classic [adjective] of the first or highest quality, class, or rank: a classic piece of work.
There are books. Then there are books. When the books get made into movies, there is much gnashing of teeth and worried speculation that the filmmaker and creative team will not do the book justice. Let’s face it—usually, they don’t. (Remember A Wrinkle in Time?) Much like a thousand-year flood, though, there are times when a film gets a book right. Dune is one of those times.
This month, Eve and I book passage to the worlds of Caladan and Arrakis to accompany House Atreides as they answer the emperor’s impossible call. Dune (originally titled Dune: Part One) is the first of two movies that seek to faithfully adapt Frank Herbert’s 1965 science fiction classic for the silver screen. By the very nature of its existence, 2021’s Dune must also be compared to David Lynch’s adaptation from 1984. When you also consider that Eve has written an actual academic paper on the topic of Dune, it becomes clear that this month’s episode of Are You Just Watching is going to be a wild ride!
Dune is directed by Denis Villeneuve and stars Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, and Josh Brolin, among many others. Spiderman: No Way Home’s Zendaya is also a headliner for the movie but has surprisingly little screentime; this makes sense, though, as her character’s arc lives in the second half of the story. We’ll see a great deal more of her in part two. The music is by ten-time Academy Award nominee (and AYJW frequent flyer) Hans Zimmer.
First Impressions
The source material for Dune is a science fiction masterwork laden with multiple themes and concepts that still speak to today’s issues. When Herbert wrote Dune, he drew heavily on both ancient mythologies and the current events of his day. This allowed his commentary to take on a timelessness that marks the book as a masterpiece. Denis Villeneuve and Hans Zimmer seem to be approaching this project with the reverence and honor that such a beloved science fiction story deserves, and their care shows. Zimmer’s score may sound discordant when taken out of context from the movie. Still, in context, it does a wonderful job communicating the story’s beautiful, eerie, and contrary nature.
Dune is paced beautifully and full of sweeping cinematic imagery that is as integral to the story as the dialogue—if not more so. Because of this, you mustn’t just see the film, you must WATCH it. (And of course, don’t just watch!) Denis Villeneuve established the communicative nature of his cinematography way back in 2016’s Arrival. If you ignore what the director is showing in both movies, you will likely miss something important.
The locations that they used for Dune were spot on, depicting the characters of two completely alien planets.
The casting for Dune was pretty spot on, but one character suffered from too much success. Dave Bautista of Guardians of the Galaxy fame was cast as the Beast Rabban. Bautista’s face and build are so prominent and recognizable; it was difficult to see him in this role and not be forcibly reminded of Drax the Destroyer. I was pleasantly creeped out by Stellan Skarsgård’s performance as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen—the combination of his subtle makeup and his expressive eyes elicited an instinctual level of unease for me. For Eve, there was also the choice to cast the role of Liet Kynes as a woman. While Sharon Duncan-Brewster did a fabulous job in the role, Eve’s more profound understanding of the culture of the empire made it difficult for her to accept that they would allow a woman to fill such a vital and authoritative role. Casting a woman in the role served to redeem the empire a little bit, which you don’t want to do. It’s crucial to the world-building that the empire be corrupt and evil—almost beyond redemption.
For my part, I’ve never been fond of the character of Paul Atreides. Timothée Chalamet’s version of Paul nearly reverses that feeling. He did a fantastic job portraying the youth while communicating the burden. I’ve also been disturbed by how the story of Dune divorces the messianic story from any moral directive. I don’t remember the book or ’84 version well enough, but I don’t recall the sense that House Atreides took their responsibility for the Fremen seriously. I might very well be wrong here. In this version, though, the two scenes of the date palms and the first meeting with Stilgar set a better tone than I had from the original.
The 1984 version of Dune was not a bad movie, but it suffered from trying to fit too much into too short a time. So Villeneuve put the ’84 version aside, went back to the source, and has produced a superior version of Dune.
Duty
There is no call we do not answer.
There is no faith that we betray.
2021’s Dune does an excellent job demonstrating the layers of complications to the emperor’s “gift” of Arrakis to House Atreides. In the tradition of the white elephant gift of Southeast Asia, the emperor intended that his “gift” of the planet of Arrakis serve to destabilize the two most significant houses in the empire, thus reinforcing his position. Despite his complete knowledge of this duplicity, Leto Atreides not only accepts the gift but puts the whole effort of his house into fulfilling his responsibilities: to the emperor and the people of Arrakis. This is something that Paul doesn’t fully understand, and his father seeks desperately to teach him.
