MOVIE NEWS – Leave the World Behind director Sam Esmail explains Archie’s mysterious illness that develops during the film. Attention, the article contains SPOILERS!

Leave the World Behind director Sam Esmail opened up about Archie’s mysterious illness. He gave an interesting explanation of what happened. After being bitten by a bug at the beginning of the film, Archie slowly develops a fever, which ends with his teeth falling out and vomiting blood. Danny eventually treats his illness. But what causes the boy’s teeth to fall out is never revealed.

Speaking to Vulture, Esmail carefully explains what happened to Archie during the film’s conclusion. The director indicated that he could not go into details but also said that the character’s illness was “a nightmare”. Check out what Esmail had to say below:

“I want to be careful how I answer this. I think it’s a nightmare. I think the movie’s a nightmare, and I think that, in nightmares, things happen that are inexplicable.”

What does Sam Esmail’s explanation of Leave the World Behind reveal?

Esmail’s reference to Archie’s illness being linked to nightmares seems to symbolically reflect the many unknown factors surrounding the film’s events. Losing teeth is a common nightmare. It may reflect common modern fears about technology. At the end of the film, the massive cyber attack and other strange events are explained away as part of a coup within the United States.

However, the film leaves many questions unanswered, which is underlined by the fact that Archie’s illness also remains unexplained.

Unpredictable events reinforce the tense aspects of Leave the World Behind. Archie’s illness adds a new layer to this. After all, Clay and G.H. almost kill Danny before convincing him to help them. This emphasizes how the coup affected everyone. Many people choose to take care of themselves and keep others out of their care. Illness accentuates this nightmarish scenario by becoming the physical manifestation of the unknown.

Archie’s illness also results in G.H. he realizes that the unfolding events may have something to do with the coup. All of this is a change from the original book, which offered a concrete explanation of what happened. As the events themselves are gruesome, Esmail’s careful explanation underscores how the boy’s illness demonstrates the gruesome nature of the film’s premise. However, he does all this without providing a physical explanation, indicating that the exact circumstances of his illness remain a mystery.

Source: Vulture