Watching Leave the World Behind is somewhat of a surreal experience, where the ultimate sense is that the film is either a great work of art, or something that is just creepingly coming to a very disappointing end. However, the film from the very smart Sam Esmail ultimately managed to find its final bearing in not so much emotional space, as much as a rational idea. It states that making huge and dangerous systems might not be that smart for their creators either, which isn’t a groundbreaking concept, but still one worth reminding ourselves of.
On moments, the star-studded cast and that sense of hesitancy when talking about truly divisive US political issues makes the film seem like Don’t Look Up. However, unlike the stupendously flawed ending of Adam McKay’s brainchild, Leave the World Behind elegantly ties all of its sub-plots of two families stuck in what is more or less the end of everyday reality as they know it. It is fitting that Mahershala Ali, the best actor of the entire cast, has the pleasure and the privilege of driving the film home at its end, without being sappy or overly dramatic. Instead he simply delivers the finish in several lines, closing the storyline at the same time as the old lives close on the characters. With that, they and the film are at an end. And, after all, that’s how worlds end, don’t they?