The duty of House Atreides to take over Arrakis is very much like the duty that we have as Christians. When God calls us, it will not always be to our comfort. We might be called upon to sacrifice. Leto Atreides answered the call, knowing that it might lead to his very death. The difference between Atreides and Christians is we can be assured that God has a plan for our suffering and our sacrifice:
We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
When God calls us into danger, we can be sure that it serves the sovereign purpose of our loving Lord and Savior. We can be sure, despite our lack of understanding or foresight. Indeed, we can be sure that, even should we die, it will be to our benefit.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
The character of Leto in Dune embodies the mindset of Christian leaders as laid out in scripture. Leto knows that his position as a leader is that of a servant:
“Which one of you having a servant tending sheep or plowing will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? Instead, will he not tell him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, get ready, and serve me while I eat and drink; later you can eat and drink’? Does he thank that servant because he did what was commanded? In the same way, when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we’ve only done our duty.’ ” (Luke 17:7-10)
In Dune, Leo teaches Paul what duty is and helps prepare him for the choices he must make. When Paul asks his father, what if I don’t want to lead, he responds, “I told my father I didn’t want this either. Your grandfather said, ‘A great man doesn’t seek to lead. He’s called to it. And he answers.’” This again points to the servant leadership that Christ teaches us:
Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28)
Manipulating Destiny
In the story of Dune, the Bene Gesserit have been manipulating hundreds of thousands of people over thousands of years in hopes of producing a messiah who will save humanity.
But our plans are measured in centuries. We have other prospects if he fails his promise.
The Bene Gesserit serve as powerful partners to the great houses, but there’s more to it. … For thousands of years, we’ve been carefully crossing bloodlines to bring forth a mind powerful enough to breach space and time, past and future who can help us into a better future. We think he’s very close now. Some believe he is here.
The hubris necessary to believe that any human organization could affect this kind of universal impact is monumental. But this is the level of audacity that the leaders of the universe of Dune possess. But this level of prescience is far beyond humanity and only in the domain of God:
Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes. (James 4:14)
Our example from scripture of believing we can judge events on God’s scale is pretty straightforward:
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” “No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:2-5)
Humanistic Religion, “Opium of the Masses,” and Cultural Appropriation
All of the cultures in Dune are modeled after human cultures on Earth, with characteristics drawn from Herbert’s day and ancient times alike. House Atreides is modeled on the Spanish with a touch of Scottish. House Harkonnen seems to be heavily modeled after the Soviet Union of the 1960s. The Fremen of Arrakis are reminiscent of the desert cultures, including the elements that lead in Earth’s history to Islam and its fanatical faith and holy wars (though nominal Christian leaders have also embraced this in the past as well.) These cultures are all manipulated in turn by the Bene Gesserit, like with the Fremen prophecy of the Lisan al Gaib, planted into their culture by the Bene Gesserit to prepare the way for the Kwisatz Haderach,—the Bene Gesserit’s bred and manufactured messiah. They could then control the Fremen and the new world order through him.
Herbert uses this as an example of Karl Marx’s “opium of the masses,” using religion to control the populace. Religion for humanistic ends, not for God’s glory. Such things continue to this day. We see it in efforts by progressives in education. The progressive platform has taken on a quasi-religious flavor, convincing people that the only path to a better future is to place issues like LGBTQ+ rights or extreme environmentalism on deistic pedestals.
Religion is man’s attempt to reach God. Christianity is God’s attempt to reach man. Religion says, “Do”. Christianity says, “DONE!”—Greg Laurie
For many progressives, the issue has become the religion. But as Christians, we know that we cannot necessarily trust what we think is right and wrong:
There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death. (Proverbs 14:12)
This is the whole point of the Dune series (to be demonstrated as the next movie furthers the story). Nothing comes out the way we intend. We cannot plan enough to account for everything. If we do not depend on God to fix what ails us, we will only worsen it.
Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share, storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of what is truly life. Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding irreverent and empty speech and contradictions from what is falsely called knowledge. By professing it, some people have departed from the faith. (1 Timothy 6:17-20)
Paul knows the score and instructs Timothy to pass along this vital information to his flock. We cannot trust our future to human organizations. Not the political parties, not the activist groups, or the denominations of the church. Our one and only hope is found in Jesus Christ, our Savior, and Lord. Our salvation isn’t in what we do. It is in what He did.
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