Movie Review: The Platform

chekohler (70)in GEMS • 6 years ago

Hey Netflixers

Since the lockdown, you'd think I'd be smashing through the movies and series yet in my desperation I turned more to research than to watching anything available. The truth is there's a whole lot of rubbish and sub-par entertainment getting their fair share of views with people having more free time and less competition from live events and sports for their attention.

One can only watch the news for so long before you need a release and escape and what better way to escape our current dystopian lives than to watch a movie about exactly that.

The Platform is a Spanish horror movie currently on Netflix and it has quite a bit to say about our current society, political climate, and economy, while also being gruesome. It draws from movies like Flight Club and Snowpiercer so if you liked those, this one might interest you.

What is The Platform about?

A man voluntarily enters prison for 6 months on condition that he is given a degree once he is released but this is no ordinary prison. This is a vertical prison with one cell per level. Two people per cell and hundreds of levels. Each day a food platform descends between the levels and two minutes per day to feed from up to down. An endless nightmare trapped in The Hole.

The meal remains left from the tenants from higher levels are left and the majority have to live on scraps or nothing. At first, Goreng learns from his fellow cellmates on how they have survived but not driven change but eventually, he starts to think more radically on how he can break the system and free everyone from this horrible cycle they all perpetuate on one another.

Poster for The Platform - Image source: IMDB

What I Thought of The Platform

The movie is easy to follow, and presented with a simple premise, that the world has enough resources for everyone's needs, but not everyone's greed. It speaks to the fact that we live in a broken system and to make a change it takes a monumental shift and solidarity on all levels since the change from those at the top is unlikely since they benefit the most.

You will need to watch this movie carefully as everything is a metaphor, the props, the dialogue, the lead characters' look and the story arc of the lead character.

The set design is pretty basic, the lighting and camera work is done well to give us the feel of deep isolation. The visuals are pretty grotesque and leave you feeling sick to your stomach at the lengths of human cruelty and what they can justify when their lives are at stake.

I actually don't want to go into too much detail as it would require spoilers and I'd encourage people to watch it instead.

Trailer for The Platform

My rating for The Platform

The movie is more than horror but a different view of our society and each character is a manifestation of the classes we currently have all trying to survive in a broken system. The Platform is a thinking piece if you give it the time and closely listen to the dialogue and asks some pretty hard questions.

It also shows you don't need a backstory, famous actors or great CGI to be a great movie. I enjoyed it as it was a change from the usual cookie-cutter stories we've been forced fed of late.

The movie ending is open-ended and doesn't give us the satisfying conclusion mot of us would like and that's where I feel it doesn't do justice to the world it has built. Other than that it's a pretty entertaining and thought-provoking piece.

I would have to give this move 7 Panna cottas out of 10