Leave The World Behind
released 2023
www.ink2quill.com

“Leave The World Behind” is an American, post-apocalyptic, thriller, survivalist film produced by President Barak Obama, the First Lady Michelle Obama, Rumaan Alam, Adam Brightman, Tonia Davis, Daniel Stillman, Julia Roberts, Nick Krishnamurthy, Chad Hamilton, Lisa Roberts Gillan, Marisa Yeres Gill, Sam Esmail and more. It was also directed and written by Sam Esmail and co-written by Rumaan Alam. It stars Mahershala Ali, Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Myha’la, Farrah Mackenzie, Charlie Evans, Kevin Bacon, Alexis Rae Forlenza, Vanessa Aspillaga, Josh Drennen, Erica Cho, Orli Gottesman and many others. It was taken from the novel of the same name released in 2020 written by Rumaan Alam.

Leave The World Behind IMDb webpage

“Leave The World Behind” is a sci-fi, post apocalyptic, doomsday, psychological thriller. The story is about two families facing the possibility of nuclear war. The Sanford family rented a beautiful house in Long Island, New York for the weekend. Everything starts off good until the owners of the home, the Scotts, show up and decide to stay for a reason they do not specify but is highly suspicious. The father of the Scott family, played by Mahershala Ali, is keeping a terrifying secret and it is that secret that has him drive from the city with his daughter Ruth, played by Myha’la, to hunker down in their house in Long Island. These two families are witness to and living through a nuclear war. At first the Sanford family has no clue what is happening and why the owners of the house have come. Misanthrope racist Amanda, played by Julia Roberts, is suspicious while her husband Clay, played by Ethan Hawke, is much more easygoing about the situation but no more prepared for it than anyone else. Both families must figure out what is going on and what they will do in this new world. They must answer the biggest question characters in post apocalyptic stories have. How will they survive?

This story is much more than just a psychological thriller or survivalist tale. There is so much American culture symbolism from the African American perspective. For example the name of the tanker that beached itself was called the “White Lion” which was the name of an infamous slave ship. The way the basement of the Scott’s house where they slept resembled a ship. You could say a slave ship. And the deer that gather around kind of remind me of the ghost of former slaves foreshadowing what is to come whether or not that was the intended message.

There was also some great foreshadowing like when Amanda watched the man frantically loading his truck with groceries and supplies at the grocery store. The scene at the grocery store is frantic foreshadowing what is to come. The deer coming out of seemingly nowhere like ghosts appearing as I mentioned above. There is also the loss of the internet and all signals from any and all devices signifying the loss of connection people have with each other. The list goes on but the foundation and messages of this film are just fantastic.

The brilliance of this story is that we, the viewer, ask so many questions during the story and when the film has ended. What kind of world will these people live in? All of the characters really have to leave their old world behind. They are living in a new world.

One obvious question is what would we, the viewer or reader of the book, do in the event of a cataclysm? Whether it was a nuclear war, natural disaster, plague, zombie apocalypse or what have you the average person would have nowhere to go and not know what to do when their cupboards went bare after 3 days. Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, U.S.A in August 2005 was a good example. Most people from the poorer districts had nowhere to go and could not move because they lived hand to mouth off their government checks that were mailed to their homes. They were basically stuck. Most people were basically stuck and unfortunately people suffered and died as a result. Many people were also stuck on the congested highways roads.

What the Scott’s did by going to their Long Island house was a very smart move considering their limited options. In the event of a cataclysm and no matter how well prepared someone thinks they are they will soon realize that their options in hard times are much more limited than they could have ever guessed. Rations will not go as far as they thought. Unforeseen problems always arise out of nowhere and the possibility of the catastrophic event lasting longer than expected is real.

And of course a good solution to all this is community cooperation and community order and a functioning government that has the resources, leadership and good will to solve immediate problems. We would also need to abandon the for profit system temporarily until some kind of economy can regenerate.

Also, just as something to watch out for there is a large painting in the living room that changes as the story develops. I feel that the painting is a reflection of the situation going on with the families in the house. Look out for it.

This is a really good film. I highly recommend it and check out the painting.

John Ink2Quill

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