The Platform is a science fiction esque thriller, directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia and is the story of a man named Goreng who wakes up on the 48th floor of a prison (The Pit) a prison he volunteered to go to for six months in exchange for a degree and to help him quit smoking. However what he was not told is the circumstances he would endure as every day a table with the greatest meal imaginable goes from floor to floor starting at 1 and making its way down the floors (or up numerically) and the higher number floor you are on the less food you have to eat ‘Obviously’ also every month they gas the place knocking out the inmates and then you wake up on a new floor sometimes better…sometimes worse ‘Obviously’
So here is a little story on how i found this movie… So i was playing Doom Eternal trying to get through it as quickly as i could to get my review up and all of a sudden my game crashed and my save corrupted so i calmly (very annoyed) loaded up Netflix straight away (after 20 mins of sulking and feeling sorry for myself.) and begin to look for something to take my mind of the hours i had just wasted. Then my girlfriend who was already sick of watching me play video games 1 day into quarantine suggested we watch The Platform ( it was number 3 most popular in the UK for that day) So i agreed and we put the english dub on and gave it a watch.
First impression i had was it reminded me of the film ‘The Cube’ (a shitty little guilty pleasure of mine) but it’s an insult to compare the two, the more the film goes on the better it gets (on the most part) and it’s a thrilling and somewhat disturbing story that explores human decency and the extent people will go to in order to survive.
Also given our current situation of Covid-19 lockdown the film is as relateable as they get, Just like real life the movie explores just how greedy humans are and how given the chance will take more than they need simply because they can. For those who have tried to reasonably shop recently will understand exactly what i’m talking about.
The movie is gripping and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the acting from a facial performance were great i’m sure the spanish actors did great too but the dub was kind of cheesy and lackluster at times, as are most dubs but overall it didn’t detract from the overall feel of the movie too much. It still packs a punch with its messages and gives us a lot to admire throughout its unique premise.
The film falters slightly in its ending as I just feel films that don’t really tie up everything at the end and leave most of it to the imagination and interpretation are lazy and only happen when the filmmakers don’t know how to wrap things up themselves. This isn’t always the case but The Platform suffers from this decision and could have used just a little more at the end to wrap things up, for example.
*SPOILERS AHEAD* HIGH LIGHT TO REVEAL
After the message has been sent (the girl they find on floor 333) we see the girl flying up on the platform back to the top floor where administration lives and then the film ends. What would have been a little better is just another minute or so of the girl arriving at administration and someone there finding her and looking horrified or seem to so some humanity or remorse. This would give the audience more to work with thinking that even though the people behind The Pit are terrible people but they may have enough goodness in them to re-think the purpose and the brutality of The Pit rather than us having to come up completely with the aftermath story ourselves.
Final Score.
Title:Good
The Platform is a great watch and for people that do not like reading subtitles there is a english audio dub, so there is no excuse to not to watch it…I mean what else are you going to do…not go outside i hope ‘Obviously’.
Head Over Reels 