Characters / The Platform

The characters appearing in The Platform.

Goreng

Played By: Iván Massagé

• Affectionate Nickname: Trimagasi starts addressing Goreng as “little snail”, after comparing his preparation and consumption of Goreng’s flesh to Goreng’s favorite dish, Escargots à la Bourguignonne.
• Animal Motifs: Goreng’s favorite dish is Escargots à la Bourguignonne, a dish comprised of snails. Trimagasi mentions this dish without knowing the former’s fondness for it, comparing it to how he plans to prepare and eventually eat Goreng. He even creepily starts referring to Goreng as “[his] little snail”.
• Badass Normal: He's a regular guy who is almost eaten alive, put to starvation, and goes down the Hole trying to feed all the inmates equally, even if it means using violence to ensure it.
• Badass Bookworm: Volunteered to head into the Hole with the promise of being rewarded an accredited degree if he passed. He takes a copy of ''Don Quixote'' with him.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Takes on Trimagasi's "Obviously," first as an Ironic Echo and then for himself after the latter dies.
• Break the Cutie: He was an optimistic man that intended on simply getting a degree by spending time in the Hole and was rather naïve about what that would entail. His journey throughout the movie begins to corrupt him by the first month.
• The Chosen One: Imoguiri is convinced about that.
• Corrupt the Cutie: Goes from an optimistic newcomer to the Hole to adopting Trimagasi's cynicism and mannerisms.
• Cynicism Catalyst: If witnessing the horrors of the Hole on his first month didn't ruin him enough, it was getting tied down by Trimagasi, who was intending on feeding off of him, then retaliating and cannibalizing him to survive level 171.
• Extreme Mêlée Revenge: Once he's untied and given the Samurai Plus knife by Miharu, he proceeds to take out his frustrations on Trimagasi for his attempt to cannibalize him.
• Flanderization: Occurs in-universe. His hallucinations of his former acquaintances take on the traits that he knew the best.
• Heavy Sleeper: Noticeably, he always wakes up after his cellmate is wide awake at the beginning of the month when the gas wears off. And apparently was a heavy enough sleeper Trimagasi was able to tie him down without disturbing him until it was over.
• The Hero: He's the POV character who gets to discover the realities of the Hole and works to try and improve things.
• Iconic Item: His book of Don Quixote. Other prisoners are outwardly intrigued by his favored item of choice, and the book reflects his ideals and personality well.
• The Idealist: Chipper when introducing himself to Trimagasi, volunteered to be in the Hole, and wants to help the other prisoners.
• I'm a Humanitarian: Is forced to resort to this on floors 171 and 202 to survive, eating the corpses of Trimagasi (fatally wounded by Miharu but finished off by Goreng) and Imoguri (who was Driven to Suicide and hung herself inside the cell).
• Ironic Echo: He uses Trimagasi's "Obviously" to provoke him a bit for information. Later, he refers to Baharat as capable of joining his protest cause he's a man "on fire," which is what Baharat enthusiastically described himself as when he thought that he could escape from his high level.
• Knight in Sour Armour: Despite all the horrors he witnesses in the Hole, he stills tries to make it a fairer place.
• Messianic Archetype: As Imoguiri points out. Also Lampshaded by one of the inmates.
• Naïve Newcomer: We get to know the Hole through his eyes.
• Nice Guy: He's sympathetic towards the populace at large and pleasant with all of his cell mates and Miharu.
• Oh, Crap!: When he finds out there are more than 250 levels.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Stated that his was escargot.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: He thinks he can make the Hole a better place.

