Sam Esmail’s apocalyptic drama-thriller film Leave the World Behind showcased some devastating events that seemed like they would spell doom for humanity. As such, viewers of the film are curious about the extent of the film’s realism and whether or not the events depicted in the movie could happen in real life. Here are both questions answered.
How realistic is Leave the World Behind?
Leave the World Behind is very realistic as it depicts human beings and their relationships with one another in a very realistic manner, through themes like hostility, acceptance, and the human condition. The film also depicts various disasters like nuclear explosions, cyberattacks, and sudden accidents that reference six real-life disastrous events that caused great issues for humanity.
Leave the World Behind also references six actual disastrous events that previously occurred:
- Three Mile Island – an event that saw a nuclear reactor at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island experiencing a partial meltdown, which caused damage to the US economy.
- Love You Bug – an event that occurred in 2000 where millions of Windows computers were infected by a bug that spread emails with the subject line “ILOVEYOU” and also contained an attachment “LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs.” which when clicked would infect the computer and spread the virus to all Windows Outlook contacts.
- Havana Syndrome – an unexplained event in 2016 that took place in Havana where people experienced hearing loss and dizziness after encountering an unbearably loud grating noise.
- NASA Cyberattack – A 1999 event that saw teenager James Jonathan hack into NASA computers and shut them down for weeks.
- Oil Tanker Crash – A 2018 event that saw a massive oil tanker crash into a seaside residence off the Turkey coast near Istanbul.
- Tesla Autopilot Crashes – This reference was to multiple accidents caused by automated Tesla cars that have self-driving technology.
Could the events of Leave the World Behind happen?
Yes, the events of Leave the World Behind could happen in real life as all the things shown in the film are in a way being currently experienced by humanity, such as cyberattacks, racial hostility, random disasters like plane crashes and disappearances, and ecological shifts due to climate change and other factors.
In entertainment elsewhere, here are the best action scenes in Zack Snyder’s movies. Also, here is an update on Beyond the Spider-Verse.
