Enigmatic. Such a fun word, huh? I rarely get to use it … and yet it’s the first one that came to mind in watching Leave the World Behind. Enigmatic. Unfortunately, the film is enigmatic for all the wrong reasons. As in “Why are those people on land running from an ocean tanker? Their behavior is enigmatic.” Yup, this thing is all enigma, no cattle.
The tanker moment would be the first in a film replete with enigmatic behavior and circumstance, every single bit of which leaves the viewer confused and dissatisfied. Movie, would you mind explaining why it took a transport liner hours and hours to steer directly into a public beach? Or why the sunbathers didn’t seem to take notice until the “crash” was imminent? Or why they panicked for their lives? Exactly how far do you think an unmanned liner is gonna travel up a beach head, anyway?
Amanda (Julia Roberts) is a sociopath. Such is often confused with introversion, but she states, “I f***ing hate people” within thirty seconds of us meeting her. That’s not just introversion. She plans to get away from the big city and picks the ideal day to time a weekend retreat, because civilization is never going to be the same again.
Well … hmmm … it’s hard to state that clearly because nothing is clear in this entire film. Here’s what we know: Amanda, husband Clay (Ethan Hawke), and their teen kids leave the city “for a day” and go visit a beach where the world’s biggest floatie shows up. Then they go to the house they rented where the TV and the WiFi don’t work. That evening, the house owners, GH (Mahersala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la) show up seeking to crash. Amanda ain’t a fan of that plan, but Clay lets it happen.
The next morning, deer show up in droves to stare at the humans. GH seems to know something, be he isn’t sharing. Clay goes out looking for WiFi help and finds … nothing and no one until a Spanish-speaking woman flags him down and spouts conspiracy drivel … but in Spanish. 
Then an errant plane channeling North by Northwest drops leaflets on Clay. The leaflets read (in Arabic), “Death to America.”
And then some even more inexplicable crap happens. All the while, the film knows what’s going on, but chooses to leave the audience in the dark. This is an atmosphere piece, doncha see? Paranoia is far less effective when you know what’s going on. 138 minutes, however, is really long for an atmosphere piece. The film grows even longer when it introduces the crazy-recluse-as-the-voice-of-reason (Kevin Bacon) and the daughter goes missing in search of the “Friends” series finale. Not only did you read that correctly, this film about potential World War is not done with “Friends” by a long shot.
I have in my notes: “Yelling at deer is a nice touch.” I don’t have much else in my notes for Leave the World Behind. This is a bad film. And it’s a bad film trying to pretend it’s an important film, because it talks about perception and paranoia and existential conflict without explaining anything. Leave the World Behind thinks it’s a film you’ll be talking about long after the credits, but in reality, you’re just happy it ended. The two+ hours of sour Julia Roberts, nearly threatening circumstance, disturbing animal behavior, and “are you kidding me with that ending!?” were enough. I don’t wish to re-live this film in any form. Hey, idiot conspiracy theorists, go have a field day guessing what it all means; I’m going to watch a sane film.
There once was a woman named Amanda
Who wanted to move her ills to Uganda
So she packed for retreat
Thinking, “ain’t this sweet?”
And then nothing went according to planda
Rated R, 138 Minutes
Director: Sam Esmail
Writer: Rumaan Alam, Sam Esmail
Genre: Explain nothing!
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Conspiracy nuts
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “WHY … ?”
