Sick. That was the feeling I felt after watching the movie, “The Platform.’ I felt a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. The movie’s compelling influence left me in suspense with chills over my body that made me want to watch more of director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s eerie production.

“The Platform” sends a political message to society about the corrupt government of capitalism. In my opinion, the movie does a phenomenal job of connecting the message to the concept of the movie. If you are looking for a thriller that will leave you with goosebumps, I highly suggest watching “The Platform.”

The unique plot takes place in the future in a dystopian society. Prisoners are placed in a structure called “the Hole”which consists of 333 vertical levels where two people live together on each level. Once a day for two minutes, a platform of food is brought down in the middle of each level. There the prisoners are only allowed to eat during those two minutes. However, as the levels go further down, the less food remains. For example, level one has unlimited, untouched food. After level one eats, level two eats the remaining food from level one. The ratio gets smaller and smaller so that around level 140, there is almost never any food. This results in the prisoners killing each other and resorting to cannibalism. Each month, the prisoners wake up in a different level where they never know if they will be eating on level eight or dying on level 188. 

Goreng (Ivan Massagué) is the main protagonist who is the main focus throughout the film. Goreng struggles with the idea of “the Hole”. We witness his mental and physical challenges which eventually lead him to protest against the society’s experiment of “the Hole”.

The original and notable concept of the movie is what really intrigued me. I had never heard of a plot so different and odd before. I was instantly captivated within the first 10 minutes of the movie. Originality is hard to find these days in movies. I feel like all movies have kind of blended together, but “The Platform” sticks out among the rest.

I loved how the movie portrayed a powerful message of the problems surrounding capitalism, and the idea of how the top status receives endless luxury while the bottom status suffers. It made the movie more influential because it creates capitalistic societies about unequal distribution of resources, and the notion that things can change quickly. One day you might be at the top and the next day you are at the bottom. I believe great movies present great themes and this film does exactly that.

However, the only thing I did not like about the movie was the ending. Without stating any spoilers, the ending of the movie is very ambiguous and unclear. Maybe it’s Gaztelu-Urrutia way of letting the audience decide what happens, but for me, I just wanted an obvious answer. What happened to the little girl? What happened to “the Hole”? The ending did leave me with chills and wanting more. 

The Netflix movie was released in September 2019. It is currently rated number nine on Netflix for the U.S. today. The horror/sci-fi thriller is originally a Spanish film, but Netflix dubbed the sound to match an English version. 

Altogether, “The Platform” was an innovative and fresh film that was different from the typical dystopian society movies. It provided action, suspense and a powerful message. I recommend if you are looking for a thriller during this quarantine to check out “The Platform” on Netflix.