film should not be made (which has been expressed by audiences on both sides of the political aisle – his supporters see it as an attempt to diminish their idol, and his detractors look at it as an effort to give his story a platform) is myopic for several reasons, especially since The Apprentice is constructed as a relatively straightforward affair, and most importantly is entirely apolitical, being crafted by both a writer and a director who are not interested in taking a side, but rather presenting an objective glimpse into the subject’s early life, exploring how he became the person he is today, which is unquestionably a fascinating approach, and one that deserves to be acknowledged rather than reviled. This film is a character study about someone’s rise to power, exploring approximately the first decade of his professional life. He rose from being the second-favourite son of a power-hungry businessman, to not only overtaking his father but essentially becoming even more powerful and influential than anyone could have possibly imagined, which is a story that is perfectly possible without being viewed as an effort to deride or glamourize, two approaches that Abbasi and writer Gabriel Sherman were not interested into implementing throughout the film. The Apprentice is, at its core, a film about power – and in focusing on Trump’s rise, with a particular focus on his personal and professional relationship with the equally polarizing Roy Cohn (who is essentially established as the kingmaker behind Trump, the person who introduced the abrasive, heartless values that his protégé would eventually use against him), we find that the film makes some fascinating observations about how someone can take advantage of what many perceive to be an honest system, using their skills and resourcefulness to manipulate their social and cultural surroundings in their favour, which can either backfire or become the root of one’s success – and there has simply never been a more appropriately terrifying example of the latter than in the case of the subject of this film and his rise to power over the years.

One of the more potent justifications for this film’s existence comes when we make an effort to divorce the subject matter from the themes that drive it forward. For as long as the nation has existed, there have been efforts to capture its history, and as both leads of this film have explicitly stated, their approach to The Apprentice was not to be a discussion on Trump and his politics, but rather merely to tell a story of the American Dream, and how his path to achieving his wealth and influence was starkly different to any that we have seen before. It’s a fascinating observational approach, one that the film brilliantly explores, and which allows it to easily justify not taking a stance, choosing instead to remain as objective as possible. This film is as riveting as any other account of the country’s history, and it is most certainly fashioned to be a snapshot of the past, as seen through the eyes of one of its most notorious public figures. Set primarily in New York City from the early 1970s to the late 1980s, The Apprentice is a sprawling historical odyssey in which we follow the main character as he rises from milquetoast landlord to one of the most polarizing figures in American history, and while we can argue there wasn’t any need to provide him with any more of a platform to have his story told, an objective glimpse into his rise as a real estate developer, and how it coincided with several of the most important moments in American history, is certainly worth our time. The film shows various chapters in the country’s history, as filtered through Trump’s rise to notoriety – the latter part of the Civil Rights Movement, the final but vicious vestiges of the Cold War, the HIV/AIDS outbreak and several other moments are shown throughout, and while the film doesn’t purport to be the definitive word on any of them, it does provide an abundance of context to how they were perceived at the time, particularly by this specific subset of the population, the people who existed in their ivory towers, avoiding the harsh realities below, and how this can gradually erode one’s sense of compassion, if they even possessed one in the first place. The Apprentice takes quite an ambitious approach to these ideas, and it’s ideal to look at it as more than just a biographical account of Trump’s life, and rather see it as an expansive exploration of the country at a specific point in the past.

The role of Donald Trump is far from an easy one – we’ve seen countless imitations from both professionals and amateurs, and his unique style of talking and carrying himself has been him the fodder for many comedians, who play into his deranged eccentricities for laughs, which is perfectly understandable but also somewhat one-dimensional, especially since it could be seen as turning someone who is genuinely contentious as a figure into nothing more than a one-dimensional stereotype when in reality there is much more to him than just these quirks. It was inevitable that someone would set out to make a more dramatic account of his rise to power, since there was a space open for something that leans into the more insidious, complex side of his rise, rather than the more surface-level commentary we are constantly bombarded with in the usual media coverage. Sebastian Stan seems to be an unorthodox choice to play Trump, but as he’s proven in recent years, he’s extremely versatile and seems to be drawn to playing these off-the-wall, complex characters. He’s phenomenal in the role, particularly because of how much thought goes into the performance. Unlike the majority of portrayals of Trump, which often take cheap shots at his most obvious traits (sometimes with reason), Stan’s performance is more nuanced and detailed, following his rise from the skittish young man who realizes that nepotism means absolutely nothing when your father only sees his children as tools to be used to further his social and financial agenda, to one of the most over-confident hedonists we have ever seen, someone so consumed by greed and lust for power that he begins to lose every bit of humanity he had in his younger years. Stan’s performance is quite subtle and draws less on the voice and the over-the-top gestures, and more on the quieter, more complex details that make Trump such a notable figure – the speech patterns, the change in how he expresses himself, and even something as small as Trump’s gait or way of moving is gradually implemented into this performance, which is one of the best showcases for Stan’s talents to date. He’s joined by Jeremy Strong, who plays Roy Cohn, the man who essentially inspired Trump, and who finds himself on the receiving end of his former friend’s wrath on more than one occasion, becoming a victim of the very megalomaniac he helped foster. Strong is incredible in the role, and the scenes where Trump and Cohn are shown as something of a double-act are some of the best moments in a film that pays attention to every detail in creating portraits of these notorious men, refusing to humanize them but rather focusing on the aspects that led them to earn such divisive reputations over the decades.

