Director: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
Writers: David Desola
Stars: Ivan Massagué, Zorion Eguileor, Antonia San Juan
Run Time: 1 Hour, 34 Minutes
Link: The Platform
Synopsis
We start out with scenes from a very fancy kitchen and numerous chefs creating the perfect meal. We fade out and back in to two men in a large stone cell. The old man tells the newcomer that he’s in “The Hole” on level 48. He explains that they get to eat level 47s leftovers. Also, there’s a huge hole in the floor that seems to fall through an infinite number of levels beneath them. The newcomer’s name is Goreng, and the old man is Trimagasi. Trimagasi explains that 48 is a good level. The people above won’t answer him, and he’s not to talk to the people below. They’ll be on level 48 for a month, “then… we’ll see.”
A light on the wall changes, and a huge platform of food descends. Trimagasi begins eating. They are eating 94 people’s leftovers, but that’s OK, because there won’t be that many people left by the end of the month. After two or three minutes, the food descends to the next level.
We get a flashback that seems to indicate that Goreng actually volunteered to be there. He chose to do six months in the hole to get an accredited diploma. Timagasi killed a man by dropping a TV on his head. They reassign levels every month.
Trimagasi explains that he used be on level 132. None of the food ever makes it down that far. He says, “that doesn’t mean I didn’t have anything to eat” ominously. It’s only really dangerous if you are assigned to two lower levels two months in a row.
Eventually, someone from above suicides down the shaft. Someone down below gets some free meat. It’s depressing and weird, but Goreng starts to get used to the routine. Then the end of the month comes and the two wake up on level 171, where Goreng learns that Trimagasi is not such a nice guy. The platform comes down, and it’s covered in empty dishes, not even bones.
Eat. Or be eaten. That’s the rule in this prison— I mean “Vertical Self-Management Center.”
Commentary
The setting here is everything, which reminded me immediately of the film “Cube,” which I also enjoyed tremendously. It, too, was a world of rules, sudden death, and betrayals. There’s absolutely no logic behind why a government would have a place like this, but if you accept that and move on, it’s a really interesting little world.
It took a long time to explain all the rules and really understand the situation, and that was the majority of the fun with this film. I had no idea where it was heading, and the story just developed on its own, which was great.
There’s definitely some religious and political commentary here if you want to take the time to think about it. Id like to get into all that, but now… I’m hungry.