The Platform: ‘Amazing’ Spanish thriller leaves Netflix viewers enthralled

Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s movie is set in a vertical prison where food is dished out in a very particular way

A Spanish thriller called The Platform has left Netflix viewers enthralled.

The film, released on the streaming service on 20 March, is set in a vertical prison where food is dished out on a travelling platform.

Inmates housed at the top get to it first, while those on the lower levels are left with their scraps.

“If everyone ate only what they needed, the food would reach the lowest level,” says one character.

The movie has made an impression with many viewers, who see it as a metaphor on wealth distribution – or lack thereof.

“Just watched #ThePlatform on Netflix and what else can I say other than ‘Amazing,’” one person tweeted.

Someone else credited the film for the way it ”captures intelligently the essence of today’s economic inequalities. The struggle between the ones on the bottom, unable to think other thing but their own survival and the absolute greed from those on the top!”

“I went into watching The Platform on Netflix thinking it was just a thriller movie, but I was not expecting to be educated on how scary capitalism and classism can be,” another person wrote.

The Platform, directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia​, screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2019.

It stars Iván Massagué, Zorion Eguileor, Antonia San Juan, Emilio Buale Coka and more.