Last floor is 333, do you know the meaning with the whole movie?
Why the little girl was "the message"?
My answers:
333 means enlightenment, abundance and life. You have arrived at a stage in l which you really know the meaning of life.
The message is you care, you are showing that you have achieved the ultimate enlightenment/goal/meaning of life. Care for others and you send the message to level 0 (God).
But what is the darkened room at the bottom? Why wasn't Goreng tripping over bodies and glass walking around down there. Any chance he survived his ordeal?
shareBut what is the darkened room at the bottom? Why wasn't Goreng tripping over bodies and glass walking around down there. Any chance he survived his ordeal?
shareHe died didn't he? He was beaten to a pulp and survived long enough to 'rescue' the girl. Then he walked off (into hell?) With his first cell mate on friendly terms ...
shareMy take was 333 is halfway to hell. I have no idea what the film was about or what message the girl was meant to send 🤷♀️
share3 represents the holy trinity actually. With all the painfully blatant Christian elements, it's more likely to be that.
shareThe child is the message because once he reaches level zero it would lead people on that level to conclude that the child had made all the way to the bottom and has come back up. Since the platform zips past very fast on its way up the child has to have gone all the way down if he were to have climbed on it on any random level. This would mean that inspite of the starvation and hunger the people at the bottom were certainly facing they have decided to spare the child's life. This underscores the humanity that is still alive and not completely forsaken. People would rather choose starvation that eating a child. This hopefully might snap people out of the "Eat or be eaten" philosophy that the system
has indoctrinated them into.
This is quite similar to snowpiercer when Gary Oldman's character helps awaken the humanity in the people of the last compartment by cutting off his own limb and offering it to be eaten in exchange for sparing the child's life. Almost as if people stand back and ponder on the monster they have become. A chain of greed broken by an act of self-sacrifice.
It could also be the message to the administration that there's a child in the pit when it's not supposed to be, possibly leading to investigation of what's really happening down there.
shareBut then it would not make sense for the protagonist to stay behind. Regardles of whether or not he goes up with the girl, the message about the girl being there will still sark an investigation.
However if the message is about the selflessness of the people below having spared the girl, then the presence of the protagonist might be seen as done in his selfish interest.
Ok, I don't really understand your theory. You say , quote:
"This would mean that inspite of the starvation and hunger the people at the bottom were certainly facing they have decided to spare the child's life. This underscores the humanity that is still alive and not completely forsaken. People would rather choose starvation that eating a child. This hopefully might snap people out of the "Eat or be eaten" philosophy".
But who actually gets to see the child? The platform goes up extremely fast and as we see in multiple scenes most people don't even bother looking at it. And even if they did, they couldn't see her at that speed. That's why my theory is that it's the message to the higher ups - nobody else will see it.
But as I said, I might be misunderstanding you. Are you saying it's a message about the selflessness to the administration because that's the whole point of their experiment? Spontaneous solidarity and all that?
The child is only meant to be seen at the topmost floor where the platform stops. But according to the film the topmost floor is not resided by the administration but rather inmates who happen to be on level zero at the very top of the food chain literally. Now this is not stated anywhere explicitly and I know logically it is supposed to be the level where the food is served by the waiters.
But by the logic of the film it can be inferred so. The wise old man says to leave a food item so that it can be a message to the top of the food chain that if everybody ate their share of food only without being selfish the food can reach the bottom most level. And that is why they decide to leave a pina codda as a message.
Leaving a pina coda as a message would not make any sense if the platform were to be only seen by the food servers. To them it would mean nothing, probably something wrong with the item.
But the system they are about to change would require a message to be sent at the top of the food chain, people who begin eating. Hopefully they would receive the message of spontaneous solidarity.
Now a child who has made it to the bottom and returned safe would serve as a better message of the spontaneous solidarity than the pina codda if seen by the level zero of the food chain.
Panna cotta
sharePina colada haha, now that would have been a hell of a message.
shareNo, I think the old man meant the message should be for the people who prepare the food.
shareThanks vegfemnat, I believe you nailed it.
shareOne might wonder why people on the bottom level don't always go back up on the platform.
shareVery confusing ending leaving you with no answers. I understand that there are movies with the open endings, but this should've delivered more. The ending didn't rise to the viewers expectations.
shareThe ending has no meaning IMO. It's an ambiguous ending to give us something to think about because the filmmakers couldn't come up with anything meaningful. The girl wasn't the message, the dessert was the message. They sent the girl so they could feel their sacrifice meant something.
shareI agree with this review that was left on IMDB by user TheKing87. Too bad IMDB forums don’t exist anymore, or that TheKing87 doesn’t use MovieChat. But I think TheKing87 100% nailed it.
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Part I
I think this movie was very interesting and full of interesting symbolism. I definitely recommend watching this movie.
I have read a lot of different understandings of this movie, but I think that a lot of people maybe misunderstood the role of Miharu. So this is my analysis of the movie:
In general, the facility represents society. The levels represent society classes and hierarchies. The protagonist, Goreng, represents a resistance movement who is ready to use threats and violence to secure that there is enough food for everybody. The old man, Trimagasi, represents a supporter of the system. The woman from the administration, Imoguiri, represents a peaceful movement that wants change but is unable to do so. Miharu who rides down the platform actually represents the upper class (se explanation further below).
