Review: Leave the World Behind portrays the apocalypse of a non-conformist and disposable society
The end of the world as we know it terrifies us, as human beings we are accustomed to comfort and of course to technology that in the service of man has helped us evolve as a species and society, it is true that without this element we would not know what to do and everything would collapse.
The world of entertainment has not been exempt from producing films as well as apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic series with this theme, addressing other factors such as the one in which the planet is suddenly destroyed by the appearance of zombies, giant monsters, a pandemic, or aliens, surely The global situation that we have experienced since 2020 with SARS-CoV-2, fires, wars, energy crises, racial violence, food shortages are not so foreign to us, it comforts us a little to know that, at least fiction has always been more intense than reality.
This particular genre has had box office hits such as The Day of the Triffids (1962), Night of the Living Dead (1968), The Omega Man (1971), Soylent Green (1973), Mad Max (1979), Terminator (1984). ), The Day After Tomorrow (2004), 12 Monkeys (1995), ID4 (1996), The War of Worlds (2005), Im Legend (2007), WALL-E (2008), 2012 (2009), The Book of Eli (2010), Snowpiercer (2013), Greenland (2020) and A Quiet Place (2020) among many others that are an example of the vision and originality that writers and directors have to give their point of view on extinction.
2023 has been a complicated year for film and television productions, the writers’ strike made it clear that things are already changing, and streaming platforms have been able to take advantage of their space to transmit their original productions, Netflix presents this year’s end the Leave the World Behind film that addresses an interesting topic about a possible end of the world.
What is the film about?
A family’s vacation at a luxury villa far from the hustle and bustle of the big city takes a disturbing turn when a global cyberattack knocks out their devices… while two strangers knock on the door for help, Amanda (Julia Roberts) and her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) will have to decide whether to help by leaving their prejudices behind to survive what is the beginning of the destruction of the world as we know it.
The news that the world collapses due to a cyber attack sounds very interesting, a new twist that can contribute a lot to the genre at hand, the mix between science fiction and reality is what can work, as an idea it does not need to have modern touches but rather take a point in time of our reality and modify it, it sounds straightforward but the reality is that it is not, managing these types of concepts can result in something successful or a complete failure.
The film is based on the book of the same name by American writer Rumaan Alam with the collaboration of Barrack and Michelle Obama, it gives us a palpable sense of sinister fear and intrigue to what is now a feature film that may not be for everyone, or Although not everyone understands what its concept is and its current context in which we depend almost 100% on the technology that provides us with almost everything, this can be managed to the point of making it terrifying.
As viewers we are used to productions of this genre being full of action with dazzling visual effects that are above their plots, this does not happen here, what we see is a more intimate experience, an introspective of the characters toward their most fears. deep and how they will have to face an imminent attack that threatens to destroy humanity as we know it, is the discovery of each of them into the unknown and what they will be able to do to survive and protect their families.
It is a rational fear that human beings have towards the unknown, the script written and adapted by Sam Esmail understands very well the general mechanics of the post-apocalyptic genre and the rules it imposes, this is the story seen from the eyes of a family pretentious and snobbish caught in a world-altering situation, Amanda Sandford’s (Julia Roberts) favorite phrase is “I hate people” as she gazes jadedly from the window of her luxurious Brooklyn apartment, in contrast to her kindly husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) who is more understanding of the environment that surrounds him as well as its inhabitants, whether friends or acquaintances, his children Rose (Farrah Mackenzie) and Archie (Charlie Evans) are a couple of modern teenagers who base part of their lives on the technology that gives them their computer equipment and cell phones.
Together they plan a mini vacation away from everything and everyone in a luxurious mansion on Long Island for the weekend. As often happens in other disaster productions, this film explores its strange characters more than a disaster that involves the use of special effects, it is more interested in the disintegration of society and the tension that arises from disparate people with nothing in common trying to survive together, nor are there many explanations of what happens either in its central plot or in its subplots.
The director, creator, and screenwriter Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot) aims to be a watershed when it comes to the post-apocalyptic genre, many productions explore what happens outside, and very few what happens inside, that is, what the people experience. characters and what we can witness through their eyes, what their motivations and way of feeling in the face of a tragedy where there is no way out or a safe place to go, which as an audience makes us wonder what we would do in a similar situation. ordinary humans unprepared to face disasters, we have seen it in real life with earthquakes to give a more immediate example, we must recognize it, many of us become appalled and let fear and panic dominate us and we justify ourselves with something so simple as saying that we never have the time necessary to inform ourselves and prepare.
Leave the World Behind proposes a conspiracy theory that comes true when they least expect it, from the beginning they leave us subtle signs of what is going to happen, of what we can expect from this film, for example, that while they are on vacation they lose the cell phone service and this is gradually growing, or while sunbathing on the beach an uncontrolled cargo ship runs aground violently on the shore, after that unexpected event and at night there is a knock on your door, is the owner of the house they have rented for the weekend, GH Scott (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la) have suddenly returned due to a blackout that has left the entire city of New York in darkness.
