Προσοχή spoiler στην σε αγγλικά κριτική του θεατή που παραθέτω. Η ταινία είναι ιντριγκαδόρικη σε σκέψη αν κάποιος βρει τη διάθεση σε τόσο δύσθυμους καιρούς να παρακολουθήσει μία τόσο δύσθυμη σύλληψη και την πλοκή της. Προσωπικά σε τέτοιες περιστάσεις, όπως αυτές που ζούμε, λειτουργώ ομοιοπαθητικά αλλά αυτό είναι δικό μου ευαγγέλιο που προφανώς δεν μπορώ να υποδείξω να το συμμεριστεί κάποιος άλλος. Το τέλος αν και ανοιχτό είναι αμήχανο για τα γούστα μου αλλά λογικό με τα θέματα που θέτει έντιμα ο σκηνοθέτης.
The movie is easy to follow, and presented with a simple premise.That everyone is trying to survive in a dystopian system where some people have it good while others have it really bad, for seemingly no reason other than pure luck. A prison split in levels (we learn in the end it is 333 levels), and a platform of a gluttonous, exquisite buffet travelling from from top to bottom, stopping for 2 minutes at every level. During that time, the level's 2 prisoners can eat all they want from that buffet. As they eat more than they need, the buffet deteriorates rapidly and by the time it reaches lower levels, there's no food left and people are starving and dying.
But everything is a metaphor.
The "Administration" is capitalism, the "Hole" is society. The Administration enables the people on top to have an extravagant meal, at the expense of starving people at the bottom, just like in society people on top grab all resources (money, real estate, natural resources), leaving the bottom with nothing, and capitalism enables that. The cooks prepare an exquisite meal but only people on the top level really enjoy it to the fullest, to the extent you could say the cooks only work for the people on level 1. As you could say capitalism only works for the 1% (or 0.3% if we go by the Hole's 333 levels).
Goreng is the common man. He's brought into a system, and questions the rules that don't make sense, suggesting common logic. But he's beaten into submission by the old guy (a seasoned veteran of the Hole), as well as the Hole's rules. Goreng is the idealistic youth that starts with good intentions but are beaten into submitting to the system by old men and their rules (parents, teachers, society as a whole).
Goreng wants to start a protest and bring change but soon realises that he can only influence the levels under him but not the ones above him, he doesn't have any power over them. They don't care about his message as it doesn't make *their* lives better, they couldn't care less about the lives of those in lower levels. Like in society, say in a business hierarchy, you can only command your underlings but not your superiors. And the people above you rarely care about your needs. So Goreng decides to start his protest from the bottom and using violence when needed. A metaphor how successful revolutions (like the October revolution) started bottom up (and not top down), and used violence when necessary.
The old woman that worked for the Administration, represents an old "retired" 1%er. She thought there are only 200 levels. She worked for the system, contributed to it and and enjoyed its benefits, but at the end of her life (she has cancer), she tries to instigate change but in a really inefficient way. She is an allegory for an old, ultra-rich person who retires to focus on philanthropy (bringing change) at the end of their lives. But they manages very little due to how the system works. Also that person has a distorted view of how extreme the level of poverty and suffering can be.
Baharat (the black guy) is a driven, hardworking person, determined to make it all the way up. He has all the tools: rope, strength, determination. But, no matter how much he tries, since he started low he can only go up to a point. People above him will - literally - defecate on his face and stop his progress. That's an experience that many talented, driven people in the real world who started from a low place, can empathise with.
The child represents the young generation. The child is the "message" just like the next young generation will be the one bringing change. Goreng want to stay with the child on the platform and go together up, bringing the message and changing things. But he is not needed for the message to arrive, he needs to step down for the platform to move. He steps down, content that he fulfilled his role. Here the allegory is, the old generation might need to step down, to make room for the young one to rise and bring change in society. The old generation might want to partake in this changed, better new world, but they might not live to see it, just as Goreng will probably not leave to see the effect of the "message" being delivered. In this case, the last verse of Bob Dylan's song, "The times they're a-changin'" rings true:
Come mothers and fathers throughout the land And don't criticise what you can't understand Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command Your old road is rapidly aging Please get outta' the new one if you can't lend your hand For the times they are a-changin'
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