*spoilers ahead*
With how the government has been handling the pandemic in the country, it’s understandable that we’re all pretty frustrated, with a lot of us talking about the need for accountability and a sense of urgency. I’ve also heard some debates on how our national budget should be allocated in a situation like this. And quite frankly, we aren’t alone. I’ve seen dozens of posts about how Americans wished US President Donald Trump would handle the situation in their country better, instead of letting the number of infections rise at an alarming rate.
Aside from these blatant political posts, there are some who use movies as a way to talk about what’s happening in society. As I was scrolling through Facebook the other day, I came across an article by Forbes on how a Netflix movie called “The Platform” was a timely capitalist horror film. The said post has been continually shared online for the past few days, with many people agreeing how capitalism is the problem and that “greed and self-interest” are the stronger forces. Succumbing to the persuasions of my friends, I tried watching it.
The story
Right off the bat, I’ll tell you this: If you’re going to watch the movie, don’t eat while doing so. The movie’s main plot device is food, and it can be really ugly (especially if you’re a stickler for proper table manners). If cannibalism is not up your alley, I suggest you skip watching this.
The movie is set in a tower-style prison, in which the number of floors are initially unknown. Our main protagonist, Goreng, finds himself waking up in this prison across his cellmate Trimagasi who explains where they are and how the food is distributed in the tower. He goes into detail about how there are numerous floors and how food is being served to them—through the platform. He even emphasized how those above are lucky because they get to eat food while those in the lower levels are always left with none.
The first cellmate
As the platform of food reaches their level, we see Goreng surprised at the sight. The food looks unappetizing; it’s strewn all over the place—as if it’s already been eaten by many others. This pushes him to try and convince others to try and ration the food so that everyone can eat. Trimagasi strongly advises against it though. He said that those above won’t listen to Goreng, and that he also shouldn’t mingle with those below.
One day, the platform descended to their level with a woman on it. Trimagasi explains that her name is Miharu and that she always descends once a month to look for her daughter. After the platform descends to the next level below, he finds himself worried for Miharu as the inmates in that level tried to have their way with her. She then emerges back into plain sight, all bloodied up, and proceeds to the lower levels (implying that she’s killed the two inmates).
After a month, they’re transferred to level 171 (where there’s no food left on the platform) and Goreng wakes up tied to his bed. He finds Trimagasi, who seems to be losing his mind, holding a self-sharpening knife against Goreng’s body. As days go by, Trimagasi tries to cut a part of Goreng’s flesh but is interrupted by Miharu who saves the latter and encourages him to kill Trimagasi.
The second cellmate
The next month, Goreng wakes up at level 22 with another cellmate, the optimistic Imoguiri who has worked for the administration for so long and brings her dog inside the prison, that tries to fix the system by encouraging others to ration out their portions. After seeing that only threats seem to work for others to listen to her, they come across a bloodied Miharu on the platform (whom they tend to immediately).
After Miharu wakes up, she murders and devours Imoguiri’s dog which leaves the latter to feel empty and defeated by the system. When they are transported to level 202 after a month, he wakes up finding Imoguiri dead after hanging herself.
The third cellmate
After waking up at level 5, Goreng wakes up to a new cellmate, Baharat, who tries to climb up to the top. Goreng teams up with him as they plan to ride down the platform and ration the food out to others. In one of the lower levels, they witness Miharu being killed.
After passing the initially expected last level (supposedly the 250th), they land on level 333 where they discover Miharu’s child. They come to a realization that the child would be better off as the message they would send to the administration since there weren’t supposed to be any children in the prison.
The following day, Baharat is found dead from the severity of his injuries and Goreng proceeds with the child to the platform. However, during their stay at rock bottom, Goreng decides that only the child should go on and proceeds to move away from the platform. The movie ends with the child ascending the tower through the platform.
Relevance to our situation now
In the article by Forbes, the writer Paul Tassi was certain that no amount of appeal to socialism and communism was going to remedy the problems capitalism has caused. In the film, we all saw how capitalism was manifested through the hierarchy of the prison levels and that those in power didn’t know what was going on. It showed that those above have more control of the food compared to those at the bottom (like some sort of food chain reference).
However, given the open ending of the film, I believe that Miharu’s kid was able to get the message that Goreng and Baharat wanted to show the administration of the prison. There’s so much power in their perseverance despite the struggles they faced.
We may not be in the same conditions as those in the movie, but there are similarities when it comes to the divide between the people and the system. In my opinion, it’s all about your mindset when it comes to your actions toward the system. For Paul Tassi, it may seem to him that it was hopeless and that there wasn’t going to be any change after the child goes up. I, on the other hand, felt like they broke the rotten system because they were able to come up with a brilliant way for the administration to know their condition.
There are people when we feel like we’re the first cellmate, wherein we just accept the system as it is. Others will disagree and try to fix the system, just like the second cellmate, but end up falling short and quitting easily. However, there will be a few bold ones, like the third cellmate, who will power through every obstacle to fight the system. At the end of the day, the only question you’ll be asking yourself is “Who will I be?”
Art by Dana Calvo
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