“A family’s getaway to a luxurious rental home takes an ominous turn when a cyberattack knocks out their devices, and two strangers appear at their door.” – IMDb
Leave The World Behind (2023)
Starring
Mahershela Ali, Myha’la, Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Farrah Mackenzie, Charlie Evans and Kevin Bacon
Directed by
Sam Esmail
Written by
Rumaan Alam & Sam Esmail
Storyline
The film opens with music that caught my attention, The REV3NGE by Joey Bada$$. It’s not always my type of music, but it was perfect for the opening of the film. I can’t even put my finger on the reason why. We see a family of four leaving the city in their car. (Ethan Hawke as Clay the Father, Julia Roberts as Amanda the Mother, and the children who are played by Farrah Mackenzie and Charlie Evans). The daughter, Rose, is watching Friends on her iPad. (This becomes a recurring theme in the movie and I am all for it as a Friends fan myself).
The family arrives at a beautiful house and proceeds to take a little tour to see where they are staying. Roberts takes a trip for groceries and notices a man filling his car with groceries- Kevin Bacon’s character, Danny.
The family then goes to the beach. They notice a large ship, the White Lion, off in the distance. It is only coming closer and closer to land.
They hurriedly pick up their items and run for safety. This is the first incident of the film that makes you have the feeling that something is wrong. Afterward, of course, they have to stop for some Starbucks.
They return home and the children are playing in the pool. “Meanwhile, the kids seem to have completely gotten over it like it was something they saw on a show. They’re on to the next episode”. It seems like a theme is forming- our reliance and our “obsession” with technology. At this time, we see deer visiting the backyard of the house, which Hawke says is a “good omen”.
That night, once the kids are asleep, a knock at the door interrupts the parents’ game of Jenga. Enter Ali and Myha’la, playing G.H. and his daughter Ruth. They explain that the house is theirs. Strange, to say the least. Their story is that they were on their way back to the city. But, there was a blackout and now their cell phones don’t have any service. They wish to stay in their house throughout the blackout, which is met with skepticism from Roberts.
She doesn’t know if they are who they say they are. She doesn’t want to spend the night in a home with strangers.
The whole situation doesn’t feel right to her, as though it’s a con job and she asks for his ID. He explains that he left it in his coat pocket, which he forgot at the symphony he had just attended. A jarring national alert broadcast interrupts the moment. It relays that there is a state of emergency and to remain wherever they are. G.H. and Ruth are given the basement guest room to sleep in.
Later, we see G.H. and Ruth discussing things in private. “Your client didn’t tell you anything else, did he?”. What client? Didn’t tell him more about what? We are left in the dark as to what they are referring to. This once again allows us to come up with different scenarios ourselves.
The next morning, the daughter alerts her parents that she is about to finish the Friends series finale but the internet stopped working. (Now, THAT’s the REAL national emergency, in my opinion. Just kidding!) This is when Roberts notices four news alerts on her cell. Two are about the blackout. One says that hackers are behind the power outage, and another one says “Breaking” followed by gibberish. Hawke decides to go into town to see what everyone there is saying.
After the TV stops working, their daughter goes to sit outside.
That’s when she notices a couple of deers. She begins to approach them and then several other deers form a line in front of her. Behind this line, is a forest filled with even more deer. Later on, we see Hawke driving in what seems to be the middle of nowhere. He stops to get out of the car to try to get cell reception. At this moment, the radio gets reception for a split moment. The broadcast states that the fallout from the cyberattack has led to a catastrophic environmental disaster in the South. This has impacted animal migration patterns.
The kids go into the woods to investigate while we see G.H. investigating one of his neighbor’s homes. It appears to be damaged- water fills the floor and windows are smashed. Hawke then drives past a woman who yells at him in Spanish. She bangs on his car, hoping that he will stop. A lot is happening simultaneously, and it builds the suspense.
From this point on, things only get stranger. Beaches filled with what’s left of a plane crash, papers falling from the sky with a message on them… You’re left wondering how things will end.
Thoughts
It seems like movies that revolve around/are loosely based on the end of the world will never stop being popular. Out of the several movies I have seen in this category, Leave the World Behind isn’t… terrible.
What I appreciate, is that it wasn’t a case of extra-terrestrials or mutant creatures that are jeopardizing the planet. Instead, humans mixed with the power of technology are to blame. Yes, this has also been done many times before. But, I think there is something about the delivery of the message that was well done.
Basic humanity, morals and ethics, pop culture’s effects on society, dependence on technology….
All of these topics that are relevant daily are brought to the forefront. As always, these movies make me think, “What would we do?“.
Is this where things could potentially lead? How far are we from this being a reality?
It’s like you have to find some middle ground between being a doomsday prepper and being completely ignorant.
Overall
I think the cast was well-chosen, however, nothing about anyone’s performance made them irreplaceable. Julia Roberts is one of my favorite actresses. Would I like the film as much as I did if anyone else had been cast in her place? I’m not sure.
Mahershela Ali, Myha’la, Ethan Hawke, Farrah Mackenzie, Charlie Evans, and Kevin Bacon all contributed exactly what was needed for their roles. There is good chemistry between them all and I have no complaints.
While there wasn’t anything all that different about this movie, it offers a reasonably enjoyable experience for the viewers. Now that I have watched it more than once, I don’t believe I’ll watch it again. (Unless someone else is very eager to watch it, of course).