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This film predicts the perfect American apocalypse

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Anyone with an interest in the cultural and political decline of the contemporary US should see ‘Leave the World Behind’

These days, Hollywood produces endless quantities of cultural dross – superhero franchise epics that Martin Scorsese has said have nothing to do with cinema at all; boring, lengthy, reverential biopics (‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘Maestro’); and the crude #metoo propaganda of the ‘Barbie’ movie.

Yet last month a remarkable American film was released that stands out for its political realism and insight.

The film is ‘Leave the World Behind’ – a dystopian political tract directed, written, and produced by Sam Esmail, and based on a novel by Rumaan Alam published in 2020.

The movie features Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, and Kevin Bacon – three Hollywood stars of note – and their involvement in such an iconoclastic film is not only surprising, but very much to their credit.

Esmail was born in New Jersey. His parents were Egyptian immigrants. Alam was born in Washington, to parents who emigrated to America from Bangladesh. It is surely their immigrant backgrounds that account for the film’s unique and critical perspective on contemporary America.

Esmail and Alam’s ‘outsider’ status allows them to see America in a way that is now virtually impossible within mainstream Hollywood.   

Leave the World Behind is not easily categorised – thematically, it is similar to the 2022 European film ‘Triangle of Sadness’, but it is much more politically sophisticated. The film also harks back to the science fiction films that Hollywood churned out with monotonous regularly in the 1950s and 60s.

That entire film genre was, of course, the ideological product of the Cold War.

In science fiction films of that era, the irrational fear of an imminent Russian invasion was cinematically transformed into attacks by aliens from remote galaxies – and a powerful, liberal-democratic America was pictured as being threatened by these sinister forces from without.

Inevitably in these films, after a stirring heroic conflict, a victorious America prevailed over those malevolent alien forces that had sought to destroy the home of liberty and the land of the free.

Now that a weakened America is seeking to wage a recalibrated Cold War – against China as well as Russia – it is hardly surprising that an American film should echo the science fiction films of the Cold War era, albeit in a radically different form and with more realistic content.   

Leave the World Behind is firmly based in current American political reality – no need to resort to fictitious aliens, as the threat the global elites pose to liberal democracy in America is all too apparent – and the film resolutely refuses to provide the bogus solace that was an integral ideological component of the science fiction films of the 1950s and 60s. 

“Leave the World Behind” by Sam Esmail, 2023.

  Netflix Studios

The film is bleakly pessimistic – a reflection of America’s dramatic decline as a world power since the 1960s, as well as its current state of acute internal cultural and political disintegration.  

This is perfectly understandable – no intelligent and politically aware contemporary American filmmaker could embrace the complacent optimism that characterised America in the 1950s and 60s.

The plot of the film – a middle class Brooklyn family holiday in a mansion on Long Island, only to be caught up in a series of cataclysms that are gradually revealed to be part of an unfolding elite political coup – could only take place in a post-Trumpian America.

In fact, the film eerily reflects a prediction made by the astute conservative political commentator P. J. O’Rourke shortly before he died in 2022.

O’Rourke despised Donald Trump and regarded him as a buffoon, but realised that his political significance lay in the fact that he was a crude and inept harbinger of an America that could easily come to be ruled by a competent elite dictatorship.

O’Rourke’s insight into Trump is, in fact, the central theme of Leave the World Behind – the film is about a successful coup, of which Trump was the harbinger, that a culturally and politically disintegrating America is unable to comprehend, let alone resist.

The January 6 riots were a crude insurrection fomented by Trump in order to prevent Vice President Mike Pence from certifying the 2020 election result. The riots were not an attempted coup – and Trump, as O’Rourke recognised, has more in common with the farcical 19th century French politician General Boulanger (whose attempt to overthrow the Third Republic in 1889 failed) than with a Hitler or Mussolini. 

Leave the World Behind depicts a successful modern political coup – qualitatively different from fascist coups – carried out by global elites. 

The coup’s genesis is revealed in an exchange between the owner of the mansion, a wealthy black funds manager played by Mahershala Ali, and the misanthropic wife of the Brooklyn family, played by Roberts, who have rented his palatial residence on Long Island. 

“Leave the World Behind” by Sam Esmail, 2023.

