Firstly, if you do not like films that are out of sync you wonât want to watch this, but it is dubbed English, however personally I would have preferred the film to be in its original language and have subtitles. Regardless of the sync and language issue, this film was amazing! I loved the cinematography and the directorial choices from Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia. The storyline was a unique metaphor to scrutinise class and inequality.
The Concept:
People are sent the âThe Holeâ (a vertically stacked prison) which had hundreds of levels.
2 people per level.
Each day a platform descends from the levels above full or not with food â depending on what level you are on â if you on level 133 your f***ed!
The tier occupants must eat within a time limit before the platform moves onto the next level, otherwise they go hungry
Each month the occupants are gassed and move to a different tier
Each occupant can bring one item into The Hole
The platform is a unique concept takes an unsettling look at society and greed from a barbaric perspective, which in the COVID 19 age and people panic buying at the shops, I wouldnât say this film is too far a jump from reality. The story follows Goreng (Ivan Massague) who volunteers to go into The Hole in exchange to a degree and time to read his book. Goreng is first partnered with Trimagasi (Zorion Eguileor) an old man who carries a knife and is assumed to have killed his last cell mate. Trimagasi introduces Goreng to The Holeâs way of working, explaining that the people above wonât listen because they are above you and you should never speak to the people below you, because they are below you.
Once every month Miharu (Alexandra Masangkay) rids the platform through every tier in an attempt to find her child. Goreng shows her kindness, which she repays by killing Trimagasi when he is about to kill Goreng. Another one of Gorengâs cell mates Imoguiri (Antonia san Juan) a previous secretary of The Hole who voluntarily submitted after her cancer worsens. Imoguiri does what she can to convince the lower levels to only eat what they need, exclaiming "If everyone ate only what they needed, the food would reach the lowest levels." Later, Goreng is paired with Baharat (Emilio Buale) and they decide to rid the platform down to the bottom so make a statement to âthem at the topâ, by letting everyone on the lowest platforms eat, although this costs them their life. Despite finding Miharuâs daughter and sending her up to the top as âthe messageâ (as children should not be in The Hole), there is an ambiguous ending with Goreng who wanders at the base level with hallucinations of cell mates who had died before.
In an interview with Digital Spy, Gaztelu-Urrutia claimed the film was about âthe limits of your own solidarity and how easy it is to be a good person when you're comfortably in level 10, but how hard it is to do so when at level 182â (Rajani, 2020). Gaztelu-Urrutia wanted to leave the ending open for interpretation despite filming an alternative ending and I like this, because it makes the audience think more at the end and assuming Miharuâs daughter went to the top level is as satisfying as the ending could be, I think the audience just want to know what happens to Goreng. This dystopian horror has left a disturbing mark on most viewers, with scenes of cannibalism and gore.
The Platform is 5 jewels for me hands-down, the ambiguous ending does not dissatisfy me for the pure reason that it is left for interpretation and we see Miharuâs daughter transported by the platform presumably to the top. The scenes that make your blood crawl with cannibalism and barbaric behaviour begin to assess societies place within the world and the greed of most countries. The Platform takes a look at these issues in an innovative way and gets the audience to reflect on their own selfishness. The Platform is gritty, nail-biting and disturbing.
Avaliable Now on Netflix.
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