THE PLATFORM: Bloody Sci-fi, Not for the Faint of Heart

Do you remember Cube? In it, six strangers woke up in a trap-laden maze of cubes and had to figure out how to escape. In The Platform, it’s simpler.

The characters are placed in pairs in rooms with a shaft in the center. Every day, a large concrete slab, filled to the brim with food, is lowered through it. It stops on each floor for two minutes so the next pairs of people can eat, and then it moves down to the next floors. The lower you go, the less food there is, and by the time it reaches the bottom, only empty trays remain. Each resident of the titular platform is allowed to bring one item with them. Some bring weapons, others a favorite trinket or money. Goreng (Ivan Massagué) brought a book. It’s an odd choice, because The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra might not have the necessary power to survive in a place governed by the laws of the jungle. Goreng will hear about them from his floor companion, Trimagasi (Zorion Eguileor), a seasoned local.

I really like that The Platform draws on well-known themes but blends them with grace and humor. Strangers sharing misfortune and a table full of food serve as a simple metaphor for economic systems and social inequality. Those above have more than they need, often at the expense of those below, who are left hungry. In a funny scene, Goreng tries to explain to those on the higher levels that they should save food so that there is enough for everyone. Trimagasi stops him, mocking: “Are you a communist? They don’t listen to communists up there.” Despite the macabre setting and brutal scenes, The Platform is full of humor. It often arises from the absurd and extreme situation the characters find themselves in, as they try to navigate it. This valuable distance they have from themselves and their situation saves them in moments of weakness. The most important thing is that the creators made their film in the style of a dark and brutal thriller, but they didn’t lose their sense of humor and distance. Thanks to that, the experience is not a depressive torment, but rather an adventure with suspense and moments of terror. The jokes perfectly relieve the tension.

Because of this, it’s easier to forgive the creators for The Platform’s shortcomings. Leaving aside the ending (which could, for heaven’s sake, have been more concrete), the film doesn’t resolve some of its promising threads. We learn very little about the administrators running the titular platform, as we only get to see them behind the scenes. The block that serves as the table actually levitates between floors. How is that possible? Sure, it adds mystery and a sci-fi touch, but it leaves us wanting more. Because if you see a levitating block for half the movie, viewers would want to understand what’s going on with it in the finale (like in 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick). On the other hand, some viewers may be overwhelmed by the highly graphic scenes of stabbing, slashing, throat-cutting, and acts of cannibalism. The camera doesn’t shy away from these scenes at all; it shows more and for longer than many a stomach can handle. Nevertheless, this is in line with the film’s style, so it’s not surprising that it’s rather brutal and graphic.

The Platform is a bloody game of chance, where sometimes you’re at the top, other times at the bottom, and along the way, there are many ways you can fall. The director shows us each of them, from cruelty to cannibalism. That’s why The Platform is not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach. And that’s perfectly fine because, in doing so, the film is honest with its audience. It delivers exactly what it promises, without omitting or sugar-coating anything. I wish every director could afford such honesty and respect for their audience.