The Platform Netflix Movie Review

The Platform [El Hoyo] (2019)

Watch The Platform on Netflix
Written by: David Desola  (screenplay by), David Desola (story by), Pedro Rivero (screenplay by)
Directed by: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
Starring:  Ivan Massagué, Zorion Eguileor, Antonia San Juan, Emilio Buale
Rated: TV-MA
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More Information

Plot
A vertical prison with one cell per level, two people per cell. One only food platform and two minutes per day to feed from top to bottom. It's an endless nightmare.

Verdict
This is a fun mind bender movie. It's a great concept, different from most movies with an inexplicable prison that drives people crazy. The lower floors don't eat, and there's only one way that can go. The question of what this is soon becomes how will it end. It's ambiguous, but since the ending doesn't ruin it that's an accomplishment. The movie relies on a concept that can't be explained, and that works.
Watch it.

Review
The question of how this works is never answered. How does this platform descend? There are no cables, no rails. It just floats, but that's not what this movie is about, this is concept. A single platform loaded with food starts at level one and descends two hundred some levels. It stops at each floor for two minutes, and that's the only time prisoners can eat. By the time the platform gets to the lower levels there isn't much food left.

The platform of food.

It reminds me a lot of Cube (1997). Another budget, weird prison movie with a cool premise. WHo knows how this works, but it's the idea of what would you do and how do you beat it that makes it a fun movie.

The movie can mean almost anything. It seems like a political message, taking a shot atcaptitalism and government. The people at the top are rich and the people at the bottom die. It's anything you want it to be to a degree. People are selfish, unwilling to help each other. With the prisoners changing floors every month, it makes them less willing to help. A guy on the lower levels feels it is his right to gorge when he gets to the upper level.

It's hard to nail the ending of a movie like this. Explaining everything rarely goes well. This does an okay job. It's ambiguous as there is no other option, but it's not a bad ending. Though it does introduce more questions if you take it literally.