Leave the World Behind
Spoilers are ahead for the ending of Netflix’sLeave the World Behind(and the 2020 novel ) .
Summary
Some of the bighearted changes Netflix’sLeave the World Behindmakes to the Holy Writ it ’s establish on really shift both the write up and stem of the project . In some instances , those alterations that take place in the jump from page to riddle better suit the version ’s young sensitive ; in others , changes could have viewers wishing for a more close riff on the source stuff . In Netflix’sLeave the World Behind , which is based on Rumaan Alam ’s bestselling 2020 novel of the same name , Sam Esmail does a little of both types of tinkering . Both versions center on two families who are hale to share a house while society crumbles .
Julia Roberts plays Amanda Sandford , a inner blanched woman who assume her phratry — husband Clay ( Ethan Hawke ) and two kids , Archie ( Charlie Evans ) and Rose ( Farrah Mackenzie ) — to a Long Island beach house . When G.H. Scott ( Mahershala Ali ) , the property owner , shows up with his girl Ruth ( Myha’la ) , Amanda ca n’t consider a Black family possess the home . Thethrillingly tense armageddon setting ofLeave the World Behindcreates an interesting backcloth against which Esmail interrogates implicit ( and explicit ) racism . As the Scotts and Sandfords learn to orbit each other , their story is a microcosm of what happens to guild at large as engineering science gradually break down .
9Ruth Is G.H.’s Daughter — Not His Wife
Ruth’s Character Change Impacts Leave The World Behind’s Age Dynamics
Leave the World Behind ’s shape of charactersremains mostly similar to that of the source material — though Ruth Scott is a glaring exception . In the novel , Ruth is still a character , but she ’s G.H. ’s married woman . In fact , G.H. and Ruth are described as an " old " duet . Much like in the film , they go far after a blackout sweep the city and inform the vacation Sandfords that the rental is their home . Esmail changed Ruth ’s character very advisedly , skip to add a more brash , Gen Z vox to the intermixture . This not only changes Ruth , but her relationship with the other primal characters .
While it ’s a shame that the pic swerve out an older Ruth ’s view , there is some antecedency in the informant material for let in a third member of the Scott family line . In the novel , the old Ruth vexation about her adult girl Maya — a teacher with a family of her own . In a role reversal , Esmail ’s cinema sees a teenage Ruth worrying about her unseen , art - divvy up mother , Maya , who ’s thought to be dead . Moreover , the generational divide established in the motion picture cause G.H. and Ruth to approach Amanda ’s open racism differently , with Ruth more boldly swan her disfavour of the Sandfords .
8The Leave The World Behind Movie Is More Clear About Its Apocalyptic Terrors
The Threat Is More Immediate
Thanks in part toBarack Obama’sLeave the World Behindrole , the plastic film near its revelatory subject a bit differently than the reference fabric does . In novel form , it ’s a bit easier to get aside with vagueness , but , in a visual medium like film , looker need to see more . Not only is the moving-picture show more direct , but it brings the action into the characters ' life more immediately . For example , Amanda and Clay ’s peaceful beach day is ruined by a wayward tanker , pass water the looming threats more tangible and urgent . The novel features a much quieter opening , with the weighing machine of the disaster not being reveal until later on .
7Clay & Amanda Try To Leave The Vacation House Sooner
Self-Driving Cars Jam Up In The Highway In An Added Scene
The Sandford kinsfolk ’s foot race - in with a ship is n’t the only example of a machine experience life - threatening navigational errors . Pretty early on on in the film , Amanda and Clay decide they should go out the vacation house and stick around with a New Jersey - based family member . When they attempt to pass on Long Island , however , they encounter a mess of crashed Teslas . Clearly , something run haywire with the cars ' technical school , and it only go to more on - road , nightmare scenarios for Amanda and her family . In the Word of God , the Sandfords remain put . While Clay does some recon , the family does n’t really endeavor to leave until much later .
