(For Day 6 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem based on some “weird wisdom” given to you, so I opted for the advice of preppers, who may be onto something.)

You’ll need a sturdy bunker
With a strong hermetic seal
And a good amount of space
In case you’ll be in there a while.
I’d choose a generator
Over wind or water wheel,
But in that case, I’d stock up
On the solar panel aisle.

Buy more shelves, then fill with food
That’s good for twenty years,
And if you don’t know how to can,
You definitely should.
Learn how to sew and shoot a bow
And maybe fashion spears,
And how to navigate by stars
And tell what shrooms are good.

Do you have gold? Don’t answer that,
But buy what’s in your budget,
And cigarettes and booze to trade
Once currency is bust.
Hoard herbs and spices for the taste.
How much? I’ll let you judge it.
If you have pets, then be prepared
To eat them if you must.

And get a first-aid kit (or ten);
You’ll thank me when you need it.
And candle tapers, pens and paper,
Books, and one machete.
Oh yes, invest in fertile land
And seeds with which to seed it.
You ask when will you need all this?
Who knows, but you’ll be ready.
______________________

MPA rating:  R

Releasing late last year, based on a popular novel, and featuring A-list stars and a timely message, Leave the World Behind seemed like it was poised for potential Oscars contention. Yet its flash-in-the-pan interest yielded to a mixed reception from Netflix viewers, and it was odd seeing at least half of the people online lambasting a critically well-received film as frustrating and pointless. Evidently, it was not what some people want from a typical disaster movie, but it offered something scarier and (mostly) more realistic.

After an opening monologue showing the misanthropic outlook of mother Amanda (Julia Roberts), she and her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) take their two kids (Farrah Mackenzie, Charlie Evans) outside the city for a little vacation, renting a fancy house near the seashore. Strange things begin happening, like a Wi-Fi outage and an oil tanker running aground near them, and they are further perturbed when a well-dressed black man named G.H. (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la) show up, claiming to be the owners of the house and asking to stay the night. While there is some initial racial tension between the families, it soon becomes evident that larger problems are happening in the world, threatening their very survival.

Whatever people thought of Leave the World Behind, it should be said that it is quite well-made, with some excellent cinematography, clever details, and strong performances, from Ali and Hawke especially. Although the film got some people talking due to the implicit racism exhibited by Amanda toward the visitors and echoed even more by Ruth toward white people in general, that is hardly the point of the film. With the divisions in the world today, it’s understandable that mistrust would manifest like that, and, as the film illustrates, mistrust runs rampant when nobody has any answers.

Indeed, the film never actually gives a clear explanation for what is happening to cause the EMP-like power outages, the strange high-pitched noise that causes health problems, or the unusual behavior in animals. Many found this made the film an irksome waste of time, but the movie is far more interested in the effect of these phenomena than their cause. There are indicators of various bad actors to blame – flyers in Arabic pointing to jihadists, rumors of North Korean attacks – and with no Internet, no news channel, blocked roads, and low supplies, I doubt the average person would respond any better than the characters do. At one point, Clay begs a man far more prepared (Kevin Bacon) for assistance and gives voice to the helplessness that would spread like wildfire if all of our modern advantages were stripped away from us.

Considering the admittedly abrasive characters and inexplicably weird use of CGI animals, I can’t say Leave the World Behind is a perfect film or even an Oscar-worthy one. But it does feel like an important warning, one that seems to have been missed by all those complaining about wasted time and an unsatisfying ending. And I liked the ending quite a bit since it demonstrates how small pleasures can be a source of comfort amid the chaos. This is not a disaster movie with heroic rescues or easy solutions, but it brings to light just how close civilization can be to collapse, which is more unnerving.

Best line: (G.H.) “A conspiracy theory about a shadowy group of people running the world is far too lazy of an explanation, especially when the truth is much scarier.”
(Amanda) “What is the truth?”
(G.H.) “No one is in control. No one is pulling the strings.”

Rank:  List Runner-Up

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