The Platform (2019) (aka El hoyo) Review

The Platform (2019) (aka El hoyo) Review

Two people per level. An unknown number of levels. A platform with food for all of them. Are you one of those who think too much when they are up? Or of those who have no guts when they are down? If you discover it too late, you will not live out of the hole.

Director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s excellent Spanish sci-fi horror-thriller film THE PLATFORM brought to mind the Vincenzo Natali’s CUBE (1997) as well as Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro’s DELICATESSEN (1991). It’s, by turns, savage, thought-provoking and frustrating but always utterly compelling.

Developed from an unproduced theatre script, writers David Desola and Pedro Rivero added more action to the story to enhance its transition to the big screen which didn’t always sit well with the creators of the original piece. The film was shot in chronological order as the lead actor Iván Massagué (who reminded me of the late Gene Wilder) lost weight to show his character Goreng’s physical deterioration.

The director has been quoted as saying the film’s key message is that ‘humanity will have to move towards the fair distribution of wealth’, however in light of the recent coronavirus pandemic the film has been declared ‘the perfect parable’ and ‘a visceral investigation of how a crisis can expose not only the stratification of human society but also the immutable strands of selfishness coded into our DNA’, by Sam Jones, writing for the British newspaper The Guardian.

With its brutal bursts of violence, scenes of cannibalism and people defecating on each other, it’s fair to say that this is not one for the more faint-hearted amongst you. For those have the stomach for such unsettling images THE PLATFORM is that rare find, a film that engages the cerebral matter and offers up food for thought amongst the bloody carnage.

The Platform is now available on Netflix