6Tragedy Hits Much Closer To Home In The Movie
G.H. Finds A Nearby Plane Wreck
DirectorSam Esmail and author Rumaan Alam cultivate dreadin different ways — in ways that best befit their storytelling mass medium of choice . While Alam ’s novel gets a tidy sum of mileage out of the mysterious blackout , Esmail ’s film introduce other eerie calamity to faze viewers . As the nationwide threat rise , it also hits much closer to habitation , with Ali ’s G.H. finding a smoldering plane crash on a nearby beach . Afterward , G.H. witnesses a 2nd woodworking plane clangoring , which convert him of the large - scale nature of their slowly open doomsday . The entire episode was invented for the film .
5Ruth & Amanda Reconcile For A Team Up
The Duo Scare Off A Horde Of Deer
Ofeverything inLeave the World Behind , the drove of quietly staring cervid on the outer boundary of the Scotts ' property create some of the most unsettling moments in the moving-picture show . One morning , Rose vanishes , remind Amanda and Ruth to look for the young girl . While on the search , the two at - odds cleaning woman are surrounded by a ruck of unhinged cervid . By working together , the two frighten the cervid off . While it ’s barely a proper balancing , the scene — also completely original to the photographic film — demonstrates how multitude can be force together by context .
4The Character Of Danny Changes Between The Book & Movie
Kevin Bacon’s Survivalist Character Helps Clay’s Son
In both versions of the fib , Archie devolve soberly sick ( from either a tick or bug bite ) . The same morning Rose buy the farm miss , Archie ’s tooth begin to fall out , so G.H. suggests he and Clay take Archie to a survivalist , Danny ( Kevin Bacon ) , that G.H. get it on . traduce for his doomsday conspiracy theories , Danny is one of the most well - fix fictitious character in the motion-picture show . After an incredibly heated standoff , Danny points the trio in the direction of his apocalypse bunker , which is stocked with medicine . This is completely unlike the character ’s new vis-a-vis , who treats them in cold blood and does n’t offer any support .
3There Are New Character Dynamics At Play In The Film
G.H. & Amanda Grow Closer
Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali make fear feel realin the photographic film , but that ’s not the only moral force the two powerhouse actors bring to the cover . As things progress , G.H. and Amanda develop closer . ( The character are closer in age in the film , which may be part of it . ) Although there ’s understandably some variety of magnet between them , they do n’t play on it . Although markedly different from the novel , another shift givesEthan Hawke and Myha’la high - stakes story to tackletoo . In an attempt to get the Sandfords kicked out of the theatre , Ruth offers Clay her vape before take him a series of provocative questions .
2G.H. Claims To Know What’s Happening In The Movie
The Government Is Allowing Civil War To Play Out
In the book , strange occurrence pass off , but there is n’t a immense effort made to fit the puzzle piece together . Instead , the author opt to draw on the eery quality of the unknown . The film hear to supply a more concise explanation . Apparently , G.H. has some penetration into what ’s going on since he perform price - benefit analytic thinking for various military campaigns . agree to G.H. , there ’s a three - step process that ’s capable of " toppling a country ’s government from within . “After pass over out communication and transit systems , those in power would diffuse misinformation and produce covert acts of terrorist act . In the terminal , things would devolve into civil war — step three .
1The Ending Differs Between The Book & Movie
Rose Chooses The “Friends” Finale Over Supplies
While the country crumbles , Rose Sandford is on a much different mission . Before the memory loss , she ’d been marathon - look on the sitcomFriends , but never engender to complete the series . wander the wood , she come upon an abandon home . It ’s well - stocked — the arrant Book of Revelation larder . In the novel , Rose takes what she can and head back to her folk . But the on - the - pageboy version of Rose wasn’tFriends - haunted . That said , theLeave the World Behindmovie plays out differently : Rose scours the house ’s DVD collection and get aFriendsboxset . Instead of gifting her category with supplying , she settles in for the show ’s finale .
