“Leave the World Behind” plays out what happens when the apocalypse intrudes on one family’s last-minute vacation.
The movie is based on Rumaan Alam’s critically acclaimed 2020 psychological novel of the same name, and stars the likes of Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, and Mahershala Ali. Sam Esmail wrote and directed the adaptation, which counts former president and first lady Barack and Michele Obama among its producers.
It begins when the Sanfords, a family of four, arrive to an idyllic Long Island home for a last-minute vacation. The next day, the home’s owners, G.H. Scott (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la Herrold), appear unexpectedly, speaking of a blackout in Manhattan.
In the hair-raiser, the two families shelter together during what appears to be a cyber attack against the U.S., and turns into what seems to be outright war (although audiences are often just as in the dark as characters about the nature of this end-of-the-world scenario).
Over the course of the movie, the characters decide whether these strangers are the enemy, or their only chance at survival.
“Ruth, like the other characters in the film, is suspicious, worried, and frightened for her own safety, and for the safety of her family, because she’s got a lot of unanswered questions,” Myha’la Herrold, who plays Ruth, tells TODAY.com.
“From the beginning she understands that there is something going on and that the people in her house are keeping her from being the safest she thinks she could be,” Herrold continues.
Calamity after calamity ensues, from beached oil tankers to downed planes to bombs. As they do, the question becomes clear: Is it possible for anyone to get out of this alive?
What causes the end of the world in ‘Leave the World Behind’?
Maybe it was a barricade of self-driving cars creating a barricade of the main road. Maybe it was the downed airplanes, or the vista of New York being bombed. Maybe it was the uncomfortable standoff with a survivalist neighbor.
At the end of “Leave the World Behind,” each main character come to the realization that the “old world” is never coming back.
Urgency builds in Part Six, when the unusual events happening in the outside world enter the idyllic Long Island home the Sanfords booked as a last-minute vacation rental, and the Scotts own.
The Sanfords’ two kids are in trouble: Rose (Farrah Mackenzie) is missing and Archie (Charlie Evans) is mysteriously losing all of his teeth. His father, Clay (Ethan Hawke), teams up with G.H. Scott (Mahershala Ali) to ask their overly prepared neighbor Danny (Kevin Bacon) for help.
Danny not thrilled to see them, and the encounter becomes a standoff, with the former friends drawing guns at each other. Danny does pass along useful information: First, that he thinks either China or Korea — or maybe more nations — is behind the cyber and terrorist attacks. Second, that the Scotts’ next-door neighbors built a bunker in their basement.
After the tense encounter with Danny, George comes to the conclusion that a foreign entity is trying to create unrest within the United States, inciting a civil war. According to his theory, Americans will start turning against each other, like Danny turned against him, and the country will fall apart.
Speaking to TODAY.com, Charlie Evans says the attacker is left “purposefully vague.” The family finds flyers that say "Death to America" in what appears to be Arabic; Danny says the same flyers were found on the West Coast but in either Chinese or Korean.
"I think the point of the multiple flyers and the ambiguity around a lot of things that happen in the movie are on purpose," he says.
"I think we’re supposed to be constantly guessing. I don’t think we’re supposed to know. I don’t think we’re supposed to really have a complete grasp and I think that’s what makes it particularly scary," he continues.
What’s with all the deer?
As Ruth and Amanda look for Rose, they encounter a large herd of deer in the woods. Frighten, the two women succeed in scaring the deer away. But what’s going on with the deer — or the flamingos in the pool?
Ruth, in the movie, says the deer are trying to warn her and Amanda. "The deer are a very prominent figure in the film," Herrold says. "It's indicative of what’s going on with the power and the lack of movement of people."
Evans thinks the deer have a symbolic meaning, representing “the connection to the natural world, how we treat it, how it moves around us, and how we don’t really think about it as carefully as we should.”
Does Amanda ever find her missing daughter?
Amanda turns to see the large mansion in the distance, and immediately thinks that’s where her daughter went — and she was right. The movie ends before their reunion takes place.
“I believe that Amanda will find Rose, that’s what I believe for sure will happen,” Herrold says. “The strength of motherhood is impenetrable.”
Her own character, Ruth, was separated from her mom, who was on a trip when this began. She believes that there is “hope” for Ruth and her mother to reconnect with each other despite the films cliffhanger.
So, do the characters survive?
The movie wraps with Rose discovering the bunker and playing the finale of “Friends,” which she was about to watch before the internet went down.
The bunker’s computer indicates that radiation levels are rising worldwide and that the White House has been assaulted by unidentified foreign troops, confirming George’s theory.
While the credits leave us on a cliff hanger, it’s within reach to think the families make their way to the fully stocked bunkers. But do they survive from there?
Herrold says that she’s a “glass half full kind of girl,” and “always thinks there’s hope,” in reference to the character’s survival.
“I hope she survives,” she says.
When asked whether she would change something about the character’s ending, she says that “she wouldn’t,” but can imagine a number of possibilities for them. However she remains tight-lipped, and firmly believes “the intention is that we don’t know what happens to them.”
Evans just hopes his character “gets a new set of teeth.”
“I think your personal experience of how you view the end as an audience member, whether you feel doomed or you feel hopeful is exactly how it was meant to be,” he concludes.
