Hello, moviegoers. It is normal that at this time of the year, many take advantage of their free time to catch up with what traditional movies and platforms have to offer, or some of them get hooked on Christmas stories that revive the illusion of such a longed-for season.
On this occasion, I am not here to recommend a typical Christmas movie. In fact, it is not a Christmas film at all, it is simply, in my opinion, a good movie. A good proposal, with excellent performances and a very disturbing narrative. Its name: Leaving the World Behind, is available on Netflix and has been in the Top 10 for several weeks (at least here in Venezuela).
The film stars the incomparable Julia Roberts accompanied by the no less fantastic Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke and Kevin Bacon, this review could contain spoilers, however I will try my best not to, but I think I can't promise it.
The plot might not be the most original: society collapses to the rhythm of unknown events and that's where I want to put the first accent in my recommendation: the narrative follows the characters, specifically the family formed by Amanda (Roberts), Clay (Hawke) and their two teenage children who decided to take a few days off to escape from the exhausting routine in the big city, for this they rent a beautiful house in the suburbs, in a beach place and everything seemed to be very well until a strange event on the beach alarmed them a little. That night they receive the strange visit of George (Ali) and his daughter who introduce themselves as the owners of the house, asking for shelter for one night because something strange happens in the city, there are blackouts, cuts in access roads, no internet or telephony.
This seems like an excuse and there are elements that make it seem that something bad is going to happen, however, I think this is the first breath of suspense and tension that the film offers us, because another element that I must highlight is the intrigue, tension, uncertainty that is handled so well that the narrative of the film is totally terrifying, it is impossible to take your eyes off the screen because the viewer senses that if he does so he will lose some detail.
This atmosphere is enhanced by the lack of concrete information about what is happening. No one knows anything and there is no way to find out, so anything is possible. Between failures in the navigation systems of planes and ships, sonic attacks, disorder in the behavior of wildlife, apparent terrorist propaganda, the youngest daughter of the protagonist couple claims that in the face of this chaos she cannot watch her favorite series. Which at a time when the world seems to be going to pieces, seems rather irrelevant, but the girl mentions at some point that someone questions her obsession with the show "it's my happy place" and she just had to watch the last episode.
The film addresses a number of issues in a sidelong manner. Trust, some geopolitics, the dependence on technology, the trust we place not in people but in the cell phone, how useless we are in today's world without internet and phones, the farce we were sold that technology frees us and ends up making us prisoners of those resources, even to manage our own money.
Then, when nothing seems to make sense anymore, when there is no room for hope, when chaos is the normality, the only way to leave the world behind is to look for the "happy place", the place where everything is perfect and where reality is fiction, maybe it seems a cowardly technique of conscious evasion of the responsibility of facing problems, but in reality it is a defense mechanism to connect with the emotionality, with the inner self disturbed with the outside, that requires calmness to go on, that needs a pause to continue or to accept what cannot be changed and if destiny seems cruel and irreversible, who can judge the one who has the courage to be happy in the chaos? Who says that everyone must live the end with anguish and suffering? Why is it not healthier to withdraw from the world when there is nothing more to do and smile with the things that made us the illusion that everything in the world can be beautiful? Maybe that's what keeps hope alive... and I've always heard that hope is the last thing to be lost...
A film for reflection, for enjoyment and for emotion. It will not leave you indifferent, you may like it and you may not, it certainly leaves you with more questions than answers, but, that's one way the movie continues in our thoughts and forces us to become aware of things Isn't it? Maybe yes, maybe no. What is certain is that it is a proposal that will not go unnoticed.
Highly recommended...