10 Unique Genre-Bending Indie Films Of 2020
8. The Platform (El Hoyo)
Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror/Social (Prison) Drama
It’s undeniable that he concept of Spanish genre mash “The Platform” is extremely clever. Almost the entire film takes place in a sort of futuristic structure called “The Hole”, that reminds us of something straight out of an Albert Camus novel (if you’ve read one of his, that is. If not, no worries. You’re not missing anything). Hundreds of floors stacked in top of each other, prisoners are placed, two at a time. Every day a platform descends through a large hole in the middle of the building, providing the only chance for food for the entire day.
In a raw hierarchal order level 1 prisoners have access to a feast of lovingly prepared dishes. The trick is that while they feast like animals their bare hands and until they are almost bursting, every level gets less and less food. If the upper levels would, however, only eat a small ration, or as much as they need, it could make it all the way to the bottom with leftovers for each prisoner. Obviously it never does.
We are with a character called Goreng who volunteered to enter the prison to quit smoking without fully understanding what he was in for … What follows is the carnage we all expect from the lack of moderation or fair shares. The social parable is crystal clear and mirrors one of our biggest problem on this planet: greed. However, there are quite the impressive twists while the story moves from sci-fi and a dystopian variation of the prisons we know (or hopefully not, eh), to righteous horror, while always keeping at least one eye on the social drama that is the strong base of this unique thought provoker.
While not everyone might have enjoyed the bold ending, a lingering anxiety remains when the credits roll, re-visiting the way the changing floors impacted people who had been on lower levels before but were now lucky enough to be high. Rather than showing some sympathy to those in a place they just left, they gave in to greed even more easily.