The Platform

Graham Craycraft

The Platform (also translated as The Hole) is the directorial debut of Spanish director Galder Gatztelu-Urrutia. The Netflix Original can be described as a science fiction horror or thriller. The setting is a 200 plus floor vertical prison with a single square hole that travels all the way down the center. There are two prisoners per floor and only a handful of rules.

The days are simple for the prisoners. They spend time talking to their cell mate and trying to stay sane and fed. The only catch is that food is sent down the middle of the jail on a levitating platform beginning at level one and descending all the way down. So the prisoners on the top 25 or so floors never go hungry, while the prisoners on the very lowest level are threatened by starvation, or worse.

Gatztelu-Urrutia tells the story of societal hierarchies in a blunt and unsubtle way. Prisoners only remain on their floor for one month before being gassed and moved to another floor. So, those “born” each month onto a higher floor are blessed to receive as much food as they can grab in the time the platform allottes. Those on the bottom are cursed to be born on an inhospitable floor that may receive no food at all. A clear mimic at life. Those unfortunate enough to be born in impoverished and disease ridden parts of the world have done nothing worse to be born that way. Those born in first world countries automatically have safer, cleaner, and more luxurious lives, but upon birth clearly have done nothing to deserve this improvement.

Gatztelu-Urrutia shows the dark and horrible side of humanity. Some psychologists discuss how every human has the capability to perform sinister acts. For some it lurks underneath our skin and others, deep in our souls. It is the shadow to our persons. The ability to kill, mame, insult, attack and every other brutality. In The Platform every prisoner at some point will face either gnawing hunger or a desperate starvation and this will drive them to acts few can relate to as we have never been in a situation remotely similar. We are forced to look in horror and ask ourselves what we would do in that situation. 

A pair of prisoners have seen the horror of low floors and the “glory” of high floors and decide they can no longer withstand the pleasure of the good with the knowledge that those below them  are going mad.

The Platform is an excellent story of humanity’s dark, but also empathetic layers. There are beautifully shot scenes of glorious times and desperate times (and yes even the most brutal can be beautiful). Gatztelu-Urrutia is going to be an exciting man to follow. 

80/100