Leave the World Behind – Movie Review
Leave the World Behind is a bit of a slow burner. I’ve read some bad reviews about it so I know it’s not for everyone, but it’s been a couple months since I first watched it and I still think about the message of the movie from time to time.
Plot
In a world where TV and internet are almost engrained in us and we use GPS and artificial intelligence regularly, what would happen if one day we woke up and it was all gone? Would we be frightened? Suspicious? Would the inability to access news channels and social media leave us feeling isolated? That is exactly what is addressed in Leave the World Behind. Remember how back during covid it was nearly impossible to find basic items like toilet paper because of the mass hysteria? Imagine that on an even larger scale.
Who can you trust when the world’s coming to an end?
The movie starts with Amanda (Julia Roberts) hurriedly packing for her family’s beach getaway that she didn’t clue them in about earlier. Her thought process seems to be, “less time to think about it means less time to back out.” “Always down for a little vacay,” her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) is quick to come around but enquires why today of all days. The answer to this is because she really just hates people. It’s okay, Amanda, we’ve all been there. A little time off can be lifesaving, and in this movie it really was.
So, off they go on their beach vacation, two kids in the backseat (Farrah Mackenzie, and Charlie Evans), near enough to the city to be driving distance but far enough away to have solitude from the hustle and bustle of people.
The house is huge and gorgeous, the kids are having fun in the pool, everything seems to be exactly what you would want on a family vacation. Amanda heads to a bougie marketplace to pick up groceries for their stay and is slightly weirded out when she sees a man just going to town packing his truck full of various supplies. She rolls with it though and gets back home for a little r and r with her husband (winkie face) before they take the family to the beach.
Everything’s great once they get there… until a giant oil tanker just washes up on the beach. The whole thing is very disconcerting and frightening in just how wrong it feels. Apparently, it’s been happening to ships all up and down the coast due to an issue with the navigation. A little sus but okay.
After the family gets home, they also realize that the router isn’t working, and the TV is out. The kids are still entertained though, and the rest of the night goes by smoothly… until it doesn’t.
A mysterious pair knock on the door in the dead of night. The man introduces himself as G. H. Scott (Mahershala Ali) and explains that Amanda is in fact renting the home from him. Amanda exudes a not too subtle microaggression about whether these are truly the homeowners, something G.H. Scott’s daughter, Ruth (Myha’la), isn’t afraid to take note of. Scott just wants to diffuse the situation and invites everyone to sit down.
Honestly, their story is just a little strange. After going into the city where they were going to be staying for a few days, there was a blackout so G.H. decided to just come back home. The way he acts you feel as though there could be more to the story, and besides, if you were renting a house and suddenly someone claiming to be the owner of the house showed up on the doorstep asking to stay, wouldn’t you be a little weirded out? Amanda is very hostile to the whole thing, but I just can’t really fault her for not trusting them. It’s a really weird situation. (That isn’t to say she isn’t at fault for some other bridging on racist moments in the movie though.)
They come to a tentative agreement to have G.H. refund Amanda half of what they paid for the weekend in return for letting G.H. and Ruth stay in the in-law sweet downstairs. G.H. is able to unlock a drawer with cash which comforts Amanda and Scott with at least a little proof that G.H. might be the real owner, but what they didn’t see was the handgun in the same drawer.
A few things seem odd about G.H.’s story the rest of the night but worry over his true intentions get put on the backburner as Ruth turns on the tv and an unrecognized emergency warning is being played on repeat.
A little later downstairs, G.H. and Ruth discuss how they need to get the family upstairs out… but it’s not going to happen by scaring them.
“They need to think everything is going to be okay.” – G.H.
“Everything is going to be okay, isn’t it?” – Ruth
The rest of Leave the World Behind keeps you eerily on your toes as you try to figure out exactly what’s going wrong. Both families have to learn to trust each other as society appears to collapse around them.
Is G.H. keeping a secret? Is Amanda’s family in danger? What or who is causing the breakdown of technology and does this point to a greater calamity going on?
Find out all this and more by watching the movie!
My Thoughts
Honestly, I’m a big fan of “the world is ending as we know it” type movies and Leave the World Behind was another of those. Was it the best one I’ve see? No, but it kept me entertained and wondering what was happening next as all of society seemed to collapse. Even so, it could have benefited from some more character building. Archie comes off as a horny douche for much of the movie (though you do start feeling bad for him later) and Rose’s main character trait is that she just REALLY wants to watch the series finale of Friends. The movie feels very isolated too, but that kind of makes sense for the subject matter.
That’s it! Grab your favorite theater style snackies and settle down with a blanket and pillow to check out Leave the World Behind on Netflix. Let me know what you think about it!
