In a dystopian future, prisoners are housed in a vertical self-management center known as "The Pit." A slab of food descends from the top floor to the bottom once a day, leaving those on the lower levels to starve or resort to cannibalism while those above feast. When a new inmate named Goreng wakes up on level 48, he struggles to hold onto his sanity and humanity within a system designed to pit people against one another, eventually hatching a desperate plan to send a message to the administration.
Information |
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|---|---|
Language |
Spanish |
Country |
Spain |
Premiere date |
March 20, 2020 |
Running time |
94 minutes |
Genre |
Horror Sci-Fi Thriller |
Budget |
$1,200,000 |
Box Office |
$1,090,000 |
Crew |
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Directed by |
Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia |
Produced by |
Carlos Juárez David Matamoros Ángeles Hernández |
Written by |
David Desola Pedro Rivero |
Music by |
Aránzazu Calleja |
Cinematography |
Jon D. Domínguez |
Edited by |
Haritz Zubillaga Elena Ruiz |
Production Co. |
Basque Films Mr. Miyagi Films Plataforma La Película AIE |
Distributed by |
Netflix |
Official Trailer
The Plot
Level 48 and the Vertical Self-Management Center
Goreng awakens in a sterile, concrete cell marked with the number 48. Across the room, an older man named Trimagasi stares at him, welcoming him to "The Pit." Trimagasi explains that they are in a tower-style holding facility known as a Vertical Self-Management Center. A large rectangular hole sits in the center of the floor and ceiling, connecting them to an unknown number of levels above and below. Trimagasi notes that Level 48 is a "good" level. When Goreng asks about food, Trimagasi reveals the grim reality: a single platform descends once a day from Level 0, filled with an immense banquet. It stops for a few minutes on each level. The prisoners eat what the levels above leave behind, and those below eat what is left by them. Trimagasi explains they will remain on this level for exactly one month before being randomly reassigned.
Suddenly, the platform lowers, bearing the ravaged remains of a feast. Trimagasi gorges himself on scraps and wine, spitting on the prisoners below in a display of hypocrisy. Disgusted, Goreng refuses to eat the leftovers but grabs a single apple, intending to save it for later. As the platform descends, the temperature in the room rises unbearably. Trimagasi frantically explains that keeping food is strictly forbidden; the cell will either freeze or burn them to death if they hoard anything. Goreng drops the apple down the hole, and the temperature instantly returns to normal.
Voluntary Admission and the Samurai-Plus
As the days pass, the two cellmates share their histories. In a flashback, it is revealed that Goreng voluntarily admitted himself to the facility for a six-month stay. In exchange, he was promised an accredited diploma and the opportunity to quit smoking. When asked by the interviewer what single item he wished to bring, he chose a copy of the novel Don Quixote. Trimagasi is shocked by Goreng’s naivety, revealing that he is there serving a sentence for manslaughter.
Trimagasi recounts his own absurd path to The Pit. He had been watching a television advertisement for a knife sharpener called the Samurai-Max and bought it. A month later, he saw an ad for the Samurai-Plus, a self-sharpening knife by the same company. Enraged by this consumer betrayal, he threw his television out the window. The TV accidentally struck and killed an illegal immigrant. Given the choice between a psychiatric institute or a one-year sentence in The Pit, Trimagasi chose the prison. He reveals his chosen item is the very Samurai-Plus knife that caused his incarceration.
The Descent of Miharu
Goreng eventually succumbs to hunger and begins eating the scraps alongside Trimagasi. The horror of their situation deepens when a body falls past their level, crashing into the darkness below. Trimagasi estimates there are at least 132 levels, meaning no food reaches the bottom. He explains that the danger lies not just in being on a low level, but in the risk of being assigned low levels consecutively. Goreng tries to shout to the prisoners above and below, pleading for them to ration the food, but Trimagasi mocks him as a "communist," insisting that those above won't listen and those below are beneath notice.
Their routine is interrupted by the arrival of Miharu, a bloody and silent woman riding the platform down. Trimagasi explains that she is a fellow prisoner who descends the pit every month searching for her lost son. While Trimagasi eats, he casually mentions he once survived a month on a lower level by cannibalizing his cellmate. As the platform lowers to Level 49, the two men there attack Miharu. Goreng, horrified, considers jumping down to help, while Trimagasi goads him. To Goreng's surprise, Miharu brutally kills both attackers and continues her descent.
Level 171: The Bindings
The month ends, and the room fills with sedative gas. When Goreng wakes, he finds himself bound to his bed on Level 171. Trimagasi, free and looming over him, explains the gravity of their new situation. On Level 171, the platform arrives with only empty plates and broken glass. Anticipating that hunger will drive them both to madness, Trimagasi has preemptively tied Goreng up. He proposes a gruesome deal: he will not kill Goreng, but will slice small strips of flesh from him to sustain them both for the month. Trimagasi argues this is not murder, but survival, blaming the selfishness of those above.
For a week, Goreng lies helpless as Trimagasi reads Don Quixote aloud and checks the empty platform. Finally, weakened by fasting, Trimagasi decides it is time to feed. He approaches with the Samurai-Plus and cuts into Goreng's thigh. Suddenly, Miharu descends on the platform. She leaps off and attacks Trimagasi, critically wounding him with his own knife before cutting Goreng loose. Freed and fueled by rage and adrenaline, Goreng seizes the knife and brutally stabs Trimagasi to death. Miharu bandages Goreng’s leg and feeds him pieces of Trimagasi’s flesh. To survive the rest of the month, Goreng is forced to consume his former cellmate, haunted by hallucinations of Trimagasi calling them both murderers.
