Adaptation of the eponymous novel by Rumaan Alam, which received the National Book Award for Narrative in 2020, and directed by the Egyptian-American screenwriter and director Sam Esmail – best known for the TV series Mr. Robot and Homecoming – Leave The World Behind arrives on the Netflix platform.
The film boasts an exceptional cast, including Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, and a cameo by Kevin Bacon. Combined with a compelling and captivating direction and an absolutely noteworthy script, these aspects contribute to creating a truly successful thriller.
The story begins with an impromptu decision by Amanda – a misanthropic woman who works in advertising (as she will later claim, studying people to deceive them and sell them things they don’t need) to book a luxury villa for a weekend getaway on Long Island. She goes there with her husband Clay – a university professor of Literature and Media studies – and their two teenage children, Archie and Rose, who are completely dependent on technology.
The first to watch (or photograph) girls, the second – a mysterious girl who almost resembles “Claire” from Melancholia (2011, Lars Von Trier) in her role as an unheard Cassandra and her scrutiny of the world with different eyes – because she is obsessed with the TV series Friends, of which she only lacks the last episode.
The opening may seem like the story of a normal family vacation: the kids play in the pool, the adults organize the house and groceries, have quick sex, and prepare for a relaxing weekend. However, the directorial choices and Mac Quayle’s soundtrack suggest a different atmosphere.
Right from the start, an inexplicable sense of unease permeates the narrative. The camera unconventionally investigates the characters freely wandering, rotating, zooming, moving away, or exploring something, defying the audience’s expectations. The editing – by Lisa Lassek – is intelligent, tight, and perfectly executed.
Thus, the first few minutes – which already perfectly characterize the four characters and their dynamics – unconsciously foreshadow the elements of mystery, strangeness, and deviation from the norm that will later be the content of the film.
And it won’t be long before everything changes, starting when an out-of-control oil tanker dangerously washes up on the beach where the families are sunbathing. From that moment on, nothing will be the same.
The film constantly defies the audience’s expectations, deceiving and leaving them on edge, starting from when G.H. Scott and his daughter Ruth, the presumed homeowners, knock on their door in the middle of the night asking for shelter and planting a doubt: are they really the owners, or are they hiding something? And do they have anything to do with this worrisome situation?
A blackout, in fact, seems to have paralyzed New York. Phones don’t work, and Wi-Fi is out of the question, and no one seems to understand these anomalies.
In this forced isolation, the two families find themselves trapped together in a house and its surrounding park, far from the city but still not safe, forced to come to terms with their preconceptions, perplexities, vulnerabilities, and lack of trust, ultimately reaching the core of themselves, but above all, the heart of a society corrupted by lies.
Leave The World Behind takes on the colors of a mysterious political conspiracy, a cyber-attack that drives satellites crazy, brings down planes, and completely disrupts the system – and it’s unclear where it originates from, whether from one of the many enemies of the United States or from all of them together, but it doesn’t really matter because slowly we begin to understand what it is leading to.
With the collapse of the system, a civil war ensues in which, as demonstrated by Kevin Bacon’s character, citizens naturally turn against each other, leaving only their own survival as a priority.
Everyone for themselves. Only animals still seem capable of functioning as teams – animals that may ultimately benefit from this explosion of human social organization. Like flamingos, but especially herds of deer that seem to want to communicate something, in a film that is not only apocalyptic but also paranormal.
The work leads to a reflection on the very values of humanity, brotherhood, and the closeness between members of the same species, which may be inherent in human beings, or may instead only be a cordial coexistence based on social norms, that crumbles when society itself implodes.
Leave The World Behind captures the tensions of the historical moment we are living in, with threats that are all too real, and shows us the fragility of all our certainties, now placed in the hands of an increasingly terrifying technology, terrifying not only because it is becoming more independent, but also because it is managed by humans, who the film reminds us are unpredictable beasts.
Beasts capable of the greatest manifestations of beauty, greatness, and solidarity with the rest of the pack – but also capable of the lowest forms of pettiness.
This cinematic work fits into a particularly captivating sub-genre, that of the end of society as we know it, which has similarities with highly successful works such as the recent Triangle Of Sadness (2022) or some of the filmography of Bong Joon-ho.
It is a film shot in an absolutely impeccable manner that cannot leave anyone indifferent.
A film that would have been considered science fiction until a few years ago but is now – unfortunately – chillingly realistic.
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