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The Platform on Netflix
Released: 2019
Setting: a prison building with many floors in the dystopian future
Genre: psychological horror
The Platform synopsis
I tend to stay away from movies or shows with a lot of violence. Aside from me just not liking the violence, it’s usually a cheap plot filler and requires a less interesting, developed story. But The Platform was one case where the violence was truly necessary to the plotline, so it was still a compelling tale. Other examples of that are Ozark and Wentworth, which I mention in My Ultimate List of Netflix Shows.
In The Platform a man is quarantined together with his cellmate in a building with a few hundred levels, each holding another pair of prisoners. The levels are rotated every month by the “administration,” and every prisoner gets a new roommate as well, similar to teachers mixing up the classes in a school. They are fed everyday with a sprawling feast prepared by world class chefs that has been laid out on a platform for them to eat from. There’s only one catch to this meal plan though. The platform passes through the levels starting at the top and stays on each level for 2 minutes. Those in the middle levels are grateful for the leftovers…the bottom end up starving.
As time passes we meet each of the main character’s cellmates and see how he and they cope with these extenuating circumstances. Will they take their lives for the benefit of others, kill for cannibalism, turn to religion or something else?
The Platform on Netflix: My Analysis
While this fight-for-survival movie is all about its messages, it’s not 100% clear what they are. Here’s my take. When we boil it down, survival instincts make up a huge portion of how we behave in this world, so every characters’ coping mechanism could reference a way people go about their everyday lives. They could also reference ways groups react to the systems they find themselves in.
The feast was prepared with the finest ingredients by the most experienced chefs—a laugh in the face of the prisoners. This wasn’t just about killing or punishing people. It was about studying them too. This was interesting to note because the main character wasn’t there as a criminal. He participated in this experiment in exchange for a degree. He was being studied as he was “studying.” Participating in this experiment taught him something but I’m not sure it was what he needed for a career (and I’m sure the producers want us to note this).
Those on higher levels had real distain for those on the lower, grabbing as much food as they could eat within the two minutes, no thought of the people waiting to pick through it all. They even spit on the food afterwards and some went to the bathroom through the platform hole despite the toilets on every level. And of course, they didn’t try to eat less than their share for those below them.
But almost everyone had been through the desperation at the bottom of the totem pole at one point. Why couldn’t they have compassion? They could all relate, why couldn’t they unite? It was probably a way to feel some control in a world where they were completely powerless.
*Spoilers ahead* Well, the main character and his cellmate did set out to distribute the food fairly, but the overall dynamic showed how when people have their power taken away, they’ll flaunt whatever little power they do have, however fleeting, pointless and even detrimental to them it is. This concept was probably one of the ones the administration wanted to study, putting us, the viewers, in a similar observatory perspective.
The Platform 2
It seems Netflix is making a sequel to this movie and it’s coming out soon. I’m not sure I want a sequel. I think it was great as a stand-alone, but of course I’m gonna watch it. See the trailer above.
My Thoughts on Netflix’s The Platform
You know you’re watching a good movie when you’re just trying to figure out what it all means and don’t really pay attention to anything else. The Platform was clearly a message-driven movie, despite it not being 100% clear what those messages were. I loved that it left room for a few different interpretations.
My rating: 8.5/10.
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