MARIAH's THOUGHTS on The Platform (2019)

Genre:

Spanish/Horror/Sci-fi/Thriller

Rating:

TV-MA

Release Date:

September 22, 2019

Run Time:

1 hour 34 minutes

Directed by:

Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia

Production Co.:

Basque Films, Mr Miyagi Films, Plataforma La Película AIE, Consejería de Cultura del Gobierno Vasco, Euskal Irrati Telebista (EiTB), Eusko Jaurlaritza (with the support of), Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) (with the support of), Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales (ICAA) (with the support of), Radio Televisión Española (RTVE), Zentropa

Distribution Co.:

Netflix

Social Media:

Cast:

Ivan Massagué, Zorion Eguileor, Antonia San Juan, Emilio Buale, Alexandra Masangkay

(For full cast and crew on IMDB)

Plot Summary:

A slab of food descends floor by floor in a prison. The inmates above eat heartily, leaving those below starving and desperate. A rebellion is imminent.

source

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*My Thoughts*

I heard of the movie The Platform or El Hoyo about a year ago but hadn’t considered watching it until someone recommended it to me recently. It is a Spanish social science and psychological horror film. The main character is a young man named Goreng looking to earn a diploma in exchange for six months in the “Vertical Self- Management Center,” nicknamed “The Pit,” which is essentially a torture chamber with literally extra levels, but cellmates are allowed to bring one item from the outside world. In Goreng’s case, he brings a book, Don Quixote. Although inmates have their basic needs met such as toiletries and mattresses, The Pit itself only has one source of food and that is the levitating platform that descends every day. It is full on the first floor, but the lower it gets the less food there is for those deeper in The Pit. Those viewing The Platform are meant to follow Goreng as he spends time with his cellmates and switches around different floors each month.

Goreng seems to be a kind man that cares for others and wouldn’t need to be in The Pit, but with each floor he spends time on, the more he changes. He first wakes up on a floor in the seventies with his cellmate, Trimagasi. The next month he wakes up on a floor in the hundreds causing him and Trigamasi much despair. In the third month, Goreng had survived and was assigned a new cellmate, Imoguiri, the woman who interviewed him to enter The Pit. Each month it seems like Goreng becomes less willing to fight his circumstances or convince those on higher floors to consider helping those below them. When he seems to have lost his will to live, there’s a shred of his humanity left. Goreng aims to change the system of the “Vertical Self-Management Center” and those who control it from within the The Pit. There’s at least one soul willing to help him in his pursuit but very few after that.

The Platform is a film that shows but never tells. It’s suspenseful and leaves you questioning your place in life or what kind of human you are. The simplicity of a four walled cell and a levitating platform lets those who view The Platform imagine the worst. Although not a hack-n-slash horror film, it will not disappoint those who are more into suspense and social commentary.

My rating: