I think rather than focusing on a plot, the movie depicts different edges and human profiles in life. The platform is our world, and the administration are the governments, and the levels are the social classes that are created. The administration (government) works with care, but due to flaws in the capitalist system, there are people suffering/dying.
The main character Goreng has norms. However, it doesn't take too much until he loses his mind in a corrupt world. He wakes up in the platform with an old man, who is completely aware about the system, and has already completely adapted. When he is up, he eats as much as he can and abuses it. When he's down, he does everything needed to stay alive. The woman that formerly worked for the administration regrets her earlier duties of sending people in to the platform, as she 'didn't know' - depicting similar people that work for governments nowadays. She regrets it, hence sends herself in and tries to change the system by speaking up to the lower level everyday. However, the tone of her message is not enough in the cruel world; Goreng's tone that includes threatening seems to work though.
Goreng tries to change the entire system with Baharat. I think, that ultimately they failed, and that starting from some part of going down (I am not sure from where), Goreng starts to hallucinate. Initially, they are trying to send a message to the administration by sending back untouched clean food - which is normally impossible in their system. They fail in this, but Goreng, imagines a bigger message: in the lower levels, no one is interested in food from the table anyways; they are eating each other. A child that survives the bottom floor would serve as a bigger message, as she is a metaphor to our social norms and ties. Baharat tried to go up several times, but going up does not have anything to do with willingness. There are always people that are going to stop you. It is a matter of luck, just like in the movie. One day you wake up in a horrific situation, the other day you are happier. When you are happy (or of higher class), you seem to forget about the bad days and lose your emphaty as a human being and exaggerate in every act that you do.
The woman that worked for the administration thought that there were 200 levels. The movie describes that there is always worse and way more people suffering than they seem to observe - so bad that the world and the governments (the woman) do not realize (or tend to ignore) while being part of the system.
Overall, I think it was a great movie. I like open endings so that I can draw one myself.
The main character Goreng has norms. However, it doesn't take too much until he loses his mind in a corrupt world. He wakes up in the platform with an old man, who is completely aware about the system, and has already completely adapted. When he is up, he eats as much as he can and abuses it. When he's down, he does everything needed to stay alive. The woman that formerly worked for the administration regrets her earlier duties of sending people in to the platform, as she 'didn't know' - depicting similar people that work for governments nowadays. She regrets it, hence sends herself in and tries to change the system by speaking up to the lower level everyday. However, the tone of her message is not enough in the cruel world; Goreng's tone that includes threatening seems to work though.
Goreng tries to change the entire system with Baharat. I think, that ultimately they failed, and that starting from some part of going down (I am not sure from where), Goreng starts to hallucinate. Initially, they are trying to send a message to the administration by sending back untouched clean food - which is normally impossible in their system. They fail in this, but Goreng, imagines a bigger message: in the lower levels, no one is interested in food from the table anyways; they are eating each other. A child that survives the bottom floor would serve as a bigger message, as she is a metaphor to our social norms and ties. Baharat tried to go up several times, but going up does not have anything to do with willingness. There are always people that are going to stop you. It is a matter of luck, just like in the movie. One day you wake up in a horrific situation, the other day you are happier. When you are happy (or of higher class), you seem to forget about the bad days and lose your emphaty as a human being and exaggerate in every act that you do.
The woman that worked for the administration thought that there were 200 levels. The movie describes that there is always worse and way more people suffering than they seem to observe - so bad that the world and the governments (the woman) do not realize (or tend to ignore) while being part of the system.
Overall, I think it was a great movie. I like open endings so that I can draw one myself.