Leave the World Behind boasts a stellar cast including (left to right) Mahershala Ali, Myha'la Herrold, Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke.
Leave the World Behind (R, 138 mins). Streaming on Netflix.
Directed by Sam Esmail.
Will we see real estate advertisements for houses with bunkers sometime soon?
Leave the World Behind, with its version of the catastrophic end of civilisation, makes them seem an attractive addition to any home.
The final scene of the film is set in a bunker - a luxurious one.
Michelle and Barack Obama, executive producers of Leave the World Behind, probably have their very own just like it, no doubt being very aware of the grim reality of existential threats like the ones the film presents us with; threats from a nameless enemy that may well be a collaboration of all the foreign countries which have ever had bad relations with the United States.
New York advertising executive Amanda (Julia Roberts, doing anxiety and world-weariness superbly) has, on the spur of the moment, rented a large house on Long Island for a getaway weekend for herself and her family - husband Clay (Ethan Hawke, a calm but blinkered foil for Amanda’s near-hysteria), their daughter Rose (Farrah Mackenzie, now 18, acting in film and TV roles since she was 5 - one to watch) and her girl-ogling son Archie (Charlie Evans in his first film role).
They get to Long Island happily enough but have a bad first day, culminating in a black father and daughter, GH (Mahershala Ali) and Ruth (Myha’la Herrold), knocking at the door in the middle of the first night.
Amanda is afraid of them, not because they’re black, but because everything is becoming weird.
Earlier that day, an enormous cargo ship literally crashed into the local beach, causing Amanda and her family to run for their lives.
That night, the Wi-Fi disappears, there’s no news, no phones and it gets noisy.
Soon, something nuclear seems to strike, distrust creeps in, coping skills creep out, nobody knows how to protect themselves, there’s literally nowhere safe to go and Archie needs the doctor.
Rose finds a beautifully equipped bunker with supplies to last for years, with Wi-Fi, world news and, best of all, a library of DVDs, which delights her because now, at last, she can see what happens in the finale of her favourite TV series, Friends, which is more real for her than even her parents.
Rose loves the people in Friends beyond anything. She seems fine, but what about everyone else?
Comparing it with recent Netflix apocalypse movies, particularly Bird Box (2018), Don’t Look Up (2021) and White Noise (2022), Leave the World Behind stands out as the best of the four.
Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke, and even Kevin Bacon in a cameo role as Danny, a sort of God character, all get out of the glow of their own stardom.
The plot, based on Rumaan Alam’s acclaimed novel, is believable, while its script, co-written by director Sam Esmail, is understated, making the characters real.
An occasionally overbearing soundtrack is a weak point.
Leave the World Behind is spectacular and really well-acted, with just enough White Lotus-type humour to make audiences take it less seriously than they otherwise might.
Nevertheless, take it seriously we must.
Highly recommended
Movies are rated: Avoid, Recommended, Highly recommended and Must-see.
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