Inside a vertical prison system called The Hole, there are two people per cell and over 300 levels. A platform with food descends from the hole in the middle of the building from the first floor to the last. If everyone eats what they need, a small ration, the food will reach the bottom. However, everyone taking their required amount is rarely the practical spectacle.
The film’s most clever social insight comes once a month when everyone changes levels. For example, you could be on level 5 enjoying a feast, and the following month you could be on level 60 starving and deciding between death or cannibalism.
The social allegory is clear; if the haves did not take more than what they needed, there would be enough left for the have nots. The film does not leave this here but expands and unravels this statement through its various twists. What captivated me the most was how the changing floors affected the people. If someone rose up from the bottom, rather than being sympathetic to those below, they seem to take more and more in order to recover the time they lost in the lower levels and aware they might never get closer to the top again.
The most critical line of the movie comes at the start “there are three types of people: those at the top, those at the bottom and those who fall.” In the movie, this refers to 3 types of people, the ones who are well fed at the top, those who are starving at the bottom, and those who descend in order to bring change. However, I see this as a parable to real life. Three types of people, those who are content with themselves, those who want to change but lack the means, and those who risk everything to bring change in their lives.
Overall, The Platform is a grisly, thought-provoking thriller film that stands out because of the social issues it symbolizes, ranging from capitalism and greed to how society functions (or fails to do so). Definitely take out the time to watch The Platform as a mirror reflection of our world.