Is "Leave the World Behind" Obama's Warning to the World?

What does the former president want us to be prepared for??

Warning, this post will spoil the movie, but I don’t think you’re missing much.

Leave the World Behind on Netflix revolves around two families coping with the United States suddenly being thrown into chaos, so I felt compelled to watch it.

As a work of art, it’s not great. The dialogue is cumbersome and overwrought. The characters are all insufferable and act more like caricatures developed by committee than real people. Director Sam Esmail also created Mr. Robot, and the first season was a great homage to Fight Club, so I was hoping for a lot more from this picture. However, it was nice to see Julia Roberts on the screen again, even if her character was unbearable.

As a work of prepper fiction, it’s also not great. I doubt you’ll gain many great insights on how to prepare for similar events. The characters spend most of their time baffled and confused about what’s happening. However, I will give props that the one prepper character—portrayed by Kevin Bacon—is one of the few people who seem to have a clue. The casting is great. It’s too bad the film isn’t better.

I would probably ignore the movie entirely, except for a curious fact: it was produced in part by Barack and Michelle Obama.

It’s odd enough that a former president is producing Hollywood movies. But if you look through the Obama’s production credits, most of it is pretty standard Obama “hope and change” sort of fare like Becoming; Ada Twist, Scientist; and American Symphony.

But now we truly have a first: an apocalyptic film produced by a former president. And while it was adapted from a 2020 novel, I can’t help but feel that he’s sending a message with this movie.