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The Platform, directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, was one of Netflix’s most-watched original movies during the pandemic in 2020, so a sequel felt inevitable. This dystopian horror franchise is set in a vertical self-management center where inmates wake up on different floors each month. Each day, a platform of food descends from the top level, stopping for two minutes on every floor. Those at the top eat well, but the further down the tower a person is, the more desperate they become for food — and survival.
The first movie tackled themes of capitalism, delivering a precise message about how political change is difficult to achieve, as those below cannot influence those above. The Platform 2 takes a different approach, as the individuals within the tower are more rule-abiding and take discipline to extremes. However, as with the first movie, The Platform 2 is allegorical and ambiguous, making it difficult to fully comprehend. So, how does The Platform 2 link to the original?
What Is ‘The Platform 2’ About?
The format of The Platform 2 is fairly similar to the original, introducing Perempuán (Milena Smit) and her different cellmates. However, a major difference in the second entry is the attitudes of those living in the tower. The system allows each prisoner to select a meal before incarceration, and throughout their time in the tower, this is the only meal they can choose from the platform. Any violation of these rules leads to disciplinary action. Perempuán’s second roommate, Sahabat (Natalia Tena), explains that the system is flawed as her old cellmate was brutally punished for giving someone else’s food to a young boy who was starving. She explains to Perempuán that the “drowning dog” is their way out of the prison and sets out to travel down the platform to find it, serving as a critique on how overly strict laws can lead to violent uprisings. However, Sahabat is found by Dagin Babi (Oscar Jaenada), the man responsible for the death of her former cellmate, and suffers the same fate.
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‘The Platform 2’ is the most-watched movie on Netflix globally.
How Does ‘The Platform 2’ Connect To the Original?
The Platform 2 pulls off a huge twist when Perempuán’s new roommate turns out to be Trimagasi (Zorion Eguileor) from the first movie — and it is revealed that this is Trimagasi’s first month in the pit. Yep, The Platform 2 is actually a prequel! Trimagasi immediately disrespects the rules and eats whatever he desires from the platform. His lack of care towards the system means he is willing to join Perempuán as they travel down on the platform, encouraging fellow “barbarians” (those who disagree with the rules) to join them. When they reach the “drowning dog,” which turns out to be a painting, Perempuán tells them they have enough people and can get off the platform. But a battle breaks out between the “barbarians” and those who follow the tower’s laws — “loyalists” — and a bloodbath ensues. Perempuán makes a plan to escape the pit with the corpses. So, at the end of the month, she eats the painting, which is drawn with charcoal, to counteract the sleeping gas.
What Do the Children Symbolize in ‘The Platform 2’?
Perempuán reveals early in The Platform 2 that she is in the pit to forgive herself after her ex-boyfriend’s son tragically died after one of her sculptures fell on him. When she wakes up after eating the painting, she sees the cleaners coming through to collect the bodies; but rather than traveling upwards, they are taken down the pit. When she reaches the bottom floor, 333, she escapes the mass of corpses and hides under the bed. Across the cell, she sees two cleaners strapping a child to the bed. She decides to save the child, but when untying the boy, she is hit in the head. The movie ends as the first one did, with Perempuán sitting over the child on the platform at the base of the pit. Perempuán is then told by already dead characters that she cannot travel up with him, implying her fate.
The image of children playing on a huge pyramid structure is prevalent throughout the movie, and The Platform 2 doesn’t confirm or deny the presence of children within the platform. Like Goreng (Ivan Massague), it is unclear when Perempuán died and how much of the final act is in her subconscious. A mid-credits scene shows three more inmates reaching the base of the pit with a child, the last of which is Goreng. Perempuán and Goreng embrace, and it is implied that Goreng is the ex-boyfriend mentioned earlier in the movie.
The ending is purposefully ambiguous, but the underlying message and the reason children are such a staple feature is that social justice and change are done for the next generation. There are still many unanswered questions at the end of The Platform 2, such as the cameo from Miharu (Alexandra Masangkay) who is seen selecting which child is placed on level 333, and where the line between reality and hallucination is blurred. A third movie is unconfirmed, but even with the ambiguity, The Platform 2 offers commentary into the different forms of human nature and welcomes interpretation from its audience.
The Platform 2
In The Platform 2, a new group of prisoners faces the harrowing vertical prison’s structure, where a descending platform delivers dwindling food supplies. As they navigate shifting alliances and test the limits of human desperation, they seek unity and survival against mounting uncertainty, questioning the system’s irreversible impact on their humanity.
- Release Date
- October 4, 2024
- Studio(s)
- Netflix
The Platform 2 is available to stream on Netflix.
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