Trimagasi

Played By: Zorion Eguileor

• Affably Evil: If you take him as a villain.
• Affectionate Nickname: Trimagasi starts addressing Goreng as “little snail”, after comparing his preparation and consumption of Goreng’s flesh to Goreng’s favorite dish, Escargots à la Bourguignonne.
• Catchphrase: "Obviously", which he considers of his own, to the point of getting annoyed when Goreng uses it.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: Spent enough time in the Hole to be unfazed by an above prisoner falling to commit suicide and slamming onto his floor.
• Cool Old Guy: Cannibalism, maiming and murdering aside, he's a quite likable old chap.
• The Cynic: Expects the worst out of the inmates and his position in the Hole.
• Driven to Villainy. As he points out when Goreng calls him out for having the latter tied to a bed and planning to eat him alive.
  Goreng: You're a fucking murderer.
  Trimagasi: No. I'm someone who's frightened.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He does admit he's grown fond of Goreng at the end of their first month together, and considering he went through the trouble of tying him down and going a week without food before finally going through with cutting off Goreng's flesh instead of killing him right away while he was still under the gas, it seems he wasn't lying either.
• Even Evil Has Standards: When Goreng insinuates that he killed and ate his last cellmate to survive last month, he seems quite insulted at that and states that while he did eat human flesh to survive, it was from the body of someone who was Driven to Suicide from above that landed in his cell while his previous cellmate simply completed his time in The Hole and left. He also doesn't get any pleasure from eating Goreng alive and seems honest about keeping him alive, considering he didn't just slit Goreng's throat from the start and even went a whole week without eating before finally giving into the temptation.
• Evil Old Folks: Played with. He ties Goreng up to his bed and plans to feed from him in order to survive, but Trimagasi denies that he's actually going to kill Goreng in the process. And to his credit, he could have easily have slit Goreng's throat before he woke up but instead chose to tie him down and wait for him to wake up, and he went a whole week without eating before he finally gave in to the hunger.
• Excrement Statement: Delivers one to the prisoners below when Goreng causes a ruckus.
• Fan Disservice: We get to see his naked body.
• The Fatalist: He has accepted how the Hole operates and doing what has to be done to survive, and he rebukes Goreng for trying to make anything different.
• Genre Savvy: He's been inside the Hole for almost a year and is still alive.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Killed by Miharu and Goreng with his own treasured Samurai-Plus knife.
• Humans Are Bastards: Believes this and embodies it with how he acts. He always tries to secure some form of power by spiting the levels below him, under the idea that the above has undoubtedly already done so.
• I'm a Humanitarian: Has no problem with consuming human flesh in order to survive, only the implication that he murdered someone to do it.
• Ironic Name: Similar to "terima kasih," which is "thank you" in Indonesian. Not befitting for someone who clings to as much power as he selfishly can, no matter how petty it is.
• Jade-Colored Glasses: Has adapted very well to the cruel day-a-day in the Hole.
• Jerkass Has a Point: A lot of his advice to Goreng is incredibly cynical, but it makes sense with how the class structure of the Hole works. Plus, as he notes after tying Goreng down, between the two of them Goreng's the far more likely to win a physical struggle once the hunger pangs get to them down on floor 171.
• Mr. Exposition: We learn about the Hole through him.
• Never My Fault: After causing the death of an illegal immigrant in the past he refuses to take responsibility for it by saying that he (the immigrant) shouldn't even have been there in the first place.
  • Later he blames the circumstances that put them in a lower floor for forcing him to restrain Goreng in order to periodically harvest his flesh for food. Goreng outright calls him out for it and in no uncertain terms puts all the blame on him.
• The Old Convict: One of the older and longer serving prisoners to appear, he also briefs Goreng on their situation and helps him adjust.
• Pragmatic Villainy: He ties Goreng up to his bed and plans to feed from him in order to survive, and promises to nurse his wounds so both of them can survive.
• Slashed Throat: By Miharu.
• Spirit Advisor: He shows up in Goreng's hallucinations to guide him on his journey.
• Spiteful Spit: Does this to the food to spite the prisoners below. He also doesn't care about spitting uneaten food back out onto the platform.
• Suddenly Shouting: When the platform reaches level 171.
  Trimagasi: (sweeping the platform with his arm) They didn't leave even bones!!!
• Unreliable Expositor: As a prisoner for many months, he has enough experience to relay exposition, but his consumption of human flesh is left ambiguous as to whether he simply ate someone who fell to his level or he really did kill his cellmate with his knife. He also claims that Miharu descending for her lost child is part of how people are free to do what they want in the Hole; this is a lie since people are not allowed to ascend and Imoguri later brings up the revelation Miharu has no child.
• Wham Line: From his perspective, and a little bit for the viewer, when Goreng explains that he voluntarily entered the Hole.

