‘Leave the World Behind’ is Netflix’s latest mystery thriller that has got viewers questioning a lot of things. Based on the 2020 bestselling novel by Rumaan Alam of the same title, the story provokes and shocks everyone with its symbolism, leaving a gnawing question – will the world end because of technology getting out of hand? How can humans survive in a world where everything can crumble if inventions malfunction?
The apocalyptic film stars Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, and Mahershala Ali. At certain points in ‘Leave the World Behind’, we see deer behaving oddly, a Spanish lady encounters Hawke’s character in an eerie fashion, deafening sounds hit without a warning, and a young boy loses his teeth. What do all these incidents signify? Here’s all the explanation.
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Why Do The Deer Act Weirdly In ‘Leave the World Behind’?
‘Leave the World Behind’ begins with a family of four leaving for a tranquil beach vacation to Long Island, away from the bustling New York City life. The first sign of trouble they encounter is when a ship hits the shore and everyone has to run for their life. The next creepy thing that happens is a herd of deer surrounding their rented property.
Initially, Clay Sanford, played by Ethan Hawke, considers their sighting as a good omen, but soon their presence turns eerie, pointing to an impending apocalyptic disaster. It’s often said that nature and animals can sense doom. From a couple of deer approaching the estate from the woods to a giant herd getting close to Julia Roberts’ Amanda and Myha’la Herrold, Ruth, things take a distressing turn.
Director Sam Esmail explained their significance in the movie to Esquire, “Deer are peaceful creatures. To turn that sweet image into now this sort of ominous, menacing, almost warning — I thought was really interesting. That’s the trick about this movie. We always tried to take things that we never really considered a threat and then turn it around on them.” Well, it was certainly a very realistic touch of horror.
Flamingos also flock into the property’s pool, leaving their natural habitat behind as calamity races on. More than destruction, the fauna behaving in an odd manner become the tools of terror.
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What Does The Hysterical Spanish Lady Say?
While Clay and Amanda try to theorize the strange happenings, a man named G. H. Scott (Mahershala Ali) arrives with his teenage daughter Ruth, claiming Manhattan has suffered a blackout and mayhem has ensued so they retreated to their property which they had put on rent and was being occupied by the Sanford family for their holiday.
To make sense of what’s going on in the world after all communication is cut off, Clay drives to town to ask around about the crisis. But everything has been abandoned. He meets a Spanish lady on his way back, who quite literally bumps up against his car in tears and says something in her language. Unable to communicate with her, Clay leaves her behind even though she keeps pounding at his car’s window.
Even though ‘Leave the World Behind’ makers chose not to add subtitles to her ramblings, the Spanish lady was just asking for help, saying, “Please! Sir! I need help, please! Please, sir!”
She continues, “Thank God I found someone! I’m trying to get back to my home! I’m lost! I’ve been walking for a while! I need to use your phone! You’re the first person I’ve seen all day! We have to get out of here! I just saw a plane that was spraying red gas in the vicinity. I saw some deer, more than 50. They were coming out of the woods. Please! I need to go home, sir. A military plane appeared and fled. There’s no one around! Is it a chemical attack?” So, she was as confused as Clay and the others.
‘Leave the World Behind’: The Source Of The Unbearable Sounds
‘Leave the World Behind’ has many disturbing signs of the world coming to an end. From planes crashing to self-driven cars causing accidents one after another, to which Elon Musk also responded by defending Tesla, the movie pointed to cyberattacks all around. But possibly the most unnerving thing was the loud mysterious noise that left the characters howling in pain.
The survivors suffer psychological and physical damage in the aftermath of the noise. Things become clearer as a doomsday conspiracy theorist Danny, played by Kevin Bacon, connects the dots saying it could be a result of Havana Syndrome, a phenomenon from 2016 where ultrasound and microwave weapons affected the US military, causing nausea, memory loss and the hearing of sounds without any real source. This is still an unexplained ailment.
About including the same in the movie, Sam Esmail said he knew he would show it after reading the book. “Before we shot a frame of the film, we were trying to dial in this sound. We took elements of Havana Syndrome, which is a mysterious sound that they still have not gotten to the bottom of that has been causing people to have ailments,” he said.
The book, however, points to futuristic planes kept hidden from public knowledge as the culprit of the noise.
Why Does Archie Lose His Teeth?
Amidst all the spooky occurrences, the most evident sign is Clay and Amanda’s son Archie’s teeth falling out. He also pukes out some gross black substance. When Clay and G. H. Scott reach Danny’s house for medication, he explains the Havana Syndrome and says Archie is losing his teeth due to microwave radiation. The reference to this is what happened in Cuba in 2016.
The noise smashes glass windows and overpowers the characters’ ability to function. But the sense of doom intensifies since the characters can’t make heads or tails about the situation while grappling with one bizarre event after another.
However, another explanation for Archie’s condition is a mysterious bug that bit him when he was out in the woods with his younger sister Rose. It was the next morning itself that the boy lost his teeth. So, it could’ve been a bug bite, which makes Scott suggest that it’s a symptom of Lyme Disease.
In the end, ‘Leave the World Behind’ sees the two families in great panic, while the youngest among the lot, Rose, reaches an underground bunker where she tunes out the world and watches her favorite show, ‘Friends’, which is her obsession and a great escape. Perhaps, that’s how humanity can deal with its disastrous ways, having pushed the world into destruction.
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