Anyone who still needs convincing that we live in a fractured world may be startled by the futuristic nightmare drama Leave the World Behind, which had its world premiere at AFI Fest. Others might find something a bit stale in its portrait of racial suspicion and environmental catastrophe. Fine performances help to bolster a problematic picture written and directed by Sam Esmail, adapted from Rumaan Alam’s best-selling novel. The film will take its bow via Netflix in December, the streamer’s second release this year (after Rustin) that counts Barack and Michelle Obama among its executive producers.

The story starts with a New York family (Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke and, as their teenage children, Farrah Mackenzie and Charlie Evans) leaving the city for a vacation in a Long Island rental home that advertised with the line “Leave the world behind.” The house and the grounds are indeed enticing, and...