The Platform 2 (2024) is the chilling prequel-sequel to the Spanish dystopian hit, directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia. Returning to the vertical prison known as "The Pit," this installment explores the brutal rise of a dogmatic social order and the chaos that ensues when new inmates challenge "The Law."
Synopsis
As a mysterious leader imposes their own strict laws within The Pit to ensure food distribution, a new resident named Perempuán becomes embroiled in the battle against this controversial method. But when eating from the wrong plate becomes a death sentence enforced by zealous "Loyalists," she must decide how far she is willing to go to save her life and destroy the system from within.
Information |
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Language |
Spanish |
Country |
Spain |
Premiere date |
October 4, 2024 |
Running time |
99 minutes |
Genre |
Sci-Fi Horror Thriller Drama Mystery |
Budget |
Undisclosed (Netflix Production) |
Box Office |
Netflix Streaming Release |
Crew |
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Directed by |
Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia |
Produced by |
Carlos Juárez Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia Raquel Perea |
Written by |
David Desola Pedro Rivero Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia Egoitz Moreno |
Music by |
Aitor Etxebarria |
Cinematography |
Jon Sangroniz |
Edited by |
Haritz Zubillaga |
Production Co. |
Basque Films Netflix |
Distributed by |
Netflix |
Top Cast |
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Official Trailer |
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Movie Collection |
Movie Order: #02 in The Platform Collection
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The Plot
The Facility and The Pizza
In a sterile, concrete room within a mysterious facility, a group of children plays. Most link hands, dancing in a joyful circle around a slide, while others take turns sliding down. In stark contrast to this innocence, several adults undergo rigorous interviews for admittance into the "Vertical Self-Management Center." Their answers vary wildly regarding their favorite foods and the single item they are permitted to bring. Among them is Zamiatin, a large, shaved man who menacingly threatens that if he does not receive his pizza every day, he will become "upset." When pressed, he intimidates his interviewer, daring him to read his file. The file reveals a violent truth: Zamiatin was admitted after committing arson against his own parents' house.
Level 24: The Law of Solidarity
Zamiatin awakens in the Pit on Level 24, only to find his beloved pizza has been devoured by a prisoner above on Level 21. Enraged, he snatches a chicken wing from the passing platform. Immediately, prisoners on Level 23 shout down, reminding him of "The Law" and demanding he not eat a dish belonging to someone else. His cellmate on the floor above, a man referred to as "The Frenchman," promises that he and other "Loyalists" will protect Zamiatin, but only if he adheres to the strict code of solidarity. Eating another's dish, he warns, will incite anarchy and starve those on lower levels.
Zamiatin’s cellmate, a woman named Perempuán, agrees with the Loyalists and offers Zamiatin one of her own croquettes to defuse the situation. Zamiatin accepts the trade and returns the stolen wing. The Frenchman thanks him for respecting the Law, promising to defend his pizza from the "Barbarians" the following day. Perempuán introduces herself, and a flashback reveals the significance of her dish: ham croquettes, a recipe once made by her ex-boyfriend. In her interview, she admits to volunteering for the Pit to find time to "forget what she did."
The War Against the Barbarians
As night falls, the Pit echoes with the chant of "44." The Frenchman explains that communication has been severed at Level 44, leaving the fair distribution of food below that point in doubt. When Perempuán asks about the Pit's depth, the Frenchman reveals there are 333 levels, and their mission is to feed everyone. He assures them that Loyalists on levels 19 and 20 will handle the Barbarians on level 21 to protect Zamiatin’s pizza. Meanwhile, a flashback to Zamiatin’s interview exposes a discrepancy: the fire he set was minor, and his parents actually sent him to the Pit because they were afraid of his unstable behavior.
The next day, chaos erupts. The Barbarians have slaughtered the Loyalists above and are riding the platform down, consuming everything. The Frenchman orders Level 24 to prepare for combat. As the platform descends, a brutal melee ensues. A woman from Level 23, attempting to frantically clear food before the temperature rises, catches fire and falls onto Level 24. Zamiatin watches in horror as Perempuán extinguishes the burning woman. The Frenchman is nearly overpowered, but Perempuán intervenes, helping to incapacitate the attacking Barbarian. Together, they race against the freezing temperature to clear the level of food. Afterward, the Frenchman announces his plan to ride the platform down to find the "Anointed Ones," the legendary enforcers of the Master’s solidarity revolution. Zamiatin mocks the Frenchman’s idealism, dubbing him "Robespierre."
