Netflix’s The Platform has been much discussed across the internet since it dropped earlier this month.
The thriller is set in a prison system called ‘the pit’ in which the only source of food is moved downwards through floors each day.
The Platform focuses on inmate Goreng (Iván Massagué) who tries to make sense of his new environment as he teams-up with a fellow inmate to try and send a message to those running the system.
While many would interpret the film as a critique of capitalism, director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia has explained that it’s a criticism of many ideologies.
“We certainly do think that there has to be a better distribution of wealth, but the film is not strictly about capitalism,” he told Digital Spy.
“There may be a criticism of capitalism from the beginning, but we do show that as soon as Goreng and Baharat try out socialism to convince the other prisoners to willingly share their food, they end up killing half of the people they set out to help.
“In the end, the problem arises when you try to demand everyone’s collaboration, and you see that there is no big achievement by the end. Goreng does what he set out to do in bringing the panna cotta and the child down to the lowest level, but he didn’t change anyone’s mind about sharing the food.”
The film ends with them sending up a girl as a ‘symbol’ to the top level, though Gaztelu-Urrutia has explained that this ending was purposefully ambiguous.
“To me, that lowest level doesn’t exist,” he continued. “Goreng is dead before he arrives, and that’s just his interpretation of what he felt he had to do.
“Ultimately I wanted it to be open to interpretation, whether the plan worked and the higher-ups even care about the people in the pit. We actually did film a different ending of the girl arriving at the first level, but we took it out of the movie.
“I’ll leave what happens to your imagination.”
