Goreng -- played wonderfully by Iván Massagué -- just want a degree, to quit smoking and to read Don Quixote in peace. But when he wakes up, he's inside a vertical prison where the food is delivered by a platform and will be determined by the people up top leftover.
"The Platform" combines and literalize social class and capitalism in a ruminative narrative that challenges our idea about community and ideal economic system. Beyond that, what surprises me, the movie draws subtle inspiration from the Bible but in a more contemporary and humanistic way.
"The Platform" is clearly for those who loved movies that put human morals to the extreme, but what makes "The Platform" a different experience is that it makes us look into a metaphor of poverty without the inclusion of any traps and contraptions. It's interesting to note that this movie is all about descent rather than ascend -- even though life up top means comfort and superiority -- the story has this certain persistence to takes us further below to not just emphasize on the glaring difference between those who have the privilege and not but to also let us see what is happening below, wherein the problem of hunger is constant and killing or be killed is a normality.
It's hard not to notice how Iván Massagué's character shyly resembles Jesus Christ in this movie. From his looks to his messianic complex, "The Platform" question our faith for salvation but leave the answer ambiguous for us to ponder instead. Is faith in the people up top enough to save a life? Does Goreng descend really matters? Is the "hole" a representation of heaven, earth, and hell?
Obviously, this movie requires a lot of rewatching to be fully consumed as it introduces more questions than answer throughout its one and half hour runtime. Why do they have to carry one item only? Why are there only two people per floor? What is the significance of the ghost that guides Goreng? Director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia understand how cinema can be a platform to articulate questions for us, the viewers, to see reality more clearly and with "The Platform" he dares us to think on how capitalism, morality and social order connect to one another and how our religion affected all of these.
3.5/5
