by Tom Luongo, Tom Luongo:
Frank Herbert’s Dune is a work of immense depth and subtlety. I never thought Denis Villeneuve would capture even half of that depth in his 5-plus hour film. After having seen the second part, I can say I was right.
This is not to denigrate what Villeneuve was able to capture. He rightly focused on a linear narrative supporting Paul Atreides’ journey from Duke-in-training, to leader of a holy crusade against entrenched political powers.
I am not a purist about film adaptations of books. If the core of what made the story great is preserved while translating it to the very different medium of film, I will not grouse.
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
So, I have no gripe with the layers of schemes, sub-plots, subtle motivations, and behind-the-scenes implications which are mostly left for those of us who know Herbert’s world to fill in. It is a delicate balance the film engages in.
Many of those things are either thrown out, like Gurney Halleck’s distrust of Lady Jessica and the Fremen bribing the Spacing Guild to hide their long-term plans, or they are grafted thematically onto other characters. That’s a curse of good screenwriting.
Very little in Dune betrays the core ideas of Herbert’s book, that political control is at war with the species’ genetic imperative to spread.
When viewed through that lens, Villeneuve’s film captures this core idea beautifully through its set design, cinematography, and color palettes to denote the depravity of the Great Houses and the sterility of Arrakis.
As a piece of filmmaking, Dune is a masterwork, capturing so many of Herbert’s ideas cinematically.
But it is also because of these triumphs that make the changes made to certain plot points and characters so frustratingly 2024. And it speaks to studio interference because Zendaya is the latest in a long line of Hollywood whores du jour.
Specifically, I’m speaking about Paul’s Fremen mate, Chani. Chani, like all females in Dune, is an immensely important character. The entire plot of the story turns first on the decisions of Paul’s mother, Jessica, and then Paul’s love for Chani.
The inciting incident for Dune was Jessica serving love, Paul’s father Leto by granting him a son, rather than the Bene Gesserit breeding program. This movie started fifteen years before the credits role.
If you play back the totality of Herbert’s story, it is because Jessica’s serving her duke (and love) that his house wins, and their bloodline is promoted to near godhood.
Now that’s a mother and wife who sees the big genetic picture.
So, it’s right that in Herbert’s version of the story Chani should serve Paul the same way, motivated by freeing the Fremen from the Great Houses
But she is also his real wife who understands his importance, pushing him to become what the Fremen need him to be, their messiah, despite the risks to their family.
And she’s supposed to learn the sacrifice that comes with her position from Jessica’s example.
But the movie makes Chani the voice of the ‘northern Fremen’ who don’t believe the prophecy is real, to contrast with the “fundamentalists” from the south who do. And while that skepticism could have been done with subtlety and, in fact, could have even deepened the story, it’s wasn’t and doesn’t.
In fact, it poisons an otherwise brilliant movie with 21st century feminist bullshit.
Now, rather than growing into Paul’s wife, she becomes one of his antagonists in the last third of the film. He’s just the next colonialist oppressor, and when the film ends his story is usurped by her selfishness.