The fact that The Apprentice is helmed by a non-American filmmaker is not nearly as large of an impediment as we may imagine, since not only is Abbasi a global director who has tackled stories from several different countries, but also possesses the ability to explore narratives that are much more universal, even when they’re heavily rooted in a particular culture. The methods he takes to craft this film are fascinating – the thematic content is undeniably strong, and the performances are exceptional, but the aspect that truly elevates this film is the specific directorial approach, which entails entirely dismantling the traditions of the genre and reworking them into something much more expansive and captivating. The aesthetic of the film is one of its major merits – the entire story is filmed in a gritty, low-fi style, which not only starkly contrasts with the grandeur and excess we usually associate with Trump, but also makes the film far more intimate, giving off the illusion that we are peering voyeuristically into the moments that made Trump into the intimidating and polarizing figure he is today, rather than being given the same polished, distant view of his rise to power as we’ve gotten in the past. It acts as a throwback to a previous era, both in terms of the subject matter and how it is made – there are some wonderful evocations of the likes of Robert Altman and DIR, whose own cynical perspective on social structure seems to be influenced on Abbasi’s approach to this material. It may not seem like a directorial achievement on the surface, but there are moments in The Apprentice where we see his skill being put to exceptionally good use, with the jagged filmmaking being complemented by the abrasive, and somewhat unsettling, tone that the film takes in telling this story, which is quite masterful in how it is structured, particularly when it comes to developing on the narrative and how it relates more broadly to the subject matter of the film as a whole, which proves to be quite engaging on more than just a superficial level. The director avoids many of the most obvious tropes associated with the genre – it is never heavy-handed in how it explores the subject, and it proves to be a more gritty affair in both form and style and creates a very unsettling image of Trump and his rise to power, being superbly crafted to look and feel as challenging and unsettling as the story, which is driven by a sense of genuine curiosity and the desire to stir strong emotions in absolutely every viewer.

While it may have the potential to court controversy and stir discourse (both of which seem to be partially intentional), The Apprentice is a film that justifies its existence by simply making it very clear that this is a story worth telling, not being influenced by the changing political landscape, which could have dissuaded the filmmakers from pursuing a deeply fascinating project, even if it can be quite difficult to watch at times. We have to understand that this film is neither an endorsement nor a condemnation of Trump and his rise to power – it is as objective as it can be, and its decision to neither celebrate nor criticize him is not driven by political intentions, but rather simply because it isn’t essential to understand these elements, and in choosing to take any stance would mean that the film would become needlessly biased in favour of one side, which is entirely counterintuitive to the entire film and what it represents. It is valid to ask if this film was necessary, and it is undeniable that its release is somewhat awkward, considering Trump’s return to the White House is imminent, an enormous victory for his supporters and a deeply harrowing experience for those who find him to be dangerous. Throughout The Apprentice, we are encouraged to look beyond these divisions, setting them aside and merely viewing his story as one about the corruption of the American Dream, and how something seemingly pure and honest can be viciously manipulated by anyone with both the gumption and lack of morals that it takes to go against a system, by any means necessary. It can be very harsh at times, and it’s certainly not a glamorous depiction of Trump by any means it is often intentionally shown as being quite grotesque and unsettling, and the director’s qualms with the subject are not difficult to discern. Regardless, The Apprentice is a story of American history, as seen through the formative years of a notorious public figure. We can’t even describe it as the story of his rise and fall, since the haunting final moments, when coupled with what we know will occur in the coming years after the events of this film, make it clear that the proverbial “fall” is not as inevitable as we may think. A fascinating character study that proudly pushes the envelope, this film is an audacious and well-crafted biographical drama that is as daring as it is harrowing and one that feels oddly essential, even through the discomfort and horror of knowing that this represents only one chapter in something much more unsettling.