Custodians of the Waste
Following the battle, the platform arrives the next day laden with food. Zamiatin is overjoyed to find his pizza intact and devours it. Robespierre, enforcing strict equality, flushes the dishes of those who died in the previous day's fighting. Zamiatin is annoyed by the waste, but Robespierre insists that surplus creates inequality and no one should benefit from death. He designates them "custodians," ordering them to flush the dead's meals daily. Robespierre then takes the captured Barbarian and descends into the darkness to find the Anointed Ones.
In the days that follow, Perempuán adheres to the flushing protocol, though Zamiatin secretly eats some of the discarded food. A bond forms between them. On the last day of the month, Perempuán finishes a charcoal drawing and asks Zamiatin to contribute. He reveals his past as a mathematics professor who abandoned his field after refusing to accept the existence of imaginary numbers, specifically the square root of negative one. As the prisoners cheer for the food reaching Level 175, Perempuán and Zamiatin share a reluctant dance to commemorate the moment.
Level 180: The Mathematics of Despair
The new month brings a horrific awakening on Level 180. The Loyalists report that communication is cut from Level 169 downwards. The platform arrives completely empty. As days turn into a starving wait, Perempuán draws with a razor while Zamiatin plays with his lighter, his mental state deteriorating. A severed head falls down the hole—a grim sign from the Anointed Ones. Zamiatin begins coughing blood, and reports from above indicate that the Anointed Ones are closing in on Barbarians at Level 169. They also mention a "fat man" from Level 24 who was seen eating the dead's food, sparking fear in Zamiatin that Perempuán will be punished for his transgressions.
A flashback exposes Zamiatin’s true history: he was not a professor, but a high school dropout and failed businessman whose family evicted him. His parents sent him to the Pit due to his lack of discipline. On the final night, consumed by guilt and delirium, Zamiatin stands over the hole. He confesses his lies to Perempuán, asking her to tell his children he loves them. To spare her from punishment by association, he sets his clothes on fire and throws himself into the abyss, his burning body illuminating the darkness as prisoners below cheer at the "punishment."
Level 51: The Law of Revenge
Perempuán wakes on Level 51 with a new cellmate, Sahabat, a one-armed woman. They are warned by neighbors that a Barbarian is on Level 54—the same glutton who starved prisoners the previous month. Perempuán, seeking justice for the suffering she endured, decides to act. When the platform arrives, ravaged by newcomers, she and Sahabat prepare. A severed head falls, signaling the arrival of a ruthless Anointed One named Dagin Babi.
Determined to stop the Level 54 Barbarian, Sahabat rips a metal bar from her bedframe, and she and Perempuán jump onto the platform to ride it down. They descend, ignoring protests from the men on Level 52 to maintain the communication chain. Upon reaching Level 54, they are immediately attacked. After a vicious struggle, they corner the Barbarian. He pleads for his life, claiming he was only trying to survive. Perempuán, moved by pity, spares him and lets him escape, much to Sahabat's fury. It is then revealed that Sahabat is a veteran of the Pit; she lost her arm and her former lover, Kekasih, to Dagin Babi’s brutal enforcement of the Law after they fed a starving man illicitly. Sahabat proposes a desperate escape plan involving the use of Sevoflurane gas during the decontamination cycle.
The Judgment of Dagin Babi
The next morning, the women see a disemboweled man tied to the bottom of the platform—a calling card of Dagin Babi. Terrified, they debate riding the platform down to escape his judgment, but they are too late. Dagin Babi and his followers arrive. Initially, he offers them wine, commending their "participation in pacification." However, the mood shifts instantly when he learns they acted without authorization. Adhering to a black-and-white interpretation of the Law, Dagin Babi sentences the men on Level 52 to death for negligence and orders severe punishments for the women.
