278.
Platform
7.5/10
A Netflix exclusive Spanish movie, which, as soon as I saw a glimpse of the trailer a while back I knew I would get around to see. There was only going to be one movie I watched under the letter 'P' and that was Platform. The movie seemed very dark and very interesting as the main concept revolved around, what I believed was a prison and one table of food. Pairs are on different levelled platforms within the prison and after the higher level is finished with the food, the food platform is lowered to the next, with the bottom lot getting nothing. The nature of what the movie was about definitely piqued my interest and drove me towards this one. Listed as a 'social science fiction-horror', I hope that it isn't struggling for an identity. Let's delve into the story.
We are going to be following Goreng, who wakes up in a cell with 38 on the wall and an older gent sitting across the room from him. Being on the middle floor, the food comes down mostly eaten but there is a choice.
The cellmate had to explain what the lower floors are like. He ate his cellmate to survive and soon the movie is looking a lot darker. One day, as the food platform lowers, there is an Asian woman sitting on board. Apparently, she is riding down and does so every month to try and find her young daughter. She is constantly battered, raped but also does some killing as she travels, never giving up. Goreng has taken a book in as his luxury item where are his cellmate has taken a self-sharpening knife. We both know who is really winning here and as the days go on, the pair get to know each other, exercising but all of a sudden some gas is filtered in. Their month on that level is over and it's time for level 171. Goreng is tied to the bed and his former friend is now ready to explain the act. We already know what is coming as he uses his knife to take little pieces of Goreng after if after 8 days, they receive no food. He is willing to feed Goreng to himself and in doing so, they may both survive. The Asian rides down in time to kill the cannibal and free Goreng. She cuts off pieces of the dead man, feeding it to Goreng as she nurses him and then leaves when he asks about her child. Trimagasi, the cannibal cellmate now appears as a vision, telling Goreng that they are now the same and he is going to live inside him.
After another month, Goreng wakes on floor 33 with a new cellmate. A female named Imoguiri and her dog as a luxury item have made it in. Goreng recognises her as the admin officer who signed him up to enter the cells. She is dying of cancer and had no idea of the conditions inside the cell. She has come in to use her last days trying to improve things. She shouts down to the floor below that she has made them plates of food and to do the next for the floor below them. Shouting up, she begs that the floor above only eats what they need to. It takes weeks and Goreng threatening to shit on their food for the cell lower to agree. It isn't long until we see the Asian again but Goreng's new cellmate says she knows the place inside and out when it comes to the cellmates and no children are within as there is a strict code that no kids are allowed. A few mornings later and Goreng is alone again as the female has decided to hang herself with her bedsheets. This is because they have both woken on level 202 and Goreng has to feast on his cellmate for a month to keep himself going for a better level. This comes in the form of level 6.
The new cellmate is Baharat, who is going to attempt to climb to the top floor. Failing, he comes back to discuss this next movie with Goreng, who convinces him to ride down the platform with him, rationing out food and beating the shit out of everyone who doesn't comply. As they get lower and lower, the bodies pile up but not because of them. People have been eating each other lower down as they get below level 300. The come across a level where the Asian woman is fighting two men, jumping from the platform, they try to save her but are too late. Baharat takes a gash to the torso and Goreng is beaten to a pulp but they are the last left alive and the floor. The continue down to floor 333 where eyes appear under a bed. Out creeps a little girl and it's the child. Reluctantly getting off the platform. They feed the pannacotta that they were saving as a message to the top dogs, to the child. Goreng passes out and has a dream that Baharat is telling him that the child is the message, not the food. He wakes up to find his friend has bled out and just him and the little girl left to ride the platform, they ride down to a dark abyss where Goreng's first cellmate is waiting for him. Walking out of the shadows, he explains that the message does not need a messenger and they both walk into the darkness as the little girl zooms up top on the platform as the movie end.
There is a lot you can take away from this movie and maybe a lot that can be interpreted by each viewer. Another movie that leaves me with plenty of questions to come away with myself. From beginning to end it got me thinking. Goreng put himself in the situation to quit smoking and earn a degree once he got out, not knowing what sacrifices he would make whilst inside. What drove this man to try to make the change at the end and at which point did he die? For me, I'm not too sure he ever woke up and rode down to walk off into the darkness but I do think that the child was actually there. The main topic and taking point for the movie is the metaphor it stands for. The main vision was to show the problems with capitalism as 'fat cats' at the top take as much as they can because they can whilst everything then filters down and people at the lowest part must turn to crime to survive. All when there is enough to go around as the platform holds every cell members favourite meal. If things were distributed evenly, everyone would stay alive. Maybe the child was the message as change can come from the next generation. As for Goreng, he was beaten by the system and never made it back to the heights that he once had.
100% of the cast were fresh to me. Each character brought some different characteristics and levels to the development of the story and the development of our main character Goreng. Played by Ivan Massague it was interesting to see this guy go from an innocent bystander, waiting for his stint to be over to better himself. This turned sour within a month and he had to become something he never knew possible in order to survive. By the end, he had seemingly sacrificed himself for the greater good, trying to prove a point to those people in charge. I was really impressed with the character and the gent playing him. In fact, there wasn't a single character that I disliked on the screen.
In all honestly, I really enjoyed around 90% of the movie and the last 10% didn't live up to where I was expecting it to go. There was no real conclusion and I was left with some unanswered questions. The plot was very simple but seemed spoiled towards the end as we never really found out whether the young girl simply slammed into the roof. The writer definitely had something to say when creating this storyline and I didn't expect it to be anywhere near as thought inducing as it became. It can be enjoyed on more than one spectrum for that reason alone and after reading about what the writer and director thought the believed happened at the end, this gave a new perspective. Another enjoyable one. The fact that the movie was dubbed didn't cause any struggle in the viewing. I'm not sure whether watching the Polish movie recently helped with this or if I had just gotten into the movie a bit more than the other, but either way, it was easily overlooked. If you have a strong stomach, give it a watch, there were plenty of disturbing scenes and blood splatter to go along with them.
