Sumith Prasad
Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s satirical Spanish film ‘The Platform’ ends with the protagonist, Goreng, setting out to convince his fellow residents of the Pit to share the food they have with every inhabitant. To prove a point, he secures a plate of panna cotta to convey to the Administrators that they are more than capable of sharing and being compassionate toward the human beings around them. His journey takes him to the very bottom of the tower, where he meets his late cellmate Trimagasi. The thriller movie ends without providing clarity regarding his fate. However, the events in the follow-up film, Netflix’s ‘The Platform 2,’ are enough to infer what happens to him! SPOILERS AHEAD.
What Happens to Perempuán Explains Goreng’s Fate
In ‘The Platform 2,’ Perempuán rebels against the tyranny in the Pit and tries to escape from the tower. Her escape plan takes her to the bottom of the establishment, where Goreng ends up in ‘The Platform.’ After arriving at the very end of the Pit, she is informed that her journey has ended, reminding us of how Trimagasi stops Goreng from going upwards in the original film. The 2024 prequel gives more clarity concerning what the bottom and the people at the place really are, which helps us conclude what actually happens to Goreng after he arrives at the place.
In the prequel, the bottom belongs to the dead, indicating that anybody who arrives or ends up in the place is lifeless. When Perempuán tries to escape from the Pit, she observes that the Administrators’ employees tie up the corpses on the different levels of the tower to send them to the very bottom, indicating that the abyss is the realm of the dead. In Perempuán’s case, she arrives at the bottom after sustaining life-threatening injuries. Her head hits various surfaces of the establishment, and she suffers blood loss while trying to save a boy whom she meets on one of the lower levels of the tower.
However, these injuries don’t bother Perempuán when she ends up at the bottom, indicating that she has arrived where pain no longer exists. Among the strange-looking people who welcome her when she arrives at this lowest point, she sees Zamiatin, who has killed himself by then. This is the same place where Trimagasi appears before Goreng despite getting murdered by Miharu. The presence of Perempuán, Zamiatin, and Trimagasi at the bottom clarifies that the place accommodates only dead people. Since Goreng becomes one among them, we can conclude that he is dead.
Goreng’s New Home Seemingly Represents the Abyss
Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, who directed the 2019 film and its prequel, confirmed that Goreng is no longer alive, even though neither of the two movies explicitly shows him dying. “To me, that lowest level doesn’t exist. Goreng is dead before he arrives, and that’s just his interpretation of what he felt he had to do,” the filmmaker told Digital Spy. Gaztelu-Urrutia’s understanding that the “lowest level doesn’t exist” indicates that the bottom of the Pit is not really an extension of the structure in reality. The place can be seen as a surreal region where the dead are believed to exist after everyone passes away.
In the ‘Bible,’ the Abyss is an “unfathomable” and “boundless” space, which are apt words to describe the bottom of the Pit. The darkness in the region makes it not only inexplorable but also illimitable as the Biblical place. In ‘Tanakh,’ the Hebrew ‘Bible,’ the Abyss is explained as the “abode of the dead” and “realm of the rebellious spirits.” These descriptions are suitable for understanding the bottom of the Pit and its inhabitants. Whether it be Goreng, Zamiatin, or Perempuán, most people who exist at this lowest point are rulebreakers who stand against the tyranny in the Pit or the administration of the entire structure.
These rulebreakers can be called “rebellious spirits.” Therefore, Goreng’s rebellion, in some way or another, causes his death, which makes him bound to the bottom of the Pit. Since he is no longer alive, Trimagasi stops him from returning to the levels of the tower, which explains why he has to remain in this mysterious abyss in ‘The Platform.’
Read More: Where Was The Platform Filmed?