Miharu

Played By: Alexandra Masangkay

• Action Girl: Every month she travels down the Hole, exposing herself to be raped, killed or even eaten, only to kill her attackers. Doubles as a Dark Action Girl.
• Action Mom: Wants to reunite with her child and will go through any violent lengths to do so. Assuming the child even exists.
• Ax-Crazy: Every month she (probably) kills her cellmate and whoever tries to hurt her in her descent. Also she's after a child who may not even exist
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Goreng's genuine concern for Miharu, and debating coming to her aide fighting two lower prisoners, leads her to save him from Trimagasi later.
• Cute Mute: She barely speaks three words in all the film.
• Driven to Madness: Imoguri implies this has happened to her, as she was the one who sent her to the Hole 10 months ago, and she has no father, no children, came with a ukulele, and wanted to be the "Asian Marilyn Monroe".
• Kick the Dog: Literally kills Imoguiri's dog.
• Multiple-Choice Past: Two different accounts of her past and motivations are given by two different characters, and they're effectively incompatible aside from the implication she's gone crazy (not helped at all by the fact she never divulges anything about herself). According to Trimigasi, she's a lunatic who rides down the platform each month after murdering her cell mate searching for her lost child in the hopes next month she'll end up in the same cell. According to Imoguri, she's an actress who volunteered to come into the Hole alone, and she's on record as having no children. Of course, given the large number of people that Imoguri sent into the Hole, it's possible that she just got Miharu mixed up with one of the other prisoners or that she is trying to protect a child, just not her own.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: She engages in a fight against two prisoners below Goreng and Trimagasi. We only see their reactions and hear her screams slowly replaced with the others', and she's seen going back to the platform by herself. She later delivers one to Trimagasi, but then ends up on the receiving end when she bites off more than she can chew against two powerfully-built men with one armed with an even better weapon.
• Ungrateful Bastard: While Miharu saved Goreng's life once because he tried to help her; when he and Imoguiri nurse her back to health later; she kills their dog. Leaning on the idea she didn't kill Trimagasi because Goreng tried to help her earlier but because she just wanted to. Of course it's also possible that, given her knowledge of how deep The Hole went, she killed the dog to prevent it from eating food that she felt others below them needed.

Imoguiri

Played By: Antonia San Juan

• The Atoner: She came into the Hole trying to help after she discovered how the Hole works.
• Big Brother Is Employing You: She is the one who gives the interviews to those about to enter the Hole.
• The Chooser of the One: She believes Goreng has arrived to the Hole to fix things.
• Death Seeker: She goes to the Hole after knowing she has lost the battle against breast cancer.
• Driven to Suicide: When she finds out there are more than 200 levels in the Hole.
• Innocent Bigot: Innocent to her own complicity of systemic abuse for 25 years claiming that people just need to get along, at the same time a roaring racist all along.
• Heroic Sacrifice: There's some implication she hung herself rather than threw herself down the Hole so Goreng would have something to eat and survive on.
• Heroes Love Dogs: She treasures Ramses II and was the thing that she chose to bring. Somewhat subverted, as she's closer to the biggest villain of the entire film than a hero.
• Humans Are Flawed: Believes that there's enough food for 200 floors and that the only reason why people starve in the lower levels is due to the people above not eating what they only need. She bought into the language of a "self-management center" for those being sent/admitted to the Hole, and that things will change if there is enough inspiration from within the system. Compare this to Trimagasi's belief that Humans Are Bastards.
• Hypocrite: Simultaneously the one who likes to talk about justice and equality, while caused more suffering than anyone else in this entire film.
• The Idealist: She has a hard time grasping some of the crueler realities about the Hole and wants to believe it's better.
• Insistent Terminology: She refers to the Hole as VSC (Vertical Self-Management Center).
• Jerkass Realization: When she realised that she was a complicit of a mass scale crime. Though only after being assigned to 202 she killed herself, so unclear how much it was just she didn't want to suffer what she made others suffer.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Hers is based off of an Indonesian graveyard. Her sending people to the Hole as an interviewer is essentially preparing someone to enter a long and grueling grave.
  • Her dog, Ramses II, is named after Ramses the Second of The Book of Exodus, the pharaoh believed to have been told by Moses to release the slaves of Egypt.
• My God, What Have I Done?: She worked for the Administration for 25 years whitout knowing the conditions inmates are in.
• Naïve Newcomer: Never knew what the Hole was like until she entered it, despite helping send people there.
• Rage Within the Machine: She disapproves of what the Hole is when she finds out about it, but as a prisoner, so she has no level of influence from within the system by the time this happens.
• Sanity Slippage: when Miharu kills her dog
• Spirit Advisor: She shows up in Goreng's hallucinations to guide him on his journey.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Imoguiri's demeanor changes from sternly sweet to coldly bitter after her dog is killed.
• Unreliable Expositor: Despite directly working for the Administration. She claims that there's 200 floors, and that Miharu's child can't possibly be in the prison, as they don't take kids under 16. Both of these claims are wrong. At least the first, as Imoguri gets a good look at Miharu and states that she doesn't have any child on record.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: She genuinely thought that the Hole, dubbed a "Vertical Self-Management Center" was really meant to help its prisoners. Like Goreng, she believes in making it a better place.
• White-Collar Crime: Superficially the nicest person, but at the same the person who is closest to a true villain. She perpentrated the system and directly caused plenty of deaths but chose to be in denial of her own complicity. She stole food from starving people to feed her dog with the excuse of if she skipped the meal every second day there'd be enough for everyone, while completely fails to even try to find out how deep the prison is. Unclear how much of what she did was legal in this verse though.

