The 1965 novel by the American writer Frank Herbert Dune has a reputation for being unfilmable. In the eyes of critics – even in his own – David Lynch caught up with him in 1984. The adaptation planned by Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky in the 1970s never even occurred; on the other hand, the film Jodorowsky’s Dune was made in 2013 about how it was not created, which further deepens the legend around the mythical best version.
The latest adaptation of Dune was not accompanied by expectations of how much it would work out, but rather how little or a lot of things would go wrong. How and where Denis Villeneuve encounters. However, the Canadian director found a Solomon’s key to Herbert – a pictorial epic. He filmed Dune as one great opulent ritual that introduces the chosen hero to the scene. At the same time, it is obvious that the Warner Bros. studio and Duna are trying to create their own Star Wars.
The story of the chosen one
Dune tells the story of a powerful and popular clan of the Atreides, to whom the ruler of the known universe orders him to take control of the planet Arrakis. It is covered by an inhospitable desert that can only be survived by an indigenous Fremen nation. Dangerous desert worms live under the dunes, and rare “spices” float above them, which the administrators mine and send on. “Spices” can prolong life or open consciousness, but they also power spaceships and indirectly allow them to travel through space.
However, the assigned stewardship of wealth is a deliberate political move that is to lead to the demise of the Atreides, in which the emperor sees potential rivals. He joins the Harkonnens, who are to do the dirty work for him: to get rid of the Duke of Atreides, but also his son and successor Paul (Timothée Chalamet). The mother raises this according to the rules of the ancient Bene Gesserit order, which controls everything from the background like a gray eminence; he has crossed genetic lines for millennia to create a savior who will bring lasting peace. His name is Kwisatz Haderath and he becomes a kind of spell in the film.
These are just rough outlines. Herbert’s book is much more complex and full of intrigue, nuances, psychology, strategic diversions and politics. It creates a sci-fi mythological world, thanks to which the book has a large number of fans. Villeneuve, who also participated in the script, manages to offer them quite specific and at the same time tell a story that is generally understandable. He takes his time. He narrates slowly, introduces the main character and the viewer to what awaits him on the planet Arrakis – and usually does not get bogged down in an endless exhibition. It was as if he was trying to avoid the “mistakes” made by David Lynch, whose version was hectic and condensed.
In principle, Dune is the story of the chosen one, who does not really know if he wants the power that is offered to him. And if he’s ready for it. Like Neo in The Matrix, like Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. In this case, the story of adolescence and the search for one’s own identity separate from paternal authority and maternal care is intertwined with the uniqueness of the young hero. At the same time, Paul’s mother is a “witch” endowed with exceptional abilities, which she imparts to him.
Of course, Villeneueve knows that he is shooting an expensive feature film in 2021, and he must necessarily adapt the original to the current audience and the way of narration, which emphasizes effect and emotional straightforwardness. In terms of genre, Duna is something between a space soap opera and an action gangster, where she plays for power. The dystopian sci-fi plane and the nuances – including the semantic ones – are disappearing. The topic of colonialism and environmental destruction comes to the fore in the hands of corporations that plunder the planet, regardless of indigenous peoples or the future.
The world of Dune is vast, and Villeneuve has found an equivalent in painting and composition. Which doesn’t surprise anyone who watches his filmography at least from the drug thriller Sicario. In a way, deserts, an inhospitable planet, and an infinite universe are ideal canvases on which to materialize his vision. He conceives it in the earthy colors of stones, stormy sea, desert and glowing disks of fire.
Revelation ritual
The chosen one can see what others do not see. “Looking where others can’t,” Herbert writes. Paul has visions or dreams that come true. However, these are just fragments that he does not yet understand, but that lead him somewhere. They can be visions of the future, they can be hallucinations. He threatens to misunderstand, misread.
Villeneuve builds his film on the principle of vision and the ritual of unveiling. Desert dust curtains, dusty glazed surfaces, fiery walls absorbing images and people, holograms distorting the face, long veils fluttering in the wind covering women’s faces… The ground below it is not visible through the helicopter windows. The impending threat is announced only by the rectangular reflection of light on the stone wall. The dune alternates with black, menacing areas of stone chambers and meeting halls, a panel of armed masked soldiers, and macro details of iron machines conquering worlds with veiled, vague images that act as screens.
The shielding both increases the tension and symbolizes what can (already) be seen and what is still not visible. In the end, however, an unprepared spectator finds himself in a blind position. The film ends abruptly. The moment Paul’s story begins. There was no talk of Villeneuve preparing a second or next episode – and an unprepared cinema-goer may be surprised. Two and a half hours suddenly becomes a very long prologue. Overture and promise. In a way, a magnificent trailer announcing a story that will not finish in the end.
Of course, Dune needs a large area. She needs to be given time and enough space. Cliffhanger, the end of the story in a thrilling moment, is nothing new. Just like the problem is not seriality and storytelling. From the end of the Dune, however, there is too much calculus. There is a difference between a viewer looking forward to the second part and a viewer disappointed with the unclosed first part. The decision has a clear motivation. Create a serial world – the “new” Star Wars. A darker space franchise of galactic adventures and fights of the bright side of power with the dark one.
Villeneueve created a kind of art installation. A beautiful object and a perfect shape for the era of a slightly distracted viewer, who prefers mood to narration. As the embodiment of a darkened mood and a vision of uniqueness, accompanied by doubts, Dune is a dazzling spectacle. Like a movie, it’s a bit of a morgan fata.
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