  Netflix Studios

As the family’s holiday is disrupted by a series of catastrophes – their technological devices cease to work; an oil tanker runs aground on the beach where they are swimming; airplanes fall from the sky; leaflets falsely suggesting that foreign invasions are occurring are dropped from drones; and hundreds of self-driving Teslas crash into each other, blocking highways – Ali tells Roberts about a conversation that he had recently with one of his wealthy clients with links to the defense department and arms manufacturers. 

The client recently moved his considerable fortune offshore and told Ali in some detail how easy it would be to stage a coup in advanced Western societies.

First, the populace would be isolated by disabling all their technological devices. Havoc would then be created by spreading disinformation amongst the populace. Finally, internal fighting would break out, and society would collapse as a result of its own internal divisions and political apathy. 

As the catastrophes pile up around them, Ali and Roberts realise that this is precisely what is happening – and that they are powerless to do anything about it.    

Shades of C. Wright Mills’ ‘power elite’ and Eisenhower’s ‘military-industrial complex’ in a modern, more frighteningly totalitarian guise – save the elites behind the successful coup that engulfs America in the film are global elites, a reflection of the fact that the world economy is now a truly globalised one.

The themes of cultural decadence and dependence upon technology are depicted in graphic detail in the film. The scene involving the out-of-control Teslas is both prophetic and horrifying. 

Roberts and Ali understand what is happening only because Ali has a close connection to the elites that are staging the coup. No one else in the film – including Roberts’ genial academic husband, played by Ethan Hawke, has any notion of what is occurring. 

The real horror at the heart of the film, however, arises from the depiction of the main characters’ millennial teenage children.

“Leave the World Behind” by Sam Esmail, 2023.

  Netflix Studios

The three children are portrayed as mindless victims of a completely worthless popular culture that deprives them of any understanding of themselves or the society in which they live.

They are completely dependent upon technology, and immersed in a vacuous celebrity culture that is utterly divorced from reality. Even their relations with their parents are meaningless and perfunctory.

Roberts’ teenage son spends his time masturbating and taking salacious pictures of Ali’s daughter as she sunbathes in a bikini by the swimming pool. She in turn tries to sexually entice the middle-aged Hawke in Lolita-like fashion.

Roberts’ and Hawke’s young daughter is obsessed with the television program ‘Friends’, and the only affection that she is capable of is fixated upon the characters of that mindless soap opera.

The film ends with Roberts’ and Hawke’s daughter breaking into a nearby mansion and gorging herself on junk food – as, in the distance, New York is subjected to a nuclear attack, apparently perpetrated by rogue elements in the military.

As the nuclear cloud spreads, she gains entry to a fallout shelter in the basement of the house and compulsively watches the final episode of Friends – completely oblivious to what is happening outside and her own fate.

The film ends with her grinning and gazing narcissistically and moronically at the television screen. 

In interviews since the film was released last month, Esmail and Roberts have attempted to place a positive spin on the film – by suggesting that the other characters may have also eventually found their way to the fallout shelter.

Given the relentlessly pessimistic tenor of the film, however, this is surely beside the point. As D. H. Lawrence once said. “Always trust the tale, never trust the teller.”

Leave the World Behind is an extraordinary and compelling film. Anyone with an interest in the cultural and political decline of contemporary America should make the effort to see it.

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OSCAR SHOCKS AND SURPRISES: WHO IS LIKELY TO WIN BIG ON HOLLYWOOD’S BIGGEST NIGHT

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On the big screen, Deadpool clashed with Wolverine in a spectacle that set social media abuzz, while animated darling Inside Out 2 stormed the box office — leaving Joker’s sequel in its shadow. Off-camera, there was more drama as Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni found themselves locked in a bitter legal feud.

The off-screen action, however, didn’t stop there. There were debates over The Brutalist’s daring use of AI and Anora’s controversial decision to forgo an intimacy coordinator sparked plenty of heated exchanges on social media.

As the Academy Awards draw near on Sunday, March 2,  2025, the anticipation is palpable. We look at some of the possible winners on Hollywood’s biggest night.

Best Picture: Anora leads, but there others 

Anora is just barely ahead—but only by a hair. Why? A string of major wins, including the Critics Choice, Producers Guild, and Directors Guild Awards, put it in prime position. But rivals like Conclave and The Brutalist are lurking. We could see a historic upset here.

