Leave the World Behind (15)

Dir: Sam Esmail

Cast: Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha’la, Kevin Bacon

Produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, the intense ‘Leave the World Behind’ is an exceptionally well-acted apocalyptic thriller, with a potential real life threat that will make you feel anxious throughout

Ever since the height of the Cold War in 1962, where for two weeks the world teetered on the edge of nuclear warfare, we have lived in the shadow of an apocalypse. Not one caused by a natural disaster or by an extra-terrestrial invasion, but one that is completely self inflicted. We have seen many conspiracy theories and wars come and go in the past seventy years that have made us at times perceive our present as a potential end of history, whether this be from a very real issue such as global warming, or a false one such as the Y2K bug.

However, we have rarely lived though such a boom for apocalyptic anxiety as we do now. With ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, on top of the ever growing aforementioned global warming crisis. 2020 was a particularly cataclysmic year for us all when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and it was during this period that the tense apocalyptic novel ‘Leave the World Behind’ was published. Rumaan Alam‘s novel may have capitalised on the fears and fascinations of the populous on its way to becoming a bestseller, but the novel was a more grounded vision of the end of the world, with the real apocalypse taken place within the quartet of central characters.

Three years after its release, writer-director Sam Esmail has adapted the novel for the “not-so-big screen”, as the film has been produced and released by Netflix. Esmail has a history of focusing on threats of a more technological level, as previously seen with his hit TV series Mr. Robot which highlighted issues surrounding computer hacking and cybersecurity. Here, Esmail takes Alam’s novel and speculates how a nationwide cyber attack could potentially disrupt a whole country, even one as powerful as the United States.

The film opens with Amanda Sanford (Julia Roberts) gazing outside her New York City apartment as she declares her hatred and distrust of the general population. In desperate need of some space, she has planned an impromptu vacation at a luxury home on Long Island for her and her family: Her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) and her two children, Rose (Farrah Mackenzie) and Archie (Charlie Evans). Once they reach the house, the family realise they have no internet connectivity, much to the annoyance of Rose, who is unable to watch the final episode of the TV sitcom Friends.

After a trip to the beach is ruined by an oil tanker running ashore, the family returns home with the adults feeling slightly disturbed whilst the children brush off the incident. Later that night as the kids are asleep, father and daughter, G.H. (Mahershala Ali) and Ruth Scott (Myha’la) arrive at the house, claiming to be the owners that have rented it out to the Sanfords. Due to the abrupt nature of their arrival and her misanthropic nature, Amanda is immediately suspicious of the pair, who claim their reason for coming home unannounced is the result of a citywide blackout it New York City. The less sceptical Clay agrees to let the Scott’s stay much to Amanda’s chagrin, creating a tension between the four which changes shape over the course of the film, as a much larger external threat gradually makes itself known.

Like the novel from which it is adapted, the film plays out in chapters – five to be exact. As each new chapter begins, a new, ever increasing threat presents itself to both the Sanfords and the Scotts. Buried beneath all the suspicious goings on is a racial subtext as we see an increasingly paranoid Amanda question the two African-American strangers who have disturbed her family vacation, something that is brought to her attention by the outspoken and brash Ruth – which may explain the executive producer credits for Barack and Michelle Obama.

Despite its surprisingly lengthy runtime of 140 minutes, the film flies by with Esmail’s showy camera movements and Mac Quayle’s heart pounding score providing each chapter with more anxiety-inducing moments than the last. What starts off as a collision of four very contrasting personalities in a confined space, soon becomes something way more harrowing and is sure to the please the apocalyptic nuts and conspiracy theorists that are out there.

The sense of paranoia and fear of the unknown as we find our central characters cut off from the outside world, makes the film very comparable to other apocalyptic thrillers, such as the excellent 10 Cloverfield Lane and the most recent M. Night Shyamalan movie, Knock at the Cabin. ‘Leave the World Behind’ is a considerably better effort than Shyamalan’s latest, thanks to well written characters and fantastic performances from the central foursome. It does not quite reach the levels of the claustrophobic nightmare that was 10 Cloverfield Lane, however. The beauty of the Dan Trachtenberg‘s 2016, sci-fi thriller was that it refused to reveal its hand too early, keeping the viewer as much in the dark as Mary Elizabeth Winstead‘s central character. My one main criticism with ‘Leave the World Behind’ is that the characters and us as the viewer, learn too much, too soon.

Drawbacks aside, I was captivated by a horrifyingly plausible end of the world thriller, with just the right amount of nail biting set pieces and emotional conflicts to keep it entertaining whilst remaining grounded in realism. It also asks the question – How desperate can someone be to watch an episode of Friends?

Leave the World Behind is now streaming on Netflix