Perempuán is sentenced to lose an arm for her first offense, while Sahabat, a repeat offender, is sentenced to death. Despite a young prisoner's warning that Perempuán plans to "eat a dog" (a reference to her escape plan), the Loyalists mock him. The punishments are carried out ruthlessly: Perempuán’s arm is crushed and amputated by the moving platform, and Sahabat is stripped and tied to it to meet her end.
Level 72: The Rebellion
Perempuán survives and awakens on Level 72 with a new cellmate: Trimagasi, the man with the self-sharpening knife. The platform arrives full of food, and Trimagasi gorges himself, ignoring the insults from above. Perempuán, now disillusioned with the Law, invites Trimagasi to join her in a rebellion. They ride the platform down, recruiting prisoners—including Baharat and even the spared Level 54 Barbarian—building a chaotic army to challenge the Anointed Ones.
On Level 93, the group finds a painting of a "drowning dog," which Perempuán recognizes as the key to Sahabat's escape plan. However, their rebellion faces a stalemate. Dagin Babi, positioned above, discards all food to starve the rebels into submission. Faced with starvation, Trimagasi proposes cannibalizing the prisoners below. The Barbarian faction agrees, leading to a month of gruesome slaughter, including the consumption of Robespierre. Perempuán, however, steadfastly refuses to participate in the cannibalism.
The Artist's Confession and The Massacre
A flashback reveals the tragic reason for Perempuán’s voluntary admission. She was an artist whose sculptures depicted animal brutality. During an exhibition, her boyfriend’s son tripped and impaled himself on one of her sharp, unguarded sculptures, a "dog made of blades." Though she faced no legal consequences and her fame grew, the guilt of the boy's death consumed her.
Back in the Pit, the conflict reaches its climax on Level 105. The platform descends, carrying a fortification made of mattresses. A massive battle erupts between the starving rebels and the Loyalists. Perempuán, armed with Trimagasi’s knife, fights through the chaos. The slaughter is absolute; bodies pile up on the platform. In the aftermath, she finds a mortally wounded Dagin Babi, who uses his dying breath to claim she has condemned them all. Perempuán pockets the painting of the drowning dog, refusing to torture the dying man.
The Escape via Decontamination
With the battle over and the month ending, Perempuán prepares to execute Sahabat’s escape theory. She offers Trimagasi the chance to join her, but he refuses, content with having lived his "best month." As the room fills with the sleep-inducing gas for decontamination, Perempuán eats the painting, hoping the toxic pigments will poison her just enough to bypass the gas's effects and fake her death. She convulses and falls unconscious.
She wakes up not in a bed, but strapped to a pile of corpses. She is in the decontamination zone, floating in zero gravity as workers clean the facility. Realizing the bodies are being moved toward a disposal abyss rather than the exit, she struggles free. She manages to hide under a bed on Level 333. From her hiding spot, she witnesses workers placing a young boy from the children's facility onto the level. Torn between escaping and saving the child, she chooses the boy. She pushes off toward him but strikes her head violently on the ceiling, falling unconscious again.
The Final Descent
Perempuán experiences a nightmare involving a bearded man and burned figures, but awakens to find herself on the platform with the boy. Together, they ride the platform down into the unknown depths, far below the charted levels. When they reach the absolute bottom, a group of prisoners emerges from the shadows. A woman informs Perempuán that "only the boy can ascend."
Accepting her fate, Perempuán refuses to leave the child until she is sure he is safe. The prisoners assure her that her journey is over and that the boy will have a second chance. They help her off the platform, and she watches as the platform shoots back up at incredible speed, carrying the child toward the surface. A montage follows, showing the platform descending into the abyss over various months, carrying different prisoners, until it reveals Goreng.
The Reunion
Goreng, the protagonist of the previous story, arrives at the bottom with a little girl. Trimagasi is there to greet him, telling him his journey is finished. Goreng steps off, watching the girl ascend, reciting that "the girl is the message." As he turns back to the darkness of the pit, he sees Perempuán. She asks him why he is there. In a moment of transcendent closure, the two embrace in the darkness, reunited in the afterlife of the Pit.