The cellmates believe that the change of levels each month is random. However, the administration does not randomly choose the levels for all prisoners each month. The administration choses if each prisoner should go up or down the levels each month based on whether they have eaten their cellmates or not. If a prisoner is willing to kill his or her cellmate and eat of them then he or she is secured a higher level the next month. This is evidenced a couple of times in the movie: At first Goreng starts on level 48 with Trimagasi and they live peacefully. Then they move down to level 171 the following month where Goreng ends up killing Trimagasi and eats of him to survive. Then Goreng moves up to level 33 the next month where he meets Imoguiri and they live peacefully. Then they move down to level 202 where Goreng is forced to eat of Imoguiri who has killed herself. Then Goreng finally moves up to level 6 where he meets Baharat.
Part II
The woman Miharu who rides down the platform actually represents the upper class of society because she knows how to exploit the system. Notice that she always rides down the platform and comes from the top floors and she is always bloodied and emotionless. That is because she always makes sure to kill and eat her cellmates every month, and that's why she always ends on the top floors. Miharu rides down the platform to make sure that there is food for the little girl (which we assume is her daughter) on the bottom floor. The girl is always on the bottom floor month after month, because she has never killed and eaten her cellmate. Miharu rides down the platform once a month so she has to make sure that there is enough food for the girl because she cannot get up again until the month is over (the platform only travels back up to level zero, which prisoners presumably are not allowed to enter). That's why she killed so many prisoners on her way down. Miharu must have a good reason to ride down the platform every month and that was to take care of the little girl. Miharu has managed to stay on top and alive for long because she knows the system. However, even she succumbs to the system when she is killed in a fight with the prisoners.
Notice that we learn from Imoguiri that she selected Miharu to enter the facility 10 months ago, that she entered alone, and that nobody under 16 years is allowed in the facility. However, we cannot trust Imoguiri's information because she also said that there are 200 levels, which turned out to be false, and the prohibition against under 16 year olds to enter the facility also turned out to be false. So the question of how the little girl ended in the facility remains unanswered. Perhaps the little girl was born in the facility or she was thrown in there with her mother.
Part III
The movie hints that there is actually enough food for everybody on all floors because the administration puts every prisoner's requested food on the table. This is evidenced when the protagonist is interviewed by the administration official about his favorite food (snails) and that it will be served while he is imprisoned. We also see that the protagonist sees his requested food for the first time when he is on floor no. 6 because none from the upper floors has touched it yet (but he doesn't eat it). He did not get to see his requested food before because those on the upper floors always ate it before it arrived to him. If every prisoner in the facility kept his or her requested food when it arrived at his or her floor, the floor will not turn hot or cold. This is evidenced by one of the last scenes when the protagonist keeps the Panna Cotta when he is at the girl's floor, which must be the favorite food of the girl. All the prisoners had to do was to take their requested food, and not eat the others' food, so the food would be equally distributed all the way to floor no. 333. However, the prisoners from the upper floors greedily ate more than their favorite food leaving less to the ones on the lower levels. So the main message of the movie is that people are very greedy and are ready to take more than they need, and not so much that the system is flawed. We see that the alternative system that the protagonist tries to enforce by distributing little food to everybody also leads to violence and deaths and is not much better.
Part IV
The end of the movie is quite vague, but it does have a meaning. At the end, we don't see what happens to the protagonist, but it is hinted that the protagonist probably dies. Notice that he was heavily injured and barely got on the platform with the girl, when they reached the bottom, then he suddenly he gets off and walks normally when he sees the ghost of Trimagasi. The girl transports upwards to the top floor at the end of the movie. The protagonist is trying to send a message to the administration by transporting the girl to the top. Perhaps the message is to show that despite that most people are greedy, there are also some people who are willing to show benevolence and generosity to save others.
I think this movie was very interesting. The movie is open to interpretation, and this is of course my point of view and I hope you found this helpful
thats quite the review by TheKing87!
he coulda just stuck with:
So the main message of the movie is that people are very greedy and are ready to take more than they need, and not so much that the system is flawed. We see that the alternative system that the protagonist tries to enforce by distributing little food to everybody also leads to violence and deaths and is not much better.
hmm , does that mean people will shit on other people whatever the system?
That seems to be what happens IRL
Yeah he did go WAYYYY long with that. It could have been significantly reduced I think. But I'd say you summed it up pretty well. I think that's exactly what the movie is saying, that human nature is the core of the problem, not the system. Although I think there's a secondary commentary that certain systems channel that behavior differently, that a system that incorporates self-interest for all equally is the best possible way to go.
But no system will be perfect. When it comes down to it, it's not about a system, it's about human behavior, or ultimately what some might dub the "golden rule". As a society we must mentally transcend any system, not give power to it (or the people in power within in) and make ourselves a slave to it. In other words, any system can become bad, but some systems have a greater probability of success than others.
Wow I wish I could break down a movie as good as you do!
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