Level 33 and Spontaneous Solidarity
Goreng awakens on Level 33 with a new cellmate, Imoguiri, and her pet dachshund, Ramesses II. Goreng recognizes Imoguiri as the administration official who interviewed him for admission. She reveals that she, too, volunteered for the facility after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, unaware of the prison's true brutality. Imoguiri believes in the "Vertical Self-Management Center" as a social experiment designed to spark "spontaneous solidarity." She attempts to ration the food, preparing portions for the men on Level 34 and pleading with them to do the same for those below.
The men below ignore her pleas, mocking her. Goreng, cynical from his trauma, tells her that politeness will not work. When the men continue to dismiss her, Goreng shouts down, threatening to defecate on the food if they do not ration it. The threat works immediately. Imoguiri is disappointed in his methods, but Goreng insists that one cannot reason with those below, nor threaten those above.
The Death of Ramesses II
One day, the platform arrives carrying a severely injured Miharu. Goreng and Imoguiri pull her onto the bed and tend to her wounds. As they work, the room suddenly grows freezing cold. Goreng realizes Ramesses II still has a scrap of meat. He chases the dog, snatches the food, and throws it down the hole, stabilizing the temperature. That night, Goreng wakes to the sounds of a struggle. He finds Miharu has killed the dog and is eating it. After Miharu leaves, Imoguiri reveals a devastating truth: there is no child. She remembers Miharu’s file; she was an aspiring actress who entered alone. The son she searches for is a delusion.
Goreng wakes up the next month on Level 202 to a horrific sight. Imoguiri has hanged herself. Hallucinations of Trimagasi and Imoguiri torment him, with Imoguiri’s ghost offering her body as a "gift" so he can survive. Quoting scripture about the body and blood of Christ, the hallucination urges him on. Starving and desperate, Goreng uses the Samurai-Plus knife to consume Imoguiri’s flesh, surviving another month in the darkness.
Level 6 and The Ascent
Goreng wakes on Level 6, a level of abundance. His new cellmate is Baharat, a muscular and religious man determined to escape by climbing up. Baharat pleads with the couple on Level 5 to help him ascend. They lower a rope, but as Baharat climbs, they mock him and defecate on his face, causing him to fall back to Level 6. Crushed by the realization that the prisoners above will never help, Baharat sinks into despair.
Goreng, however, sees an opportunity. He calculates that if the facility has around 250 levels, there is enough food for everyone if strictly rationed. He convinces Baharat to join him in a revolutionary plan: they will ride the platform down, armed with metal bars from their bedframes, and force the prisoners to ration the food. They decide not to feed the first 50 levels, as those prisoners have eaten every day, and instead preserve the food for the lower levels. Their goal is to reach the bottom alive and send a message back to the administration.
The Descent and The Message
Goreng and Baharat arm themselves and step onto the platform. On Level 7, they immediately encounter resistance. A prisoner who has returned from a lower level refuses to fast, mocking Goreng as a messiah figure. Baharat knocks him unconscious. As they descend, they fight off prisoners who try to take more than their share. On Level 19, they meet a wise man named Sr. Brambang. He praises their mission but critiques their lack of symbolism. He urges them to keep one dish perfectly preserved—a Panna Cotta—to serve as a message to the culinary staff at Level 0 that humanity can endure.
The journey becomes a bloodbath. They ration food where they can, but are forced to use lethal violence against those who attack them. The psychological toll mounts as they witness the desperation on the lower levels. On Level 122, the platform does not stop, revealing that it bypasses levels where all prisoners are dead. On Level 124, they find Miharu being stabbed to death by a massive prisoner. They intervene, but are too late to save her. In the ensuing brawl, the attacker and a prisoner armed with a katana severely wound Baharat before being killed. Bleeding and exhausted, Goreng and Baharat continue downward, protecting the Panna Cotta at all costs.
Level 333 and The Child
The platform descends past Level 250, proving Goreng’s estimates wrong. The food runs out, leaving only the Panna Cotta. Finally, the platform comes to a halt on Level 333. There is no one to be seen, but as they prepare for the platform to rise, they spot a small girl hiding under the bed. It is Miharu’s daughter—the child Imoguiri claimed did not exist. The platform lowers into a dark void beneath Level 333, but the temperature does not fluctuate, indicating the girl is not considered a prisoner or "item."
The girl is starving. Faced with the ultimate moral dilemma, Goreng and Baharat decide to feed her the Panna Cotta, sacrificing their intended message. That night, Goreng hallucinates Trimagasi again, while Baharat bleeds out from his wounds. In a fever dream, Baharat tells Goreng that "the girl is the message." When Goreng wakes, he finds Baharat dead.
The Final Transmission
Goreng takes the child and steps onto the platform as it descends into the dark void at the very bottom of the pit. In the pitch blackness, he is met by the specter of Trimagasi one last time. Goreng prepares to ascend with the girl, believing he must accompany her to bear witness to the message. Trimagasi stops him, telling him that "the message requires no bearer." Accepting his fate, Goreng steps off the platform, walking away into the darkness with Trimagasi. He turns to watch as the platform rises rapidly, carrying the sleeping child toward Level 0, a symbol of innocence ascending from the depths of hell.
Top Cast
- Iván Massagué as Goreng
- Zorion Eguileor as Trimagasi
- Antonia San Juan as Imoguiri
- Emilio Buale as Baharat
- Alexandra Masangkay as Miharu
- Eric Goode as Sr. Brambang
- Mario Pardo as Baharat's Friend
- Txubio Fernández-Jáuregui as Chef
Movie Collection
- The Platform (2019)
- The Platform 2 (2024)
