Close to the US elections, a dive into the soft underbelly of the American empire

Synopsis: Iranian-Danish director Abbasi's first English-language feature film shows Donald Trump as a young real estate executive in 1970s New York in a “Faustian agreement” with the lawyer and fixer Roy Cohn – from a screenplay by the author of The Loudest Voice In The Room by Gabriel Shermann.

Review: You remember the Fahrenheit catchphrase 11/9 in Michael Moore del 2018 who explained Trump's rise to power in his own way. Well in “The apprentice” also Ali Abbasi, aims to tell the origins of Trumpism with a docufiction with a television flavour. Trump is described, like a shy and awkward boy, crushed by the father figure, who has turned into an advocate of lies and manipulation.

The incipit is given by a archive footage which sees Republican President Richard Nixon publicly denying that he has ever lied, made his political opponents spy and took advantage of his position. A few months later Nixon will be forced to resign due to the Watergate case.

The causal encounter (but it will be true?) with a magnetic and courteous gentleman Roy Cohn, famous lawyer with multiple contacts and very few scruples, capable of influencing the political and economic life of Great America.

Cohn soon becomes the mentor and advisor of the Trump phenomenon. The man uses all his influence to prevent a lawsuit that would have led to the bankruptcy of Trump Senior's construction company, and later supports Donald's ambition to build the famous Trump Tower. And it teaches him three golden rules to excel in the art of doing business: always attack, deny everything and never accept defeat.

In the second part of the film, we can see how Trump has understood and made the lesson his own, arriving to surpass the master and reversing the balance of power with Cohn. Emblematic in this sense is the last scene of "The Apprentice", with the mentor, now at the end of his life, showing disappointment and disgust for the person he helped create. But this will also be true?

“The Apprentice” gives us a glimpse of who might become President of the United States. Again.

But it's all useless anyway, The more you lie, the more you gain an impact on the electorate who democratically votes for you.

Vittorio De Agrò (RS)