The Platform 2: Will Netflix Ever Release A Sequel?
Will The Platform ever rise again?
The Spanish-language Netflix original film floored audiences earlier this year with its timely message, brilliant performances, and unsettling violence, becoming one of the streamer's most-viewed films in short order. Those audiences have been wondering ever since if we'll get a continuation of the story, and if you haven't seen the flick yet, be aware that spoilers lie ahead.
A brief refresher: The movie takes place almost entirely within the "Vertical Self-Management Center," a prison with hundreds of circular, vertical levels, each housing two inmates. Some are there serving sentences for criminal convictions; others are there voluntarily (like the main protagonist Goreng, portrayed by Ivan Massagué, who agreed to a six-month stint in order to receive a diploma). Each day, a huge platform filled with opulent trays of food descends, stopping for a brief period of time on each floor — a period during which the inmates can eat whatever they like, but may not keep any food for later. This, of course, does not bode well for the inmates consigned to the lower levels, many of whom must either starve or resort to cannibalism to survive.
As Goreng deals with frequent reassignments and different cellmates, he convinces one man, Baharat, to ride the platform with him and attempt to ensure that everybody gets a share. On the way down, they witness the murder of a woman named Miharu (Alexandra Masangkay), who was previously seen riding the platform in search of her daughter, despite the fact that children are not allowed entry to the Center. Upon reaching the 333rd and lowest level, though, they indeed find a little girl, feeding her an untouched panna cotta they had been saving as a "message" to those in power at the top.
That night, Goreng dreams of Baharat telling him that the girl herself is "the message." When he awakes, he hallucinates one of his old cellmates telling him that "the message requires no bearer." The girl is then seen riding the ascending platform, alone.
The Platform's director likes the film's ambiguity
The director of The Platform, Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, has specifically stated that the film is intended to be a "social self-criticism," which uses allegory to point out the flaws of any system that allows inequity and waste. In an interview with Collider, the director said, "In a world where many starve, suffer imposed wars, lack medicine ... the waste and superficiality of the so-called 'first world' is insulting." He then went on to describe the reactions he hoped to evoke from the audience, which he felt he achieved: "Being so deliberately abstract, leaving countless nuances on the threshold of comprehension, [the audience understands], as we had planned, [that] inequalities occur everywhere in one way or another."
As for those "nuances," Gaztelu-Urrutia indicated that — not only were the film's ambiguities intentional — he knew some of the answers to its most scintillating questions, but wouldn't disclose them. Is the little girl really Miharu's daughter? "I know this, but I'm not going to reveal it." What happens to Goreng at the end, and do his efforts foster any change? "That's something that you should ask society." Does anyone actually get released from the Center, or is it really the kind of purgatory it seems to be? "Well ... A police officer just arrived ... I have to pick up from the table and get out of here."
Well, alrighty. It's been reported that The Platform was viewed by a staggering 56 million Netflix subscribers in its first month of release, and if we were talking about any other movie, a sequel would pretty much be a no-brainer. From where we're sitting, though, it seems like Gaztelu-Urrutia is more than content to let his movie keep its secrets — so we're thinking that The Platform 2 is looking like a non-starter. Of course, we'll keep both ears to the ground for any news proving us wrong, and we'll keep you apprised of any developments.