Handlung

In a prison where inmates are fed on a descending platform, those on the upper levels take more than their fair share while those below are left to starve on scraps and one man decides to change the system.

A mysterious place, an indescribable prison, a deep hole. An unknown number of levels. Two inmates living on each level. A descending platform containing food for all of them. An inhuman fight for survival, but also an opportunity for solidarity.—yusufpiskin

In a dystopian near future with absence of resources, people can freely to go into The Hole, a vertical underground jail where after an interview to check the possible admission, the volunteer passes a determined time in exchange to acquire more social status. Hoping to get an approved title, Goreng wakes up in the level 48 to discover The Hole's structure: only one cell of 6 meters height (so-so 20 feet) per level with a rectangular hole in the middle in all them, used by The Hole's administration to descend a too rectangular floating platform with the food for all prisoners, downing from level 0 (the restaurant in the surface where food is cooked) to the bottom, standing 2 minutes per level. With veteran Trimagasi as cell's partner, Goreng learns eventually The Hole's main rules: 1st, each inmate arrives The Hole with a personal object to chose from the exterior; 2nd, the inmates can't keep food off the platform under penalty to die by extreme heat or cold; and 3rd, one time per month all inmates are asleep using gas in order to exchange all them of level. But when a month later they both wake up in the level 171, Goreng learns for his horror that all the inmates divide in four types: those in the upper levels who eat with more time to think, those in the mid levels who eat the rests of the food left in the platform, those in the lower levels whose don't eat after platform arrives empty becoming in demented and starved killers, and finally those who jump to the void by the hole, crashing against lower levels to being cannibalized by the savage inmates. Saved to be killed by Trimagasi in the last minute by Miharu, a silent and violent young girl who time and time again descends in the platform looking for her missing child forced to be in The Hole, Goreng starts lose his mind in a place without morality or humanity, passing from level 23 to 252 with Imoguiri (Goreng's interviewer and an ingenuous about the reality of The Hole) as new partner to finally arrive in level 6 with Baharat as lately partner, who tries with a rope scaling to level 0. But Goreng tells Baharat a better plan to leave The Hole.—CHockys

Goreng wakes up in part of The Hole, a place where food is sent down with The Platform. As people above become selfish and eat whatever they want, people below get less. Goreng learns from the other cellmates that the people below can fall into madness and sanity loss turning into bloody cannibalism, so he starts to get into a plan for The Hole's people.—baxyofh4rd

A gourmet meal being expertly prepared, while a voiceover states that there are three types of people - the ones above, the ones below, and the ones who fall.

Goreng (Iván Massagué) awakes in a concrete cell marked with the number 48. His cellmate, Trimagasi (Zorion Eguileor (eu)), explains that they are in a tower-style prison in which food is delivered via a platform that travels from the top down through the large holes in the floors and ceilings. Those on lower levels are only able to eat what those at the top leave them. Goreng looks through a rectangular hole in the bottom of the cell, revealing countless identical cells below theirs - he sees the same when he looks above. Trimagasi simply tells him that "they eat," and that while it is either easy or difficult to do so depending on where you've been assigned, 48 is not that bad of a level.

A platform containing scraps of food then lowers itself through the hole in the ceiling, stopping once it reaches them. Trimagasi begins to eat hungrily. Goreng refuses to eat, disgusted at the thought of having to feast on food that 94 others have already eaten, but finds a perfectly intact apple and tucks it into his pocket, intending to save it for later. After the platform descends, Goreng points out that the room is growing hotter. Each room is fatally heated or cooled if prisoners attempt to hoard food after the platform has left their level. Trimagasi says that the temperature in the room will continue to rise until they boil alive unless Goreng returns the apple he stole, and that the punishment for attempting to keep any of the food is being burned or frozen to death. Goreng throws the apple back, and the temperature returns to normal.

The lower the level, the less food is left on the platform. Prisoners are randomly reassigned to a new level each month. Trimagasi reveals that when assigned to level 132, he and his former cellmate cannibalized someone.