Baharat

Played By: Emilio Baule

• Because You Were Nice to Me: During his descent with Goreng he's reluctant to withhold food for a day on one of the first levels below them because the two men there are among the few who actually helped him up during his past climbing efforts.
• Didn't Think This Through: He brought a rope with him to escape the Hole. This ends up not working as his plan relies on trusting the prisoners above to pull him up, who usually ignore or ridicule those below at worst, and he has to repeat this process for as many levels as he has to. Even if he were at level 1, there's no guarantee that the workers at level 0 will help, if they're still there to begin with.
• Edible Theme Naming: Named after a Middle Eastern spice blend.
• Hot-Blooded: A very excitable and animated man.
• Meaningful Name: Being named after a spice blend expresses his hot-bloodedness.
• True Companions: He goes with Goreng to the latter's descent through the Hole.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: He wants to send a powerful (violent if necessary) message to the other prisoners and the Adminstration by enacting massive and swift change, which for him initially involves attempting to make a Great Escape from the Hole.

Brambang

Played By: Eric Goode

• Cool Old Guy: A stoic, older man in a wheelchair who takes what Goreng and Baharat are doing in stride and talks to them about ways to maximize their chances of success and get through to both the other prisoners and Level 0.
• Cryptic Background Reference: Brambang and Baharat know each other from outside of The Hole. Brambang speaks as though he was Baharat's teacher at some point, but no specific details are given.
• Good Is Not Soft: Brambang favors kindness and diplomacy over force and intimidation, but doesn't advocate giving up when force and intimidation are all that works.
  Brambang: Convince them, instead of threatening them.
  Goreng: But what if they won't listen?
  Brambang: (without a seconds pause) You smack 'em. But first of all, dialogue.
• Handicapped Badass: A wheelchair bound man who reacts being threatened by people on the food cart calmly, listens to their plan and agrees to forego his own rations while advising them.
• Rule of Symbolism: Suggests sending up a seed for the people on Level 0 for this reason.

Spoiler Character

Played By: Zihara Llana

The object of Miharu's mission and possibly her daughter, Mali.

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• Ambiguous Situation: Her relation to Miharu is not fully known, as she could either be her own child or just another prisoner that she seeks to protect. She could possibly not even exist and is only hallucinated by Goreng.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Innocent and seemingly not intimidated or scared of the situation of the Hole when Goreng and Baharat meet her. It is for this reason that a hallucination of Baharat plans for her to be sent as the message instead.
• Messianic Archetype: Goreng comes to see her as this, sending her up the platform in place of the panna cotta.
• Missing Child: Miharu's Protectorate and possible daughter, whom she seeks out in the Hole.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: She eats the panna cotta after Goreng and Baharat fought to nearly fatal injuries trying to protect it from the inmates. Possibly subverted if she gets sent up instead.