Semiotics

Prison –

In the film, the prison has 333 levels, with 2 inmates every floor level. Multiplying 333 by 2, this
will give a product of 666. 666 has become one of the most widely recognized symbols for the
Antichrist or, alternatively, the devil.

It can be said that the prison itself is a representation of hell, an avenue of sufferings.

Food Platform –

The food platform goes down from level one up to the last level vertically containing food that is
enough to feed the inmates in the prison. Though, because of greediness and gluttony, no food
remains for those who are at the low levels of the prison.

This is a representation of how the hierarchy works in our society. Even the resources are enough
for the people, upper classes such as corrupt government officials and capitalist elites start an
overconsumption. The supposed money and resources allocated for the poor and marginalized
cannot reach to them, leading to poverty, hunger, and death.

Prisoners –

As been said, there are two inmates per cell. By careful observation, one can say that if an inmate
killed his or her partner in the cell, that inmate will be at the higher level of the prison. For
example, Goreng, from Level 48, woke up at Level 171 and found himself tied up in bed by his
partner Trimagasi. Trimagasi explains that hunger makes people go mad and that he will be kind
enough to feed on small pieces of flesh from Goreng, and then tend to his wounds. After a
month, Goreng woke up at Level 33 with his new partner Imoguiri.

This represents the competition present in our society. The system was built for people to
compete. Consequently, these people drag down others for them to climb up, making trust
became a challenge in our society.

Another point is that, the prisoners who were from a low level and reach a high level became
greedy because they were also the ones being deprived of what they should have.

This represents people with rags-to-riches stories who forgot where they came from, and chose
not to help those who have same experience with them because it might happen to them again.

Trimagasi –

Imoguiri –
Imoguiri works under the administration. She volunteered herself in the prison to tell the inmates
that food should be divided equally for them to survive. Imoguiri was told by the administration
that there is only 200 floors in the prison and no age under 16 is allowed. However, when she
entered the prison, she was put in level 202 together with Goreng after a month, and was told that
there is a child in the platform by Miharu. She didn’t know that it would be more than very hard
to accomplish what she wanted to do, added by the fact that the administration lied about the
prison. At the end, she committed suicide.

Imoguiri represents those who have worked in the government or upper class but realize the truth
in our society. They want to make a change. However, the truth they know is not actually the
complete truth. They will realize that empathy is not enough because the situation is worst
already, not what they are expecting in their minds, making them give up.

Baharat –

Goreng climbed up to Level 6 as a result of Imoguiri’s death. There he met his new partner,
Baharat. Goreng told Baharat how the system works, and they have decided to go down using the
food platform, and divide the food equally. In their journey going down, there are inmates who
followed the rules, but there are also who started a fight to get more food. Baharat succumbed to
injuries that he had sustained from the fights they have encountered and died.

Baharat is a representation of those who wants to fight for justice and is willing to sacrifice
themselves for it. Today, there are many individuals who want to spread truth about what’s really
happening in our world, but there are people who chose to be blinded by this truth for their
survival. This is represented by the inmates who did not follow Baharat’s plan.

The journey of Baharat commemorates the lives of those who died to start the movement. The
continuation of their movement depends on the people who have seen what they did. Are they
willing to risk to reveal the truth, or they’ll just continue to live with the messed-up system and
survive just like Trimagasi?

Panna Cotta –

Goreng and Baharat's plan to deliver a message, through the untouched panna cotta, is to
communicate the fact that the tyrannical structure has not broken the human spirit. They plan that
the panna cotta should remain as what it is to tell the administration of the food platform that
there is a problem in the structure. However, when the panna cotta reached the top back to the
administration, there is a hair in the food, and the administration misinterpreted that it was
untouched because there was a hair and no one would eat it.

This scenario symbolizes that no matter what movement or evidences the marginalized gave, the
officials and elites would really never understand it because they have not experienced it. Today,
poverty is viewed by the upper class as a result of laziness of the people to strive. The truth is,
the marginalized has been deprived of the basic rights, and there are no opportunities given to
them for uplifting their current situation.

Young Girl –

At the end of the film, a young girl appeared in lowest level of the prison. Some believes that the
child is real since she is the missing child of Miharu, while other believes that it is a product of
hallucination before Goreng died. The last scene shows that the panna cotta, which should reach
the administration, was given to the young girl. The young girl was then sent to the
administration above.

The writer of this blog really believes that the child is indeed a hallucination. The young girl
being sent to the top represents that the youth is the real solution of the society. The writer
believes that the film wants to tell the audience that evidences are not enough to make a change;
the youth should do something and be involved of what’s really happening in the world.

Open-Ended Ending –

The open-ended ending of the film leaves many questions to the audience. Is the young girl in
the lowest level true? If yes, what happened to the child? What happened to the system
afterwards? Will it continue, or has it been solved? On the bright side, the blog writer believes
that the open-ended ending of the film is intentional. With the many symbolisms of the
characters and structure in the film, the open-ended ending implies that the questions and issues
in our society are still unsolved - not addressed. It wants to tell that as a viewer, we should do
something to fix the structure.