Leave the World Behind Review

“There is no going back to normal.” – G.H. Scott

I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the open ended complexity of Leave the World Behind. There are a plethora of rabbit holes to go down and draw on our own numerous conclusions and I feel like that’s what we need more of in cinema today. What’s excruciatingly terrifying is doesn’t it seem like we’re all kinda walking around acting like things are all going to be just fine but really doesn’t the world feel like that meme of the dog sitting at a table consumed in flames?

Sam Esmail is an amazing filmmaker with very strategic framing and camera movement. I love Mr. Robot. However this film has zero robots (aside from the self-driving Teslas that clog up the roadway) but rather, follows a family on a beach getaway, starring Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke as married couple Amanda and Clay Sandford with children Archie and Rose (Farrah Mackenzie and Charlie Evans). They rent a luxurious beach house outside the city of New York until one evening there’s a knock at the door and the owner of the house, G.H. Scott (Maheershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la) have decided to come home, fleeing the strange black out that’s happening in the city. Amanda is unsettled and suspicious, but the two families come to agree to stay together under one roof and from there the world around them crashes and burns. The end.

This film is like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory for apocalyptic sci-fi nerds. The immense details are far and wide in terms of social commentary. If this were a reflection of our state of the world and (I say we are teetering fairly close to the edge) then we are in serious trouble. Like everyone can feel it right? The biggest proponent of imagery in this film is focused on the deer. And if the lightbulb hasn’t gone off in your pretty little heads, let me tell you dear friends; the deer are all of us! We’re like sitting ducks waiting for the disruption to erupt our weary existence into utter disbelief and confusion. All the deer sense something is off, the deer have the look in their eyes when headlights approach a winding curve and they lack the sudden urge to react until it is too late.

If you look at the current state of national and global affairs today, you know like the economy is a volcano already exploding, politics severely divided, inequality is rampant, violence constantly surging, education might as well be the equivalent to an etch and sketch, all while we’re distracted by our families, jobs, anxiety, depression all wondering if this next paycheck will be the last. Don’t even get me started on food resources, suffocating agriculture and technology. We’re spiralling too fast and even the earth is like ‘yeah I’m tapping out’. OK I need to take a breath.

I’m trying not to give deliberate spoilers, but the power in uncertainty is what leads the charge in this odyssey of dwindling affairs. Given the ending has no answers it succinctly captures humanity in a state of being distracted and utilizing that sense of distraction as a means of comfort. We feed off it. We’re accustomed to it and if you throw that away, we can begin to redefine and shape what’s left of our humanity or assume the fetal position and sob uncontrollably. I mean those two options are better than being executed. But really I think the answer is finding a way to survive again, (after an extensive grieving process of course). Humanity has to find its way back to instinct and drawing on connections to unite us once again. We need optimism in the biggest plight of our lives. We need to figure out how to find joy, love, and peace again while rejecting being desensitized to everyday manipulation from those in power and we need to put our differences aside and work together.

Anyways, so much of the film is colored in blue from set decor to costumes like it’s subtly trying to subdue us into a sense of fake calmness when so much chaos is emerging. The blue is really unsettling. 90% of the film takes place in one location, the luxurious beach house and even the house represents a false sense of comfort, where none of the electronics work, and eventually the electricity goes out. It suddenly feels like a trap, a prison of coldness. Animals are all showing up abnormally, disrupted by perhaps the sense of stillness in the air, but really that lurking stillness feels threatening. The fear of not understanding what you don’t know percolates everyone’s instincts and it’s like watching in slow motion an invisible force tightening the noose around everyone’s necks. It’s a slow burn for an apocalyptic film, while much of the dialogue hints at each character’s assertion that things will get better but instinct tells them otherwise and it’s painful.

The dialogue Amanda shares with Ruth in the shed towards the climax of the film is the most critical piece to why Amanda has a dismissiveness about her. Well, actually Ruth asks her why she’s so angry and she replies with, ” Everyday, all day, my job… my whole job is to… understand people well enough so that I know how to lie to them, so I can sell them things they don’t really want.” So in essence Amanda is part of the problem, and her daily solution to life is manipulation and I think that creates a very warped sense of control in this hamster wheel we call life. Amanda continues on saying, “I think we know we’re living a lie. An agreed-upon mass delusion to help us ignore and keep ignoring how awful we really are.” My Catholic mother would say we all need to go to confession, love ya ma, cheekiness aside, it makes me think about the statistic of how many ads on average we see a day. I know it’s probably between 4000-10,000 ads and how much we retain from that is probably maybe a 100. We’re constantly manipulated and lied too, and maybe so much of it causes us to surrender our critical thinking skills, hence maybe that’s why common sense these days feels almost like a super power.

Alas the film conjures up a mirror and as an audience we’re hypnotized by its reflection. Whether that’s looking closely at the QR code that’s embedded in the TV screen or why Rose and Archie are wearing a NASA and an OBEY shirt. Are the Freemasons involved? Are the Illuminati watching? Was it the Arabs or Koreans drones dropping leaflets about “Death to America”? There’s meaning behind everything, and no actual answers to anything. Are we completely submerged in a bubble of conspiracy theories? Who’s controlling the narrative, really? Perhaps this film is a mere warning, a call to action to assess our day to day lives and critically arm our minds of rational thought while proceeding with caution. Until then collect physical media, don’t rely on streaming services even though that’s how 99% of you are going to be watching this film. Take care.