In today’s imperfect, almost dystopian society, many people find themselves wondering about the possibility of a third World War. Others, a zombie apocalypse, or- the complete end of the world. How are we going to go out?
Leave the World Behind, a new psychological thriller movie on Netflix, depicts an end-of-the-world scenario from the perspective of an average “American Dream” family. Based on the 2020 novel by Rumaan Alam, the movie was produced by Sam Esmail, plus The United States former President and First Lady, Barack and Michelle Obama’s film company.
The movie is directly broken up into five different parts. It’s a unique way of keeping an engaged audience, wondering what each introduced “title” could represent further into the story line. It begins with “The House” in which our normal family rents a house to vacation on Long Island. Everything seems normal, kids playing in the pool, parents relaxing with a sip of wine, and a comfortable beach day. Their peaceful relaxation ends upon the realization that a colossal oil-tanker ship is headed right toward them.
This horrifying clip had hit extreme numbers on TikTok, a popular social-media app. The movie had increased in views, the majority of viewers now being teens. Many were initially intrigued by the hyper-realistic special effects, many, however, were not satisfied upon watching the full movie. It is rated ⅖ stars on Google’s “audience reviews”, and a 6.5/10 on IMDb.
In their own review, the New York Times complains, “After a while, the movie plays like a bulleted list of everything wrong with America — fair enough — but hurled so relentlessly at the audience that you can only assume the goal is for anyone watching the movie to find something they agree with.”
Many, including the New York Times, have said the movie has an interesting general idea, but it is poorly executed. People seem to be unsatisfied with the abrupt ending, which truly leaves things up to the viewer’s imagination.
As a suggestion of a possible future for the world, the use of modern-day factors, like life with and without technology, can create a fear of the possibility of the movie becoming a reality. This grasps the viewer’s attention through its realism and modernism of it. All that is present while still capturing the bigger and deeper meaning. The movie is not like a traditional movie rather, it is closer to a warning or a peak into the possibility of the future. There are areas of the movie that are constantly making the viewer question who and what to believe. A lot of the movie’s ending can be based on what is believed from the two families shown. It is truly up to the viewer’s interpretation of the sprinkled shots of questionable scenes with what they could mean.
Though poorly rated, we believe this movie truly is worth the two hours and twenty minutes. With captivating scenery, dozens of easter eggs, hidden messages, un-traditional camera shots, and a deep message, this movie brings a lot of clever details to the table in terms of entertainment.