Every month, the prisoners are assigned to a new level, and each prisoner is allowed to bring one item in with them. Goreng chose a copy of Don Quixote, Trimagasi a self-sharpening knife. One day, a bloodied woman named Miharu (Alexandra Masangkay) rides down on the platform, and Trimagasi explains that she descends the pit every month in search of her son.

The cellmates tell each other why they are in the Pit: Goreng volunteered to spend six months in the Pit in exchange for a diploma, and Trimagasi is serving a yearlong sentence for manslaughter. Trimagasi tells his own story; he purchased a "Samurai Max," a highly efficient knife sharpener that he had seen in a television ad, before then seeing an ad for the "Samurai Plus," a self-sharpening knife. In his frustration at having wasted his money on the Samurai Max, he threw his TV out his window, crushing and killing a man who was passing by. Trimagasi appears to show no remorse for this on account that the man was an illegal immigrant and therefore shouldn't have been there in the first place. Trimagasi then confides that he doesn't know exactly how many levels there are but that there are definitely at least 132, having stayed on level 132 before and claiming that no food reaches such low levels.

They become friends over the course of the month, but on the day of the room shuffle, Goreng wakes up gagged and tied to the bed. They have been reassigned to level 171, where the platform is completely empty of food when it arrives, and Trimagasi explains that he plans to eat strips of Goreng's flesh to sustain himself. He admits that he is reluctant to kill Goreng and plans to spare his life for at least a week. The platform arrives in their room, holding nothing but empty plates, which Trimagasi throws in frustration. Goreng tells Trimagasi that although the death of the immigrant may have been accidental, Goreng's death won't be and Trimagasi will be responsible for it, but Trimagasi retorts that "the ones above" will be the ones responsible. On the eighth day, Trimagasi cuts into Goreng's leg but is attacked by Miharu riding down the platform. Miharu knocks Trimagasi out with a wine bottle and uses his Samurai Plus to slit his throat before freeing Goreng, who fatally stabs him. Miharu eats and feeds him some of Trimagasi's flesh before continuing down. Over the next month, Goreng continues to sustain himself using Trimagasi's body, experiencing a hallucination of Trimagasi. The apparition taunts him for the lack of respect and sympathy Goreng showed him. As Goreng is gassed at the end of the month, he dreams of a sexual encounter with Miharu.

The following month, Goreng awakes on level 33 with a woman, Imoguiri (Antonia San Juan), as a cellmate and her dog, Ramesses II. Imoguiri appears to know Goreng. It is revealed that Imoguiri was the administration official who had interviewed Goreng before sending him to the pit, and had volunteered after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Imoguiri only eats every other day, letting Ramesses II eat on the days that she does not.

She tells Goreng that there are 200 floors in total, and that she was unaware of the Pit's horrible conditions and volunteered to try and fix things when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Goreng tells her that people die in the pit every day, which Imougiri responds is actually called a "Vertical Self-Management Center." Goreng asks how many levels there are, to which she responds there are 200. Goreng says there is not enough food for two hundred levels, but Imougiri asserts that if everyone ate only what they needed, the food would reach the lowest level.

Imoguiri rations her food and attempts to convince those below to do so as well, but they ignore her. The men on level 34 aggressively explain that they have just come from level 88 and are practically starving. When Imougiri tells them they have a responsibility to take care of those who have been less fortunate than them this month, they angrily cuss at her and begin to eat as much as they can off the platform out of spite. Goreng threatens to defecate in their food to get them to comply. Imougiri tries to convince the ones above, but Goreng says they won't listen because he can't defecate upwards, therefore he has nothing to successfully threaten them with.

One day, Miharu arrives injured, and Goreng and Imoguiri nurse her back to health. Goreng breaks up a fight between Miharu and Imoguiri, to then find out that Miharu had butchered Ramesses II. Miharu leaves soon after, and Goreng mentions her child to Imoguiri, who says there are no children in the pit and Miharu came alone.

