“The Platform” is a sci-fi thriller directed by Spaniard David Desola. It was originally released back in 2019. However, it wasn’t until the last couple of months that its popularity sky-rocketed here in the US. Thanks to social medias like TikTok and Instagram, “The Platform” became a must-watch during the pandemic.
However, more credit needs to be given where it is due. This movie is a fairly great commentary on capitalism, the classes, and the overall greed of society.
Desola paints the hell of capitalism with an allegory of a vertical prison called the Pit. In the Pit, there are two inmates on each floor. In the middle of their cell is a gap where a board of food—their only source of food—descends every 24 hours.
The catch: each floor gets only a few minutes to eat before the board moves down to the next floor where those inmates get to feast from the leftovers of the floors above. This process repeats for who knows how long. That is the problem.
I mean, it isn’t the only problem, but no one knows how many floors there are.
As greed inevitably takes over, floors indulge versus eating only what they actually need. This leaves the floors below to have little to nothing left by the time it reaches them.
If everyone only ate what they needed, everyone in the Pit would eat. Of course, we know that’s in an ideal world.
Although this allegory may seem extreme, is it really that far from our society?
In this film, we get to meet one of the inmates, Goreng (Iván Massagué), and his roommate, Trimagasi (Zorion Eguileor), who are the perfect comparisons to one another. The juxtaposition between the naivety of Goreng and the experience of Trimagasi is painfully obvious. Trimagasi explains to Goreng, “There are three types of people… those at the top, those at the bottom, and those who fall.”
Eguileor plays the perfect extreme of what the Pit does to a person as we watch him feast on nasty leftovers, piss on inmates below, etc., even while Goreng lectures him on the ideals of the functioning of the Pit.
I will say that if you have a weak stomach, you should watch this movie with caution. However, as someone who has a pretty weak stomach themselves, the theme of the movie and the cinematography made these vile scenes worth it. If you could not care less about social and political commentaries, then save yourself the time and slight trauma.
You may be wondering, what do the lower floors do? The lowest? As you may have guessed, inmates will turn on each other and even feed on each other just to survive.
Similar to our capitalistic society, those who are lowest will do whatever it takes to get by, while those higher get to indulge with ease and lack of care.
If only capitalism had more compassion, just like the ideals Goreng lectures us on, more people would eat. Less people would starve. Less people would suffer just to get by.
Greed is our enemy. It is exactly why we may never achieve a fair system. The higher class and corporations are the higher floors, and the middle class and below must eat from their leftovers and twist themselves to fit the higher class and businesses’ desires and agendas.
With the use of music and lighting, Desola conveyed the darkness of this system perfectly in this allegory of the Pit. This movie is not an easy one to sit and watch, but would the message get across as well if it had held back on its gore and vulgarity? I really don’t think so.
I highly recommend watching and forming your own opinion. Again, just watch with caution and reflect as you get thrown right into the Pit alongside Goreng and Trimagasi.