NOTE: This assessment incorporates some plot spoilers.
I lately noticed Dune: Half 2. It is a powerful and highly effective movie that lived as much as the promise of Half 1, which I additionally reviewed favorably. The performing, storytelling, and visible photos, are all topnotch. Like Half 1, this film additionally does a typically good job of conveying the complicated plot of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, on which it’s primarily based. That is no imply feat, given the problem of the duty. However I do have reservations about components of its therapy of the political themes of the e book.
The plot revolves a battle for energy between two noble homes—the Atreides and Harkonnens—centered on the desert planet of Arrakis, which is the one identified supply of the Spice, probably the most useful substance within the universe, as a result of it’s obligatory for interstellar navigation and likewise drastically extends human lifespan. The Harkonnens dominated Arrakis for many years till Emperor Shaddam IV—ruler of the identified Universe—ordered them to switch it to the Atreides. Till that point, they brutally oppressed the native Fremen individuals.
Paul Atreides, is the son and inheritor of the Atreides chief Duke Leto. He’s revealed to have huge psychic powers. Close to the tip of Half 1, a shock assault by the Harkonnens and the Emperor kills Duke Leto and wipes out nearly all the Atreides forces. Paul and his mom, Jessica, flee to the Fremen. With the help of legends that recommend he will be the long-awaited Fremen spiritual messiah (the “Mahdi”), Paul regularly turns into the chief of the Fremen of their battle to overthrow the Harkonnens and the Emperor.
Frank Herbert famously mentioned he “wrote the Dune series because I had this idea that charismatic leaders ought to come with a warning label on their forehead: ‘May be dangerous to your health.'” This film conveys that message brilliantly, although far much less subtly than the e book.
Some much less cautious readers of the novel come away with the impression that Paul is the hero and we must always root for his triumph. The message of the film is far more unambiguous. What initially looks like a conflict of liberation in opposition to oppressive occupiers regularly turns into a conflict to exchange one terrible authoritarian regime with one other that appears more likely to be simply as dangerous or worse.
Within the e book, Paul and Jessica are extra ambivalent about their gradual takeover of the Fremen; they typically come off as sympathetic characters who solely search energy as a result of they don’t have any different good possibility. The film variations have fewer qualms, particularly within the case of Jessica. The film can also be unequivocal in driving house the purpose that the prophecies that official Paul’s assumption of energy had been really planted by the manipulative Bene Gesserit order (although the e book is fairly clear on this, as nicely).
Some left-wing critics of the e book sequence have argued that it’s a “white savior” story, the place a white outsider (Paul) liberates an indigenous individuals (the Fremen). That interpretation is grossly unfair to the e book. The film makes it much more tough to advance this critique with a straight face.
Half 2 does give us a window into the evil of the Harkonnens and the Emperor, with the previous coming off as merciless and vaguely fascist, and the latter an amoral political manipulator primarily keen on preserving his personal energy. Paul is correct to oppose them. However the different he represents appears little higher.
In most respects, Half 2 vividly brings to life key themes of the e book, particularly its warnings in regards to the risks of concentrated energy and charismatic management. However there are two vital deviations.
First, like Half 1, this film tends to paper over the unfavorable points of Fremen tradition, as depicted within the e book. The Fremen society we see within the e book is rigidly hierarchical and deeply sexist. For instance, when Paul kills the Fremen warrior Jamis in single fight, he inherits Jamis’ “property”—together with his spouse Harah, and his kids. Paul had the choice of selecting to simply accept Harah as “wife” or as “servant” (he decides on the latter).
This incident and others prefer it are nearly fully omitted within the film. As a substitute, the Fremen are portrayed as far more egalitarian, together with giving girls the identical rights as males. Paul’s Fremen paramour Chani even talks about about how the Fremen are all “equal.” This is able to come as information to the Fremen within the e book!
In my assessment of Half 1, I famous that director Denis Villeneuve “buries the negative aspects of Fremen society, and thus at times seem to buy into a crude ‘natives good, white colonialists evil’ narrative.” This flaw is much more clear in Half 2. With the vital exception of the manipulative legends implanted by the Bene Gesserit, Fremen tradition is depicted as largely good, its issues induced nearly fully by evil outsiders.
I might have most well-liked that the film stick nearer to the e book on this level. Like most real-world “indigenous” cultures, the Fremen society within the e book has many injustices, and falls nicely wanting liberal egalitarian beliefs. This does not excuse the oppressive insurance policies of occupying powers just like the Harkonnens. But it surely does add a useful layer of complexity and ethical ambiguity to the story.
The second huge divergence between the e book and the film is intently associated to the primary: the depiction of Chani. Within the e book, as soon as Chani turns into Paul’s lover, she additionally turns into fully dedicated to his trigger, and barely critically questions his actions. In contrast, film Chani is skeptical of Paul’s claims to management (she is aware of the prophecy is faux), worries that they’ll override Fremen self-determination, and regularly appears to show in opposition to him. She turns into a sort of Fremen conscience of the story.
Within the e book, when Paul decides he should make a political marriage with Princess Irulan (the Emperor’s daughter), Chani shortly accepts his choice to relegate her to the standing of concubine (although we be taught she is going to stay Paul’s sole sexual associate; the organized marriage is solely political). Within the well-known final traces of the e book, Jessica reassures Chani that Irulan will “never know a moment of tenderness from the man to whom she’s bound. While we, Chani, we who carry the name concubine – history will call us wives” (right here, Jessica refers to her personal former standing as Duke Leto’s concubine). In stark distinction, film Chani clearly views Paul’s selection as a betrayal of each her and the Fremen extra typically.
I’m not certain learn how to assess this modification. E book Chani struck me as considerably implausibly tolerant of Paul’s conduct, even given the sexist mores of the society she was raised in. The film model most likely leans too far in the wrong way. For associated criticisms of the film’s depiction of Chani and different feminine characters, see this evaluation (although I do not absolutely agree with it).
I’ve some smaller quibbles with the film, as nicely. However, total, Dune: Half 2 is a powerful movie model of one of the vital well-known of all science fiction novels. When you appreciated Half 1, you’ll most likely like this movie much more. Villeneuve has indicated he intends to do a film model of the subsequent e book within the sequence, Dune Messiah. I can not wait.
However I do, nonetheless, have some qualms in regards to the movie’s depiction of a number of the political themes of the novel. We’ll need to see if these issues persist in Half 3.