Photo courtesy of The New York Times

I have to admit, the movie Leave the World Behind was eye-opening. I began to question the world around me and compare this psychological thriller to current events. Viewers speculate that this movie could be a warning about a disaster ahead. 

Leave the World Behind, originally a book published in 2020 by Rumaan Alam, was converted into a feature film for Netflix in October 2023. Sam Esmail wrote, directed, and produced it. Former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were executive producers. 

The movie starts when the Sandford family arrives at their rented vacation home in Long Island. Following their arrival, owner George H. Scott (Mahershala Ali) knocks on the front door and explains that he is the owner the family had been emailing with. 

The Sandford mother, Amanda Sandford, (Julia Roberts) refused to believe this because of her racially-biased thoughts, believing that the African American man could not own the house and, rather, she suggested that he was a housekeeper. 

The movie subtly draws attention to important racial themes and underlying tension that affects the interactions between the two families. It is also intertwined with an apocalyptic setting leaving small, but noticeable, room for symbolic racism.

Viewers have discussed online that the scenes of racism were unnecessary. People speculate that the father of the Sandford family had been noticing their daughter becoming a victim of the attack. Others argue against saying this could be a reasonable conspiracy except ‘If it wasn’t on Netflix, which is constantly spitting out anti-white garbage,’ a Reddit comment said. Comments like these are completely far-fetched and make the deep meaning of the movie get lost. Truthfully, Leave the World Behind mirrors the ways of society’s denial, confusion, and racial thoughts, while also constructively criticizing America’s horrible reliance on technology.

The entire country is hit with a power outage, which the national news classifies as a cyberattack. Panic rises, and society falls apart without technology. In Leave the World Behind, it is every man for himself. Civilians turn against each other when they realize they have no control over their world. 

Leave the World Behind does an accurate job of acknowledging the reliance on technology America has. Americans rely on GPS, self-driving cars, Wi-Fi, and TVs. One scene in the movie involves Tesla’s malfunctioning self-driving cars, which drive themselves into each other. While many mistakenly look at this scene as fiction, the U.S. government’s highway safety agency reports that Tesla themselves have publicly told consumers that the car can drive without human supervision. This contradicts the owner’s manual which states Tesla cars cannot operate without human supervision. Now, Tesla states “You can operate Smart Summon using: Come to Me mode.”

There is no control over the rapid development of technology in this world. Leave the World Behind makes this clear and explains that society is being fooled by the rich. But, does anyone have control? The movie shows that the government does not have total control over the country. 

It scares lots of people, including myself, that inventors are taking advantage of technology and the result is lazy citizens. The Tesla Cybercab is one example of that. The Cybercab is similar to Uber. But, the cab drives customers around without anyone behind the wheel. In fact, there is no wheel. Despite the owner not working, they still get paid for their car’s ‘intelligence’. When will enough be enough?

This is our reality, the world is falling apart because of strings being pulled by higher-ups. And America making ‘enemies’ around the world will lead to isolation and much greater attacks. What one has to accept is the proven fact that nobody has control and the happenings of tomorrow are unknown. 

Overall, I rate Leave the World Behind five out of five stars. There were many plot twists that leave the audience satisfied after watching, but I did expect a better ending. There is also a huge possibility of a cyber attack happening at any moment. 

At any moment, the least expected could occur and leave everyone in a state of panic.