The Platform

What Goes Up, Must Come Down...

Adam Frazier

Mar 31, 2020

The Platform (El Hoyo)

Genre: Science Fiction / Horror-Thriller
Release Date: March 20, 2020
Running Time: 94 Minutes
Rated: TV-MA (Violence, Nudity, Language, Gore, Smoking)

Behind the Scenes

Directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
Written by David Desola, Pedro Rivero
Cinematography by Jon D. Domínguez
Music by Aranzazu Calleja
Distributed by Netflix

What’s It About?

“Inside a vertical prison system, inmates are assigned to a level and forced to ration food from a platform that descends the levels of the tower, feeding the upper tiers first and leaving those below them with only the scraps from above. After learning the rules of ‘The Hole,’ one man (Iván Massagué) tries to effect change so that everyone gets enough to eat in this twisted social allegory about class and capitalism.”

Why You Should Check It Out

Take Ben Wheatley’s HIGH RISE (2015), Bong Joon Ho’s SNOWPIERCER (2013), and Vincenzo Natali’s CUBE (1997), throw in a dash of THE RAID: REDEMPTION (2011), DREDD (2012), and RAVENOUS (1999), and you’ve got THE PLATFORM, Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s ambitious directorial debut about classism and the economic food chain.

Iván Massagué stars as Goreng, who finds himself sharing a cell with Trimagasi (Zorion Eguileor), a peculiar older gentleman who helps the new inmate get up to speed. Tiers are assigned randomly each month. At the end of each month, everyone is gassed and passes out. When they wake up, they’re on a different level. The higher you are, the more likely you are to eat. Those at the top live out the month comfortably, gorging themselves on the lion’s share. Those at the bottom, however, must fight for survival as hunger pushes them to the point of murder, cannibalism, and madness.

THE PLATFORM certainly won’t be hailed as the feel-good movie of 2020, but I have no doubt it will wind up being one of my favorites of the year. If you enjoy bold, high-concept genre movies, you’re going to dig Gaztelu-Urrutia’s impressive debut. Massagué delivers a strong lead performance while Zorion Eguileor delivers Big Creep Energy™ as the knife-wielding, shit-talking Trimagasi, who feels like an amalgam of Hannibal Lecter, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, and a Chucky doll.

The film’s simple but richly thematic premise is bolstered by incredible visuals conjured by production designer Azegiñe Urigoitia, art director Azegiñe Urigoitia, and cinematographer Jon D. Domínguez, who help Gaztelu-Urrutia fully realize his dystopian future setting. Like CUBE and DONNIE DARKO, THE PLATFORM is one of those obscure, out-there genre movies I would take a chance on at the video store back in the day and be rewarded with a mind-blowing experience.

THE PLATFORM is currently on Netflix. Be sure to watch it with the original European Spanish audio and English subtitles – Netflix seems to default to the dubbed English audio track, which is no bueno.

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