A new gory Spanish thriller “The Platform” was released onto Netflix on Friday, March 20. 

The movie is about, obviously, a platform. The platform is in a tiered prison, with two prisoners able to walk freely in their open cell on each floor. Food is placed on the platform, and it goes down to every floor. The thing is, the prisoners on the higher levels of the prison get all of the food, and, by the time it gets to the bottom, there is no food left for anyone on the lower levels. The prisoners are sedated and placed on a new level every month, so there is a chance that they will be on a higher level one month and a very low level the next. 

The story centers around Goreng (Iván Massagué), a man staying in the facility willingly for six months in exchange for a diploma. The level he is first placed on is 48, where there is still some food, but it is very picked through. He meets his cellmate, Trimagasi (Zorion Eguileor), who explains to him the system of the platform. 

We meet a few more characters throughout the movie, but the main focus is Goreng. Others he meets are Miharu (Alexandra Masangkay), a woman who rides down the platform once a month in search of her child. Another is Imoguiri (Antonia San Juan), the woman who admitted him into the facility and Baharat (Emilio Buale Coka), another cellmate of Goreng’s. 

The movie, in its core, is about gluttony and inequality. The prisoners at the very top levels trash their food and eat way more than they are supposed to, and they think it is justified because they were on a lower level the month before. 

Goreng and others try to portion out food to the lower levels, but the people below do not listen. Baharat and Goreng decide to ride the platform all the way down and force everyone to eat only their portion so that the system becomes fairer. The movie has an ambiguous ending, and people online have been giving their own interpretations of it. 

The movie is gory and shocking. There’s violence, cannibalism, suicide and animal abuse, so keep that in mind. 

“The Platform” currently has an 84-percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It is available on Netflix and is dubbed in English.