Imougiri recalls her interview with Miharu 10 months ago, relaying that Miharu came to the pit alone. She also reveals that Miharu is an actress, that she is an orphan, she has no children, and her personal item is a ukulele. Imougiri says she has been sending people to the pit for eight years, promising that she was unaware of the inhumane conditions.

Goreng wakes the following month on level 202 contradicting Imougiri's earlier claims that only two hundred cells existed and is horrified to discover that many more cells still exist below them, and finds that Imoguiri has hanged herself. He eats her flesh to survive, experiencing hallucinations of her and Trimagasi before waking the following month on level 6. His roommate, Baharat (Emilio Buale Coka), attempts to climb up and escape through the top level with the help of those above using the rope he brought into the pit, but the couple living on level 5 push him back down as he climbs, and defecate in his face with his rope falling into the hole.

Goreng tells Baharat he estimates that there are around 250 levels in total, eventually convincing Baharat to descend with him to ration out the food. Goreng convinces Baharat to ride the platform with him to convince the other prisoners to ration their food, promising to make weapons to defend themselves against rogue or belligerent prisoners who attack them.

Goreng says that they will only start giving out the food once they reach level 51, since the people on the first 50 levels get to eat every day. One of the men on level 7, who helped Baharat climb a few months before, begs them to let him eat since he was on level 114 the previous month, but Goreng is unsympathetic to his plight. From that point forward, the two adamantly defend the food from the prisoners on the first 50 levels.

As they descend, they hand out portions to the prisoners, attacking those who resist or attempt to eat more. Fellow prisoner Sr. Brambang recognizes Baharat and berates him for being too aggressive. Sr. Brambang is a man in a wheelchair who appears to have a history with Baharat. Brambang tells them that civility and discussion is more effective than violence, then says that their quest to "break the system" will be meaningless if the Administration doesn't realize what they have done. He then suggests that they leave a "beautifully prepared" plate of Panna Cotta fully intact and send it all the way back up to level 0 as a "message" for the Administration. The two passionately guard the Panna Cotta, making sure it remains untouched, and start rationing food once they reach level 51, attacking prisoners who try to take more than what they are allotted.

They witness but are unable to stop Miharu from being killed by an inmate on a lower level, both sustaining injuries while trying to defend her. Goreng and Baharat continue to descend and discover that the platform doesn't stop on levels where no one is alive, eventually passing level 250 and reaching level 333 where the platform finally stops.

They assume that it must be the last level and get off, but the platform continues down, stranding them. It's then that Goreng notices a little girl hiding under the bed. They get off the platform, but it continues downward before they can get back on. Goreng instructs Baharat, who is still holding the Panna Cotta, to toss it back onto the platform, but he refuses. As the platform gets further and further away from them, both men realize that the temperature in the room hasn't changed at all. The girl slowly crawls out from under the bed, revealing that she bears a striking resemblance to Miharu; Goreng realizes that the "son" Miharu had been looking for is actually her daughter. Though reluctant, they feed her the Panna Cotta before passing out.

Goreng has yet another dream about Trimagasi, who commends him for his bravery in "squandering" the food all the way from level 6 and asks him if he plans to eat Baharat. He then hallucinates Imougiri telling him that Ramesses II is the message, only to be shaken awake by Baharat, who tells him, "the girl is the message." He looks to the platform to see the girl sleeping peacefully atop it, affirming that she is "the message" before abruptly jolting awake, revealing this exchange to have been a dream as well. He discovers that the real Baharat has died from his injuries.

Finding Miharu's daughter asleep in one of the beds, he wakes her up and brings her to the platform when it arrives. Once the platform finally arrives at the lowest level, he is once again approached by the apparition of Trimagasi, who encourages him to get off the platform and leave with him. Goreng initially declines, saying he has to ride the platform back up to level 0, but Trimagasi tells him this is unnecessary since he is not "the message." Goreng responds that he is the bearer, and Trimagasi says, "the message requires no bearer." Realizing that Trimagasi is right, Goreng gets off the platform and the two walk off together as they watch the sleeping girl ascend.