It is to be expected that the bigoted and racist Amanda suspects that these people are the real owners and does not believe that there is a blackout in the city. However, apart from a national emergency notice, the televisions have stopped working, and GH is shocked For a very different reason, these developments are beginning to align with a government plan that would seem extravagant, exaggerated, and difficult to believe if it were not for the reality of the situation.
At this point, things take unexpected turns and the story becomes more interesting, the racial tension between the Sandfords and the Scotts is the central axis in a large part of the film, this could be a plausible example of the most despicable thing that can happen. being a human being, something that Amanda Sanford represents very well, she is a vicious and self-centered, pretentious, arrogant, and racist woman who gives more importance to the way of being and thinking as well as the feelings and desires of her white children than the beliefs above the emotions others may feel, specifically towards these African American guests.
The script is very benevolent to itself, it does not risk calling a spade a spade, and it never openly refers to Amanda’s racism but instead creates an unconvincing story to excuse her pettiness and selfishness in the face of an emergency in which she does not care. She cares about nothing more than herself and her family, nor does she manage to concretely and convincingly develop a personality for her son and relies mainly on a funny joke about the television series Friends to give her daughter an identity, one that is simpler and more materialistic, Once this is raised, the plot is better understood, although this reference that advocates nostalgia may be unnecessary when it could go deeper into other topics.
Esmail’s direction aims to be more artistic and profound, the rapid and oscillating movements of the camera that together with the director of photography Tod Campbell make long and ostentatious panoramic shots with reoriented compositions to show a world that little by little is falling into chaos, sheets of paper falling from the sky, corpses washed up on the beach by the tide, desolate streets, looting and very hidden violence that at times wants to be explicit until the appearance of Danny (Kevin Bacon) as a mysterious figure with an ideology that understands and represents a conspiratorial and survival society, it represents those people who have always known and who have wanted the world to face itself in a war that ends with an apocalypse, a rebel group that for years has been equipping and preparing to that moment.
As an independent part of society they are prepared for everything that can happen more than anyone, this has made them deeply selfish and dangerous since when the time comes and through their knowledge they will be able to subjugate the most ignorant and weak, Danny does not seem to feel the Less compassion for his fellow men, he keeps everyone at a distance and does not want to share his possessions, recognizing only the value of money and barter, it is for him a new form of society in which the strongest are those who dominate and survive over the others. Furthermore, this idea makes the plot take another unexpected turn, it tells us that the real danger that exists in that world is not what happens to the world but how its society and the individuals in it are transformed.
What works very well in this film is the fact that it presents us with something that is neither foreign nor unknown to us if we remember those days at the beginning of the pandemic when no one knew anything about what was happening, where the media was saturated with true and false news about the world situation, this has shown us the fragility of the way of life we have as humanity, some may have productions where they mock the focus on the modern version of the end of the world just to entertain but with a more terrifying perspective and a more identifiable reality.
This work is very far from the typical hackneyed thriller about a post-apocalyptic world to which we are already accustomed, Leave the World Behind is a more prophetic story of what may be approaching humanity and of our sad reality of dependence on the media and technology that has condemned us to seemingly inevitable death, resulting in the extinction of everything as we know it, this panorama is what transmits to the viewer, a feeling of fear and carelessness in which we have to be more aware.
The flaw it has as a film is that everything happens too quickly, by not having many explanations and a broader context of things this remains half-done, if the idea is to try to make this a saga then the failure is even greater because then it is The format in which they have presented it to us is wrong, it would work more like a miniseries that could tell in more detail what is happening and would give more time to the development of the characters, it is so evident that the script is focused on 3 things, first on a global disaster, second in a family that has to deal with this and third to face the consequences as humanity without leaving aside that moral discourse that love for the family allows everything, even the most vile acts, friendship, companionship, love and blah blah blah, an endless number of topics that we are already fed up with, what we want to see is the action of this until it reaches its conclusion and not to educate us about something that we already experience.
The cast is made up of Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha’la Herrold, and Kevin Bacon, a cast of superstars who give life to very different characters showing off all their talent, it’s a shame that Sam Esmail’s direction is far behind. below their capabilities.
The score composed by Mac Quayle is just as strange and unpredictable as the film, pieces that seem to make no sense and are presented in a very concealed way to help create an atmosphere of tension. Along with this work, we can also listen to Kool’s songs. & The Gang, Backstreet Boys, TV on the Radio, and the song I’ll Be There For You by The Rembrandts.
In conclusion, Leave the World Behind is a project that may well be experimental, it contributes something minimal to the genre but not enough to be a classic, a good idea that is poorly planned and poorly developed makes all that tension that it creates at the beginning dilute. In the end and it remains only as something that we have said here many times, in something that could have been and was not, it is disappointing that having a technical team capable of creating an entire world in chaos is not so well used, the same thing happens with the cast, top-notch actors who are reduced to making the minimum effort to develop complex characters.
A film that in another format and medium could have worked better but that remains a worthy exponent on a platform that has weekly hits and that then remains in the catalog of oblivion and not even anyone will see them again, the result is something that cannot be It cannot and should not continue in sequels, it had its opportunity and wasted it masterfully, but this is already part of the non-conforming and disposable society in which we live.
Leave the World Behind is now premiering on the Netflix platform.
