The Platform (El Hoyo, Spanish, 2019)
The recent shopping spree shown by the public before an imminent lockdown following the Covid-19 shows how self-centred and selfish our society is. Some people stock up toilet rolls by the trolleys full just because they do not have to worry whether there is money left to be used for other things. The last thing on their mind is the fear of creating panic buying or that his fellow human will be struggling to get his.
Some will blame the individual for such behaviour, whereas others will say that the system created such monsters.
We should be the change that we want, it is easy to say. Unfortunately, we are worried about our survival that we care less for others. Perhaps, we should learn that the joy of being wealthy is not in spending capriciously but using it judiciously.
The change in a broken system does not start from high above but from the people lower down the food chain. The ruling class do not see anything in the structure as it benefits them. Those in the lower rung are too disjointed and entrenched in their miseries that they feel helpless the corrupt. A change within the system needs to be initiated by the middle class to send a message to the ruling class that their system is broken and needed to be amended. This is a revolution. For this, there are people on the top, in the bottom and people who would fall for their cause in their course of action.
This Spanish film tells us about the monster that capitalism, which exploits our primal desires, has created. Symbolically, it shows a vertical prison where food is transported via a platform from level 0 all the way down to level 333 (as we later discover. 2 persons per floor would make it 666 occupants. 666, being the devil's reference, show the demonic nature of Man to survive.).
The problem is the people on the top floors gorge on the offering, leaving crumbs or nothing for the rest below. Sometimes, they had to resort to cannibalism. Every month, their levels are changed at random. The upper occupants of the jail feel it is their time to indulge as they may not be so lucky the following month.
The whole set-up stinks to high heavens, but no one is willing to take the lead to change or want to improve themselves. At the end of the day, someone had to take the fall to send a signal to the top by influencing the occupants of the bottom.
Just like how Don Quixote who travelled around the Spanish countryside to write an account and to unite the people, here the protagonist goes through all the levels to send a message of change. His philosophies of life are heard loud and clear in this show. Maybe, there is a hint that religion that could be an unnecessary diversion. Somewhere in the dialogue, one justifies cannibalism for survival by quoting a phrase often linked to Christianity - whoever eats the flesh and drinks the blood will live for eternity. It may be a suggestion that religion only relieves with short-term problems, not in our long-term living situations. That needs a change of mindset, excellent leadership from the middle strata of society, one who is knowledgable (one who reads) and a revolution of thoughts.
A thought-provoking one but not for the faint-hearted.
The recent shopping spree shown by the public before an imminent lockdown following the Covid-19 shows how self-centred and selfish our society is. Some people stock up toilet rolls by the trolleys full just because they do not have to worry whether there is money left to be used for other things. The last thing on their mind is the fear of creating panic buying or that his fellow human will be struggling to get his. Some will blame the individual for such behaviour, whereas others will say that the system created such monsters.
We should be the change that we want, it is easy to say. Unfortunately, we are worried about our survival that we care less for others. Perhaps, we should learn that the joy of being wealthy is not in spending capriciously but using it judiciously.
The change in a broken system does not start from high above but from the people lower down the food chain. The ruling class do not see anything in the structure as it benefits them. Those in the lower rung are too disjointed and entrenched in their miseries that they feel helpless the corrupt. A change within the system needs to be initiated by the middle class to send a message to the ruling class that their system is broken and needed to be amended. This is a revolution. For this, there are people on the top, in the bottom and people who would fall for their cause in their course of action.
This Spanish film tells us about the monster that capitalism, which exploits our primal desires, has created. Symbolically, it shows a vertical prison where food is transported via a platform from level 0 all the way down to level 333 (as we later discover. 2 persons per floor would make it 666 occupants. 666, being the devil's reference, show the demonic nature of Man to survive.).
The problem is the people on the top floors gorge on the offering, leaving crumbs or nothing for the rest below. Sometimes, they had to resort to cannibalism. Every month, their levels are changed at random. The upper occupants of the jail feel it is their time to indulge as they may not be so lucky the following month.
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| Don Quixote and his sidekick Sancho Panza - symbols for politics, beliefs and identity. (Much like Adishankara who travelled to the four corners of the Indian subcontinent to unite the nation) |
Just like how Don Quixote who travelled around the Spanish countryside to write an account and to unite the people, here the protagonist goes through all the levels to send a message of change. His philosophies of life are heard loud and clear in this show. Maybe, there is a hint that religion that could be an unnecessary diversion. Somewhere in the dialogue, one justifies cannibalism for survival by quoting a phrase often linked to Christianity - whoever eats the flesh and drinks the blood will live for eternity. It may be a suggestion that religion only relieves with short-term problems, not in our long-term living situations. That needs a change of mindset, excellent leadership from the middle strata of society, one who is knowledgable (one who reads) and a revolution of thoughts.
A thought-provoking one but not for the faint-hearted.
