Susan Granger’s review of “Leave the World Behind” (Netflix)
Desolate, post-apocalyptic movies have become a Netflix holiday tradition: “Don’t Look Up,” White Noise,” and “Bird Box.” Now there’s a new one.
Adapted by Sam Esmail (“Mr. Robot”) from Rumaan Alam’s best-selling 2020 novel, “Leave the World Behind” is a paranoid, tension-filled, futuristic nightmare.
The story begins in a Park Slope, Brooklyn apartment, where early-rising advertising executive Amanda Sandford (Julia Roberts) awakens her professor husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) and teenage children – Rose (Farrah Mackenzie) and Archie (Charlie Evans) – with a surprise: she’s rented a luxurious Airbnb on Long Island for the weekend.
Upon arrival, they’re delighted to discover the elegant, glass-walled, modernist house has a swimming pool and is near the beach, where they’re soon enjoying a picnic.
Gazing at the ocean, Rose, who is obsessed with the TV show “Friends” and feels deprived because she hasn’t been able to watch the conclusion, notices an immense oil tanker that seems to be heading toward shore, eventually running around where they’ve been sitting.
That’s just the first of many ominous, inexplicably bizarre environmental catastrophes that follow a knock on the door in the middle of the night. Tuxedo-clad G.K. Scott (Mahershala Ali) and his sassy 20-something daughter, Ruth (Myha’la Herrold), claim to be the vacation home’s owners seeking shelter for the night because there’s a blackout in Manhattan.
When mild-mannered Clay invites them in, acerbic Amanda is dubious, particularly since G.K. says he left his ID and wallet behind. (“I fucking hate people,” she’s already proclaimed in the film’s prologue.)
Is she prejudiced because they’re Black? Race and class obviously figure into suspicion – on both sides – as an escapism/doomsday scenario unfolds.
Television reception and WiFi fail. Herds of deer gather near the pool, along with a flock of flamingos. Threatening political leaflets in a foreign language are dropped from a plane and deafening sonic booms emanate from the sky.
Eventually, G.K. and Clay seek help from a neighbor (Kevin Bacon), who turns out to be a survivalist, determined to protect his own property. (His name Huxley is obviously a nod to Aldous Huxley, author of “Brave New World.”)
And when Amanda and Clay try to drive home, they find the highway completely blocked by miles of empty self-driving Teslas that have crashed into one another.
So what’s happening? G.K. offers this explanation: The first stage is isolation. Disable communication. Synchronize chaos. Terrorize with covert attacks and misinformation, leaving weapons vulnerable to military extremists. Without a clear enemy or motive, people will turn on each other, resulting in civil war.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Leave the World Behind” is an ambiguously speculative, suspenseful 7, streaming on Netflix.
