A group of wealthy stereotypes find themselves stranded during an apocalyptic event in 2023's Leave the World Behind. Sometimes, director Sam Esmail successfully distracts from the simplistic characters and cheap moral messages with well orchestrated, Hitchcockian tension.
Amanda (Julia Roberts) and Clay (Ethan Hawke) are a wealthy couple living in New York with their kids, a mopey, sarcastic teenage boy and a smart and virtuous prepubescent girl. Amanda is a Karen and Clay is a Privileged White Man.
Amanda makes reservations at a rental home without discussing the matter with Clay because she knows (as his name suggests) he's malleable. The life of privilege has made him laid back and generous in good situations but panicky and indecisive in difficult situations, which come later. At the rental home one night, they're surprised and Amanda exhibits micro-aggression racism when a black man, George (Maharshala Ali), and his daughter, Ruth (Myha'la), show up claiming that the rental home belongs to them. According to George, they instinctively retreated to the house when a blackout overcame New York City, something of which Amanda and Clay are not yet aware because the internet and phones are down.
George is the Good Black Man in All Situations while his daughter is woke. Naturally, all of Amanda's instincts about them are symptoms of racism and paranoia as George proves again and again with his unfailing purity and wisdom.
It soon becomes clear that the problem is much bigger than a blackout or temporary loss of internet. A few news alerts that manage to get through on the phones and TVs inform them that a cyberattack has taken down everything, including satellites. It's also somehow caused a problem with the migratory patterns of various animals, which doesn't really explain the scenes of hundreds of deer standing and staring directly at the two girls.
I don't really mind this. It seemed an obvious nod to The Birds and one could take the implication that technology has expanded its influence into the natural world much further than anyone has realised. The score by Mac Quayle is also pretty nice and loaded with tension. The story does have some worthy food for thought and I think it's very healthy for people to contemplate a world without the internet. Myha'la also wears skimpy clothes throughout the film and she's a knock-out.
Leave the World Behind is available on Netflix.
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