10s Movie Review - El Hoyo

Director: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
Genre: Horror/ Thriller/ Science Fiction
Runtime: 94 minutes
Year: 2019
Starring: Ivan Massague, Zorian Equileor, Antonia San Juan, Emilio Buaie, Alexandra Masangkay

Description: A vertical prison with one cell per level. Two people per cell. Only one food platform and two minutes per day to feed. An endless nightmare trapped in the hole.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2023 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 26: A MOVIE IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE THEN ENGLISH
 
Review: “El Hoyo”, in English known as “The Platform”, is as sharp as the story is simple. We meet Goreng, who volunteers to spend six mind in ‘el hoyo’ in order to get a diploma. It’s a vertical ‘prison’, with two people per floor and a platform of food that will go through each room every day. But there is a catch. It only passes through for two minutes and you can’t save any food for a later moment.

If you’re on floor 1, you’re lucky. The platform is filled with delicious food and you can eat anything you want. But after a few minutes the platform descends one floor further. Goreng wakes up on floor 48 on the first day, and by then there is very little edible food on the platform. And there a several floors under his. Goreng’s more experiences roommate Trimagaso explains to him that he can better eat as much as he can, because Trimagasi has been on lower floor before. After all, every once in a while, all the visitors will wake up on another floor.

To say that the dynamics of this system is an obvious metaphor for our capitalist system is perhaps a little too easy. The film seems more like a cynical response to how mostly right-liberal politicians think they can justify tax breaks for the top. You would think that, if you all just is a normal portion, there will be plenty food left for the people on lower floors. Even for the ones at the very bottom, unknown to how many floors there are in total. But it becomes clear that the people who have been on lower floors, adapt the ‘anti-social’ behavior almost immediately ones they get higher up. It’s the system that shows the people’s true colors.

The film is brutal, gory and disturbing, but I loved it! Not for the faint of heart, but perfect for those who enjoy disturbing films with social criticism.

Rating: 4,5 / 5