Best Director: Close fight between Sean Baker and Brady Corbet

Two directors, one golden statuette. Sean Baker (Anora) and Brady Corbet (The Brutalist) are neck and neck. But history favours Baker, thanks to the Directors Guild Awards’ near-flawless Oscar track record. Still, nothing is certain.

Best Actor: Both Adrien Brody and Timothée Chalamet are in the race

Adrien Brody (The Brutalist) was cruising toward his second Oscar—until Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown) crashed the party with a major SAG win! Brody is still the favourite, but don’t be shocked if Chalamet pulls off a dramatic last-minute upset.

Best Actress: Demi Moore has a fair chance 

Demi Moore (The Substance) has swept the Golden Globes, Critics Choice, and SAG Awards. But with Anora’s Mikey Madison taking the BAFTA and I’m Still Here’s Fernanda Torres still in play, Moore’s victory lap could be premature.

Best Supporting Actor: Could Kieran Culkin lose?

Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) has dominated awards season. Could someone else steal the statue? Sure. But at 87.7% likelihood, this one looks locked in.

Best Supporting Actress: This could be a clean sweep for Zoe Saldana 

Despite chatter that controversy around Emilia Pérez could hurt her chances, Zoe Saldaña is sweeping through the competition. The numbers say she’s almost certain to take home gold.

Best Animated flick: The Wild Robot could go for gold

Chris Sanders has been nominated four times — but never won. At 55 per cent, The Wild Robot is the favourite. But Flow and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl are still in the game.

Best International movie: A twist in the tale

Emilia Pérez was expected to dominate — but controversy, critic-audience divides, and I’m Still Here gaining ground could mean a shocking upset.

Final Thoughts: Who will win, who’ll lose

There’s no such thing as a sure thing at the Oscars — but if the data is right, expect major moments, potential heartbreaks, and perhaps a few historic wins.

(Source: Hollywood Reporter, BBC)

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Bollywood power couple Govinda’s marriage on the rocks after 40 years

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Salman Khan’s ‘Nepotism’ Joke Steals the Show at Nephew Ayaan’s Song Launch in Dubai

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Salman Khan has never been one to hold back, and at a recent event in Dubai, he added his signature dose of humour to the oft-debated topic of nepotism in Bollywood. The superstar, fondly known as Sallubhai, was in town to launch his nephew Ayaan Agnihotri’s debut song, “Universal Laws”, and in true Salman style, he had the audience in splits with his witty remark.

As Dubai’s DJ Bliss – who hosted the event – praised the Khan family for their unwavering support for Ayaan, Salman quipped, “That’s what nepotism is!” His playful jab left everyone in the room in splits.

And as the crowd cheered, Salman officially launched the song, marking Ayaan’s much-anticipated entry into the music world.

A Star-Studded Affair

The event turned into a Bollywood reunion, with stars like Arbaaz Khan, Sohail Khan, Neha Dhupia, Angad Bedi, and other celebrities coming together to celebrate Ayaan’s big moment.

During his speech, Salman highlighted that Ayaan, the son of Atul Agnihotri and Alvira Khan Agnihotri (Salman’s sister), hails from a family of seasoned film producers. He also mentioned that Ayaan’s cousin, Alizeh Agnihotri, who recently made her Bollywood debut, shares the same film-driven lineage.

Ayaan and Salman’s Previous Collaboration

This isn’t the first time the uncle-nephew duo has joined forces. Salman and Ayaan previously worked together on the track, “You Are Mine”, where the young artist showcased his rap skills alongside the Bollywood megastar. The song, composed by Vishal Mishra, became a talking point among fans.

Salman & Sanjay Dutt Spotted in Saudi Arabia

Meanwhile, Salman is keeping busy with multiple projects. A recent video circulating on social media showed him and actor Sanjay Dutt filming on the streets of Saudi Arabia. The clip, shared by an X user, captured the two actors casually chatting with crew members.

The buzz is that Salman and Sanjay are working on a cameo appearance in the Bollywood remake of the 2021 Argentine film Seven Dogs. While details remain under wraps, fans are excited to see the duo share screen space again.

From family celebrations in Dubai to shooting in Saudi Arabia, Salman Khan is proving yet again that his star power knows no boundaries.

(Inputs from Hindustan Times, Zee News)

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