Dune (1984)

First and foremost Dune is, in my opinion, a film that defines things. It's hard to say whether the film takes a definite stance on the issues that it deals with. The novel certainly does and Lynch also shot enough scenes for that purpose, but the least ambiguous of them were all cut from the final film.

Now, I don't want to postpone this point so I'll bring it up right away. The weird thing about the film is its depiction of the Messiah. Too much of the road to sheer enjoyment of power has been left in the film as to call Paul a clean spirit, but on the other hand it is not just the ending that lends Paul's claim credibility, since Lynch has stayed very close to the teachings of the subject and has exercised great care in finding suitable imagery.

I can only assume that Lynch had a story of tragic spiritual failure in mind, but such a story would be exceedingly blasphemous, since it would suggest that through the right manipulations you could enforce the union with God, although, coming to think of it, in light of Lynch's spiritual affiliation that is probably what he really believes.

This musn't disturb us unduly though, since many a work of art has its flaws, and since Dune is, at least in my opinion, a film that defines things, it diminishes its value even less.

Whatever it makes transparent, remains so.

Besides, it's a beautiful film. So, let's pick up its themes. I'll add a playlist of the most essential scenes in my estimation.



A secret report within the guild. To be an organisation means to have internal communication, hence it is very poignant to introduce the guild like this. Also the issue of privacy versus transparency is thus immediately raised. Is the guild secretive to thwart criminal action against itself or is it itself criminal?

Irulan, you must leave. The Bene Gesserit witch must leave. The guild, it turns out, doesn't like women around, neither as family nor as professionals.

I see two great houses. We ourselves foresee a slight problem within House Atreides. And the next thing we learn is that the guild is able to say You must share with us. to the emperor of the known universe. Yet, doing this and ordering him to kill Paul Atreides, doesn't quite mean that the guild is the real ruler of the universe. The guild looks after the spice flow and from time to time it has to make demands, that is whenever somebody might screw it up. The players in the game know this and they accept it as something that comes with the game, in which it is still them, who play. So, in other words, the guild is something like the Catholic Church was in the Middle Ages, looking after certain constraints, making sure that kings don't cross lines.

Father. House Atreides is full of heartfelt emotions, everybody wants, like a good dog, to make the Duke proud, not just Paul. We see here a system in which the officers identify themselves with the expectations that they try to live up to, their leader being the manifest ideal of the whole community. Given that, it is somewhat surprising that Duke Leto tells his son that at the end of the day the most important thing is to awaken, exposing a philosophy which holds that the meaning of life is derived from the exercise of power.

Now, for anything to manifest, it needs to exercise power, but Leto's words point in another direction, towards the thrill of exercising it, and that's the direction Paul will pursue.

Yet, at the same time Duke Leto simply describes the human condition, which isn't clear about its beginnings and ends, and is hence in the dark about its potential and place in the scheme of things.

I hold at your neck the Gom Jabbar. Interestingly enough Paul's journey to self-realisation, in both of the two senses that expression may have, starts with a mental exercise, in which he must enforce a certain state of mind, similar to all the ancient ones, like running over glowing coals etc., proving that pain is indeed an opinion and not a sensation.

You are so beautiful my Baron. without words. House Harkonnen is quite obviously the representation of a society, in which technical needs come first and human needs second, ruled through force by sick and empty people, who get their kicks from whatever human emotions remain in their subjects, akin to listening to the song of an entrapped nightingale. Of course, Feyd doesn't quite fit in yet, as reckless as he may be.

A warning perhaps, just like that the Baron, with the right medicine, might live forever.

House Atreides took control of Arrakis. Now Lynch performs a sharp turn by letting House Atreides arrive on Arrakis as if Leni Riefenstahl herself would have choreographed the arrival, knee-high boots and all. Those familiar with history will at this point of course remember how the Nazis portrayed Churchill, given that they just looked at the Baron.

