Spoiler Alert: Netflix Spanish Thriller 'The Platform' Explained

If you haven't watched The Platform yet, then you really should. This high-concept, nail-biting Spanish thriller has gained a lot of attention since it was picked up by Netflix.

The 2019 film first debuted at the Toronto Film Festival where it received the People's Choice Award for Midnight Madness and eventually landed a deal with the streaming giant Netflix.

What is The Platform about?

The Platform (El Hoyo in Spanish) is a film that takes place in a vertical prison with one cell and two prisoners per level. Every cell has a hole in the middle where a platform (hence the name) comes down bearing hundreds of dishes.

The platform stops on every level, two minutes per day. For those on the upper levels, every day is a feast. For prisoners on the lower levels, every day is a nightmare.

Why should I watch this movie?

The Platform is a treat that starts off absolutely crazy and carries itself on until the end without getting lost in the narrative. It plays on its own rules and tramples on its audience's comfort or tolerance for grade-A nastiness.

The 2019 hit offers viewers a generous heap of murder, cannibalism, rape, and suicide. It resembles Dante's idea of an infernal hell infiltrated by an unassuming prisoner who signed up for a six-month stint (and chose to bring a copy of Miguel Cervantes' Don Quixote) in exchange for an academic diploma.

The Spanish film is anything but a straight-up thriller. It includes a lot of symbolism that gives the movie a whole lot of depth.

The movie takes a swipe at the modern-day theory that convinced the current generation that if we serve banks and big businesses enough, they'll give us some share of their billions. It also discusses religion, meat-eating, and its own take of Don Quixote.

It's a load to take in and process, especially because the movie has fewer than a dozen speaking characters.

The concept of the film definitely dives deep in the dystopian 'reality' and psyche that was carefully built to give viewers a jaw-dropping revelation. It also explores human entitlement, unabashed greed, and the indifference of those sitting above to the chaos happening below.

What happens in the movie?

Goreng, our lead prisoner, wakes up in a walled cell and meets his fellow prisoner who teaches him how to scramble for food on a midlevel floor. The film takes a quick 180-degree turn when the old man tells Goreng to prepare to be "food" if they get transported to a level beyond 100 after a month(the prisoners are rotated monthly).

The lead quickly realizes those below the midlevel fight for scraps, and those who are placed beyond the 100th floor are left with shards of glass and empty plates. Goreng, who has already become human chow and uninterested midway through, suddenly meets another prisoner who has had enough of the broken system.

Sparking interest, Goreng and the prisoner arm themselves with metal poles and force the top 50 levels to skip a meal in hopes of having enough left to ration to the lower levels---only to discover there were more than 200 levels and barely anyone left alive or uneaten.

How did the film end?

Goreng and his companion reach the last level, 333, where they find a girl hiding under a bed. The girl, who is below 16 and should not be there, is a symbol of humanity's resilience and an indication that change can only come from the younger generation.

The pair decide to hoist the child on the platform as a message to the people running the corrupted facility.

The film addresses the real world's broken system which leaves every man to fend for himself, unknowingly affecting defenseless children. It dives deep into the concept of tyranny and survival and is unafraid to show that traces of corruption from the higher-up fosters injustice on its people.

The Platform is a truly brutal capitalist horror film that could not have come at a better time. It's harrowing, thought-provoking, and will likely leave a lasting impression on its viewers.