The Netflix film Leave the World Behind shows how the world is plunged into chaos by a cyber attack. The focus is on the Sandford family with Julia Roberts as the mother. The end of the world begins with an internet failure, later planes crash. Sam Esmail includes several scenes in his sci-fi thriller to illustrate the rising panic. Spoilers follow.
In one of the most impressive moments, family father Clay (Ethan Hawke) meets a desperate woman on the street who speaks to him in Spanish. But what does she say? There are no subtitles in this film scene. We have the translation of the emotional sequence for you.
What does the desperate woman say in the Leave the World Behind scene?
In the credits, the character is listed as Salvadora and is played by Vanessa Aspilgaga. Clay comes across the woman in no man’s land; the two of them are the only people around. However, Clay has an advantage: he can rely on a functioning means of transport. Salvadora is on foot. She seems correspondingly dissolved.
Clay rolls down the car window and initially seems helpful. However, the language barrier creates a distance between people. No matter how hard Salvadora begs, she can’t get through to Clay. He leaves her there and drives on with a blank look.
Salvadora’s gestures and facial expressions are actually enough to convey that she is in absolute distress. The translated wording her speaking portion makes the scene even more unbearable. We were able to translate some of it ourselves, and this Reddit post helped us with the rest. This is a rough summary, cleaned of repetition:
Luckily I found someone! I’m trying to get back home! I’m lost! I’ve been running for quite a while! I have to use your phone! You’re the first person I’ve seen today! We have to get out of here! I just saw a plane spraying red gas nearby. I saw a few deer, more than 50. They came out of the forest. I ask you! I have to go home, sir. A military plane appeared and fled. There’s no one around! Is it a chemical attack? The street scene illustrates the main message of Leave the World Behind
Leave the World Behind does not provide subtitles in the scene, so the audience (unless they also speak Spanish) finds themselves in the same situation as Clay: Should you help the woman even though you don’t fully understand her concerns? Or is the non-verbally conveyed desperation enough to stimulate a willingness to help?
Actually the latter should be true. But Clay decides against solidarity and against the natural instinct to help other people in need. He perceives the woman as a threat, or at least as an additional burden. And leaves them to their fate.
At the end of the film he finds himself in a similar predicament: he demands medication for his sick son from the prepper Danny (Kevin Bacon). Here too, all he can do is despair. And unlike Clay, Danny softens.