Leave the World Behind Ending Explained: What Happened to the Sandfords and Scott in the Netflix Movie?
From 8 December 2023, Leave the World Behind with Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, and Mahershala Ali is available on Netflix. This is a new thriller full of drama and mystery. The film is based on the 2020 book by Rumaan Alam and begins with a family going on holiday in a luxury, rented house. The situation becomes disturbing when a ship arrives on the beach causing terror. Also, a cyber-attack knocks out the devices and two strangers show up at the house where Amanda and Clay are on holiday with their children. These two people bring news of a blackout and reveal that they own that house. The two families try to survive together, while the outside world collapses amid a real apocalypse!
Good original films don’t proliferate on Netflix, but in this case, Leave the World Behind is the perfect example that having a coherent creative perspective and a great cast can pay off. This thriller with overtones of dystopia and science fiction is a real success on the streaming platform, but some viewers may not have heard about the plot and the ending that has had such an impact. Therefore, I am going to explain the ending of Leave the World Behind to you in great detail. An ending that will leave you thinking for weeks about the power of technology and the impact it has on our society. And on top of everything it has Barack Obama himself and his wife Michelle Obama as executive producers.
Leave the World Behind Ending: Summary Recap
The story begins with a New York family who suddenly decides to spend a few days of vacation on the beaches of Long Island: Amanda (Julia Roberts), Clay (Ethan Hawke), teenager Archie (Charlie Evans), and little Rose (Farrah Mackenzie) are ready to relax between the sea and the pool in the luxurious villa they have rented. However, things immediately take an unexpected turn when an oil tanker runs aground a few meters from them on the seashore – apparently due to problems with the navigation instruments – and the television and Wi-Fi stop working. The family realizes that the situation is more serious than they could have ever imagined when GH Scott (Mahershala Ali), and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la) show up at their door, claiming to be the owners of the house.
The two say they left New York in a hurry after a blackout sent the entire city into a panic. The six will reluctantly begin a period of coexistence and will soon be faced with a dramatic truth: society as they know it is collapsing. The means of communication do not work, the migratory routes of animals are completely wrong, airliners crash killing hundreds of people, and not even satellite phones are helpful: signs of an ongoing disaster. GH Scott, who works for the government, is one of the people who has the clearest idea of what is happening. After talking with a neighbor Danny (the survivalist played by Kevin Bacon), GH becomes convinced that someone is trying to bring down the American government from within, first cutting off all means of communication, unleashing chaos, and then bringing the people to an inevitable civil war.
The only way to save themselves is to reach the anti-atomic bunker built by one of GH’s rich acquaintances, who lives not far away: the group, which has separated – GH, Clay, and Archie went in search of medicines for the boy, affected from an illness that caused his teeth to fall out; Amanda and Ruth, on the other hand, entered the woods in search of Rose, who left without telling anyone – without knowing it she is headed towards the same destination, that is, the large villa where the refuge was built.
Leave the World Behind Ending Explained: What Happened to the Sandfords and Scott in the Netflix Movie?
The final scene shows us that GH’s theory about what is happening is correct: Amanda and Ruth, still looking for Rose, see a series of explosions devastating New York in the distance. This is the third phase among those listed by GH that would lead to the fall of a government from within: first forced isolation, then synchronized chaos, and finally civil war. Little Rose has reached her neighbor’s large villa and finds the large bunker inside: through an emergency communications system, we are told that the White House is under attack by rebel armed forces, with radiation levels in large cities – where the strongest explosions occurred – increasing. Rose, however, manages to find the homeowner’s DVD collection (ready for the eventuality of a long stay in the shelter) and can finally finish her favorite TV series: Friends. The viewer understands that the rest of the group is headed towards the big house, and upon finding the bunker they will take refuge there: GH, Clay, and Archie discovered its existence from Danny’s story, and know that it is their only chance of salvation; Amanda and Ruth will arrive there following the traces of Rose they are looking for.
Who Attacked the United States?
The identity of those who attacked the United States causing its collapse “from within” during the film is never clarified. Danny says it could be “Koreans or Chinese”, at least that’s what he read online, in his conspiracy forums, before the situation exploded. Clay shows him the flyer that he recovered among those dropped from the plane, claiming that it says, “Death to America” and that this made him think that the enemy is Iraq instead. Danny, however, counters that a friend of his told him, before communications were completely cut off, that he had found similar flyers, but written in Korean or Mandarin. The group concludes that it could be an alliance between “enemies” of America, but also that someone who does not want to reveal their identity is trying to create even more chaos by creating false leads.
What Was Archie’s Illness?
Archie’s teeth began to fall out; Then came vomiting and a rash on his skin. An illness was beginning to spread through his body, and it was impossible to return to the hospital because the Tesla vehicle on autopilot took up the entire road. Finally, George convinced everyone to visit Danny to see if he had any medication: they received it in exchange for $1,000. We don’t know what happened to Archie, but the rash did improve towards the end of Leave the World Behind.
Is The Ending of Leave the World Behind Different from The One in The Book?
Sam Esmail’s adaptation follows Rumaan Alam’s novel quite faithfully: apart from changing the character of Ruth, who went from GH’s wife to becoming his daughter, the events narrated remain substantially the same from the printed paper to the screen. In the ending of the book, unlike in the film, Rose finds a large house with a bunker, but then goes out to look for her family. The entire subplot linked to the TV series Friends, which Rose is obsessed with, is an addition to the film. The author of the novel, Rumaan Alam, however, declared in an interview that he appreciated this addition, because it does not distance the viewer from the message he wanted to convey: “The purpose of the film is to leave the audience with the same sensations that my book has left to readers, changes only in form”.
The Meaning of the Ending?
Unlike the book, therefore, Rose decides instead of looking for her family to finish the episode of Friends she was missing first. The choice to end the film in this way allows us to formulate various considerations on this story and its message. On the one hand, certainly, this conclusion shows us how in today’s world dependence on technology is increasingly rooted, and even in a moment of crisis the priorities of the common person have completely changed. On the other hand, however, this ending also tells us about a little girl terrified by what is happening around her, by the profound uncertainty regarding what the future holds for her, who as a defense mechanism takes refuge in the comfort of the “known”, i.e. his favorite TV series. The desire of the authors – both of the book and of the film – is to close the story with a somewhat open ending, which arouses uncertainty, a sensation that is similar to that felt by the protagonists, who find themselves facing a crisis about which they know little. or nothing and who have an even more unpredictable future ahead of them.
