Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1513303
A massive gas tanker inexplica- bly runs aground on a popular beach. Planes start falling out of the sky and crash for no reason. A long line of self-driving Te- slas smash into one another on a main road. A woman on the side of the road, who can only speak Span- ish, hysterically tries to get help but is left to fend for herself. And a desperate father with a sick son helplessly admits that without his GPS and cell phone, he is useless. As difficult as it may be to ac- cept, the hard truths explored in the movie Leave the World Behind focus on issues which hit very much close to home. In fact, it is probably because the plot is so uncomfortably plausible that many viewers were saying they didn't like the film, didn't understand the ending, and declared it 'a waste of time'. I've often noticed this in main- stream audiences which prefer their stories to be easy to grasp and for the ending to be tied up in a neat little bow. The good guys always win, good triumphs over evil, the guy gets his girl, and everyone lives happily ever after. And, fair enough, there are times when I too prefer to watch something light and straightforward, to transport me to another dimension and detox from the heaviness of the world's problems and dilem- mas. But this is simply not that kind of film. This is more reminiscent of episodes of Black Mirror which deal exclusively with the theme of the near future when technol- ogy might be pushed too far, and the ensuing mishaps. In Leave the World Behind, we are shown what happens when things go wrong with our technology-ob- sessed world and we are forced to deal with each other, stripped off all our gadgets. As someone who relies heavily on them myself, the film was a so- bering wakeup call and gave me pause for thought… what would happen if a cyber-attack disman- tles all our Wifi, satellite and in- ternet connections? For all the convenience it has given us, it is only when we are cut off that we actually realise the extent of our dependency and our often-un- healthy relationship with tech- nology. We can have everything at our fingertips one minute and then suddenly - nothing. I do not want to give too much away for those who haven't watched it, but it is an interesting, thought-provoking take on how we have gradually eroded our own ability to trust one another, how strangers are automatically perceived as threats and how na- ture is viewed with alarm rather than realising that it is trying to tell us something. It also poses the existential question of what would happen if things go side- wise in this world and an outside force launches an attack: Would we help our neighbours or will it be every man/woman for them- selves resulting in an internal battle, a civil war, as the country turns against itself? When the world doesn't make sense any more, I wonder wheth- er we will seek comfort and sol- ace from our own families and fellow human beings, or whether (like the socially detached little girl in the movie) we will resort to a beloved sitcom to be our 'comfort food', soothing us with its familiarity and reassuring us with fictional characters who have become more meaning- ful to us than those around us. The movie shows us how easy it is for us to turn on each other when the chips are down, how racism, class differences and in- tolerance immediately rise to the surface, and how quickly we begin to point fingers and blame unknown forces without any concrete proof or facts. Specu- lation, suspicion, conjecture is all fuelled by destabilisation and uncertainty. We've already had a practice run of this situation with COV- ID and the lockdowns, when we all became isolated, jittery and introverted, only sticking to our own families because contact with strangers was to be feared. As everything shut down and our freedom of movement was se- verely curtailed, there was even the fear that the virus was man- made and that this was a delib- erate, elaborate plan by govern- ments and big pharma to control global populations. There were those who would not believe the science but passionately and fiercely believed some random theory spouted on Facebook. The refusal to take the vaccine became the focus of a never-end- ing debate which still continues today, over three years later. On the plus side, it was also a time when people had time to slow down and re-connect with their loved ones. Yet, in retrospect, I doubt we really learned all that much from it. We quickly returned to our old ways of too much consumption and too much spending. We still make each other sick rather than staying home to avoid spreading germs. Those in authority still insist on butchering nature on the pretext of "renovating village squares" rather than protecting each precious tree which we so badly need for our physical and mental health wellbeing. And even as, this very week, nearly 200 nations meeting in Dubai approved a first-ever call for the world to transition away from fossil fuels, a decision which sounds great on paper… the question begs itself …what is Malta actually doing, in concrete terms? I don't want to sound like the Christmas Grinch but, this year, the sheer amount of festive lights in our streets, showrooms and shops and the over-the-top dec- orating of some people's homes, sucking up all that electricity, is in direct contradiction to this pledge. Energy crisis? What en- ergy crisis? I'm surprised air- planes are not mistaking some of the roads for an airport runway. You can tell that Malta has elec- tricity subsidies because surely if we were paying as much as in other parts of Europe, there would not be so much razzle dazzle. It just doesn't seem like we are ready to tone anything down to really do something meaning- ful about this planet. Paying lip service at international fora just does not cut it when the Maltese government has not implement- ed any real measures to cut down on fuel emissions by reducing car use. Will any political par- ty promise to make using one's private car more prohibitive and expensive (while providing a re- liable, efficient public transport system)? I have never heard any real viable solutions from any- one because God forbid people stop buying more cars. And, no, a metro is not the answer be- cause the last thing we need is more digging up of roads – just look at the mayhem being caused by the Pembroke road- works, to name one area. I realise I have digressed but films like Leave the World Be- hind inevitably take you off on a tangent and you start seeing how everything is ultimately connect- ed. It also leaves you with a lot of questions (which is perhaps why viewers have been left frus- trated by how it ends), yet that too is symbolic of this world we are living in, where there are no easy answers or magic potions to rectify the damage that human beings have caused to the planet. maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 DECEMBER 2023 8 OPINION Leaving our gadgets behind Josanne Cassar In Leave The World Behind, two families must decide how best to survive a catastrophic blackout, all while grappling with their own place in this collapsing world