This ambivalence is kept silent though and only shyly peeks into the audience from time to time.

Worm sign. At the end of this scene for example, when Liet confesses that he likes Leto against all better judgment. The Fremen, we learn here already, are yet something else. And we learn something about the worms, namely that they are called makers and that the Fremen would like them to cleanse the world.

Sleep well, my Son. The film is about to take a turn, we see a poetic transition of responsibility from father to son, the one caring for the other, the other caring for the one. And we see that being shallow facilitates plotting on all sides.

Long live Duke Leto. Heartfelt emotions - and insignia, like pet dogs, Yueh took the ring of course already in the previous scene. A carefully constructed emotionality that is.

How simple to subdue us. The approriate time to talk about the Bene Gesserit. Yes, women, in general. Don't you love me? But more than that. Propaganda, bending notions, spinning situations is very much part of the mix of modern rule.

Yueh's sign. Just the opposite of the previous scene, gag removed, doom ensues.

Come closer, Baron. Now Paul has all the responsibility and he knows it, no sentimentality left.

Where are my feelings. This however is different. Paul has reached a state of mind, which could be called being devoid of the world. I don't want to go too much into all the ecclesiastical details that Lynch roles out here, but there is at least a likeness between enforcing a state of mind and being devoid of the world, the difference being that the latter state includes an openness for something else. It is the immediate realisation of one-ness, one-ness not through worldly affection, but in responsibility for the world to exist in the form it does.

And this is also the point, where we might grasp the meaning of the spice. The spice is faith. Faith has mutated the guild navigators for over 4000 years. So, going back to the initial question, whether the guild is pursuing a legitimate business, I'd say No. Faith isn't to be controlled, but to be found and acclamated. It's form and the stage of its life cycle are dictated by the circumstances and nobody's arbitrariness. The importance of wordly parameters is a joke, for the source asks not, what happens down the river, for all that will be, will be out of it, dealing with the dead remains of the past.

Remember, walk without rhythm and we won't attract the worm. The worm is beyond preconceived ideas, it destroys preconceived ideas. Now, in the context of the previous reasoning the world itself consists of preconceived ideas, clashing against each other, thus limiting their scope. The worm lets it happen, he is the maker.

I am Chani. Back to simple things, Paul likes dangerous women.

Water. The picture of the Fremen becomes clearer, they know little hierarchies, but rules to guide them. Constitutionalists, you may say, free men. The drop falling into the lake is an obvious metaphor for the individual consciousness becoming one with the general consciousness, which we should identify with the worm.

Oh, Thufir. Meanwhile the Baron teaches us that important people in the computer business might better suffer from some ailment for which you alone have the cure, lest they use their intellect to get the better of you. Now, I don't know about Parkinson's disease being cured by milking a cat, but it would serve as an example.

Stilgar. Paul doesn't only like dangerous women, his name is actually a killing word.

Take the Kiswa Maker Hook.The Fremen, being stubborn, or perhaps opportunistic, as they are, won't go anywhere, lest you prove to them that you can ride the worm, which really just means that you turn out to be a success.

We fight a band of smugglers. As heartfelt as ever, yet the past is the past.

The emperor will stop him. Although in terms of formation of Paul's character drinking the water of life at this stage doesn't really matter anymore, he nevertheless prefers not to. What a pig, would it not be for his love for Chani.

I must drink the sacred water. So the union takes place. However, God is not faith and faith is not God. At most God would pick up a faith, if in need of one to reconcile humanity with itself. You'd have to wonder though whether Paul's faith would do that.

Muaddib Muaddib Muaddib. Considering that it can be summed up by Long live the fighters!

Gurny, when the storm hits sett off the atomics. It's all about the glee.

Ah ah ah ah ah. And a bit of satisfaction.

You musn't speak. Paul takes the challenge. New rules start in the dirt.

Muaddib had become the hand of God. And off we go with remitting new found fertility, um, nevermind the remitting.