Dune Part Two: Horrors of the Imperium
Written by Iman (Kru’23)
Political power and its depiction of the ever-repeating phenomena around the world at its full cautionary display. Capturing the essence of Herbert’s genre-defining saga in both world-building and core message. Not only has Dune: Part Two flourishingly liberated itself from the limitation of book adaptations, it has successfully also marked itself as one of the eternal monumental bodies of movement in filmmaking, ready to be discussed for years to come.
Heavy influences of Denis’s previous filmography comes to mind, Sicario’s depiction of violence with emphasis on the movement of the body, Incendies display of the unavoidable circumstances that are forced upon us through birth and the consequences of a society’s choices throughout its culture’s history and politics, Arrival’s use of using the-unknown as a tool and the lesson of accepting one’s path, and Blade Runner 2049’s masterclass of world building evolution that highly respect the original Blade Runner, imageries reminiscent was definitely taken as a source. Perhaps one can say, this colossal work of a career was merely for preparation of his Dune adaptation, picking up pieces in an attempt to try better himself with every work. Denis’s fascination with the mechanism of humanity is always persistent with his works, and Dune is no exception.
Liberated from the restraint of the imagery in Part One, perhaps held back by the emphasis of diplomacy that filled the story within. Nevertheless, Denis is back with his gripping understanding of the brutal display of the bodily movement from his previous lineups of filmography. The use of the human body in a designed-like fashion that brings to life of the world within the screen, how a body move through a composition is mythical, whether it’s about a corpse falling from a cliff, the raised hands of the fanatics, or the towering posture of a dictator sitting on his throne, infinitesimal examples of Dune Part Two’s otherworldly pictures, that are triumphant in bringing to life Herbert’s vision of the brutality of the Imperium.
Power over spice, is power over all.
He who can destroy a thing, has real control of it. While the film changes a lot of the things from the original book, everything is for the benefit of adaptations and its delivery of Dune’s main message, for Herbert’s main frustration lies within people’s misinterpretations of his first book. Be wary of charismatic leaders. A recurring tragedy etched throughout history, ever-relevant to the current socio-political climate all across the globe. Denis’s adaptation is one that has simplified its delivery of Dune’s main message, but not at the expense of the subtle actions and details that filled the original book.
Who will our next oppressors be?
A fitting dialogue, for the tragedy that’s about to come. Chani is perhaps one of the biggest changes the film has made about the book, for she was a follower of Usul, and not an intense adverse for the rulers of Arrakis we see on screen, in the book she understood the politics within the Imperium, in fact, she willingly partake as one. A change that in my opinion, only strengthens the message of this adaptation. Blinded by love, she fell for the charismatic leader, and became a victim of the next oppressor. A tragic end scene, as she calls for the worm seemingly seeking consolation within her people’s culture, looking towards the desert, heartbroken, for she has played a part in her people’s enslavement by fanaticism. A portrayal that mirrors the same way, when readers fell for Paul’s image of heroism in 1965.
Paul’s rise to power isn’t something that should be viewed as black or white, but rather of the complicated thrust into the human’s messy understanding of what it means to govern. A tragic life indeed, for since birth he has seemingly no agency over his very own life. A subject of no free will. Paul is a hero by no shred of imagination, for he is a complex villain, and a warning for those the subjects of leadership.
Denis’s emphasis on Bene Gesserit’s stewardship of the Imperium resembles the dirty politics that are ever-existent since, to do anything, willing to raise the wrong people to power, just to serve their own agenda. But that’s not to say the Atreides themselves are different and are honourable people, for they use that honour also for their own personal gain and not for the collective good, clearly displayed with Leto’s plans to exploit the Fremen, weaponizing justice. A theme further explored when Paul drank the Water of Life and learned the truth of their heritage. Further expressing the point of the Imperium, that in politics, everyone’s the same, the definition of what’s right and wrong is blurrier than we thought, there are no sides. Something that must always be pondered upon and what made Dune such a polarising force of literature that we know today.
No doubt a faithful adaptation, I can’t help but look forward to Dune Messiah, for no other filmmaker is capable of bringing to life the horrors of the Imperium, and the poetic fall of Paul Muad’dib Atreides.
