The Platform (2019)
Director: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
Writer: David Desola
Actors: Ivan Massagué, Zorion Eguileor, Antonia San Juan, Emilio Buale, Alexandra Masangkay
The Platform starts off by plunging you into a dark world full of confusion and terror. After an entrancing sequence of luxurious food being prepared, we are dunked head first into the terrifying world of “The Hole”. The Juxtaposition is shocking, and it is part of the reason why it succeeded at grasping so many people, which inevitably created this mass support behind this film. It was a gripping start, and I was interested as was every other viewer. However, as the initial shock wore off and the dark mystique faded, I could see that behind the grimy and dark exterior was just a bland and plain image of social divide. It was frustrating. How one can kick off a film so well, while also slowly deteriorating so far away from what pulled me in. The Platform is an interesting film, there is no arguing that. Furthermore, its premise is one that stays lingering in the mind for a while. Yet its inability to commit to a message destroyed what little structure it tried to create.
The Platform introduces an elaborate prison known as The Hole. The rules of The Hole are simple, it is a vertical prison with over 300 floors. Each floor occupies two prisoners that are randomly assigned to a floor every month. Finally, everyday a platform full of lavish food comes down to the prisoners, starting from floor 1 all the way to the bottom. The film paints a very blatant image of social divide. The top floors are free to gorge on as much food as they want, but that privilege quickly dissipates the further down The Hole you go. This blatant representation of social divide instantly put a sour taste in my mouth. The story gave no room for interpretation, and shoved its ideas down your throat as the prisoners did with the food.
What was more frustrating than the overly blatant theme was the way the film straddled the line between saying something and nothing at the same time. With the veil of social inequality looming over the entire story, I was waiting in anticipation on what this will all eventually lead to. Unfortunately the once interesting story ended in a way that just made me laugh out loud rather than the intended effect it should have had. The ending was so abrupt and had nothing meaningful to say that it undermined everything that was built up over the last hour and a half.
All in all, The Platform was a memorable film. It has a very unique concept that was not executed well. The heavy reliance on gore and shocking imagery definitely helped boost its popularity among the mainstream crowd. A better example of this sort of concept being portrayed is from Parasite. It had the overall theme of social inequality but without being too blatant. It relied on clever camera work and imagery to show us those disparities. Furthermore, it had a great surface level plot that could appeal to both the mainstream audience and cinephiles alike. The Platform tried to half ass both those elements thinking each would carry the missing weight of the other.
