Catwoman once said: “You’re all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.” The horrifying trailer for Netflix’s The Platform puts a carnivorous spin on capitalism, showcasing a prison where hunger is currency.
Directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, The Platform takes place inside a vertical prison system where everyone has to share food from a single platform that lowers one floor at a time. Each inmate is assigned a floor—there are at least 200—with folks at the top getting first pick before sending the scraps further down. The lower you are on the ladder, the more likely it is that you will starve. As hunger and desperation continue to manifest in horrendous ways, one man tries to change the system. But it may not be enough.
The film looks to be a social allegory for classism and capitalism, particularly of theories like trickle-down economics. Proponents of these theories believe that what’s good for the rich is good for society in general, because eventually the surplus of benefits will “trickle down” to everyone else. However, as we see in this dark, unsettling dystopia, all it means is that a vast majority of people will suffer at the hands of the few who reap the greatest rewards.
The Platform debuts on Netflix March 20.
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