DUNE 2
DUNE ends with the Harkonnens - with the active connivance of a jealous Emperor - eliminating the Atreideses. Leto Atreides breathes his last in the presence of his cousin Vladimir "Baron" Harkonnen and Paul and Jessica are forced to flee into the desert where they encounter Stilgar and the Fremens. Stilgar gets bested by Jessica and decides to take Paul and Jessica to a Fremen sietch offering them his protection. Jamis gets annoyed with Stilgar for having being bested by an outworlder woman, invokes the amtal and challenges Jessica to fight for her life or put forth her champion. Paul steps up as Jessica's champion, bests Jamis multiple times without killing him much to the befuddlement of the lot, until Jessica reveals that Paul has never actually killed a person before. Paul eventually kills Jamis. Paul is accepted into the Fremen - a life for a life - Jessica's tugged along, her fate to be decided by the elders at Sietch Tabr. And Jamis - he's neatly packed and carried along - his water destined to return to the well. DUNE ends with the scene of a Fremen warrior riding the sandworm shai-hulud as Paul, Jessica and the Fremen group approach Sietch Tabr and Chani, the Fremen woman of Paul's dreams in the absolute literal sense, exclaiming - "This is only the beginning." Hans Zimmer raises the background music to a mind-boggling crescendo and the movie ends. There possibly couldn't be a better lead up to DUNE 2.
We've all played Snakes and Ladders as kids. The premise of the game - cast the die, move forward, if you hit a ladder you move up, if you get bit by a snake you spiral down. It's a fun game to play especially in a group, and it gets extremely interesting in the final reaches because getting bitten by a snake would set you back to almost the very beginning.
Now imagine if the game were played differently
- What if there was just the one piece that moves on the board.
- What if the players were to choose to be either a snake or a ladder.
- What if the die is cast by the players to move that one piece along and at an opportune moment their inherent snake-ness or ladder-ness comes to the fore and either elevates the piece or drags it down.
DUNE 2 is Snakes and Ladders : Reimagined as above. The moving piece on the board is Paul Atreides. And the rest of the characters are just Snakes and Ladders making his journey that much more difficult, that much more interesting.
Along this journey, Paul becomes a Fedaykin - a Fremen warrior christened as Paul Muad'dib Usul - the Desert Rat that drives terror into the hearts of the Harkonnens. We also discover that North and South Fremen differ in their opinion about not only the qualification criteria for a messiah but also the existence of one. The North believe the Mahdi shall be one who is Fremen - one among the many, the South believe the Lisan al-Gaib - the voice from the outer world - shall show them the way to green paradise.
But what caught my attention the most is - The Women of DUNE. They are the main playmakers - one of them connives and conspires and drags Paul to the depths of despair, another raises him from that abyss and spreads the word around about his inherent ONEness, a third sees good in him, falls in love with him, and watches disapprovingly-yet-lovingly as he mutates, a fourth has just entered the picture and becomes his willing partner in a strategic marital alliance, and the fifth isn't even born yet. DUNE draws from Beyoncé - Who run the world ? Girls !! To the women artistes - I bow to thee.
The other highlight of the movie is Stilgar's unquestioning, unfettering, no-questions asked, take-my-life-and-take-my-place sort of devotion and belief in the Lisan al-Gaib. At times, Stilgar's never-ending cheerleading gets on your nerves, borders on the ridiculous and seems excessive. But such is the way of blind belief and devotion, I guess. Javier Bardem as Stilgar - to you I take a bow.
Timothée Chalamet owns the screen. Beyond that chiseled boyish face with naught a speck of beard, lies unparalleled intensity. He is Paul , Paul is him. Amidst all the chaos unravelling around him, Paul sits atop a dune all pensive, views his dad's ducal signet on his ring finger, looks longingly into the distance and says - "your dream has come true, father" , slips the ring off and carefully stashes it inside his stillsuit. Vulnerability, pain and longing all at once - Timothée, I bow to thee.
Lest I forget, Na-Baron Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen..... Madness, sheer madness....Austin Butler transforms into the rabid creature that is Feyd-Rautha - menacing and magnetic. Exciting times ahead for him, exciting times ahead for us.
All in all, DUNE 2 is magnificent, indefatigable and unmissable. I watched it twice - first with IWillFixYou and SupahFly, second with Bhandaphod and Mumma ChocoLuva - the company I had made the movie experience all the more fun.
Notable mentions -
- IWillFixYou fashioning a makeshift purdah with her hands to shield her from the prospective gore of a high-octane hand-to-hand fight sequence, while still rooting for the protagonist.
- SupahFly's smug expression of "Aaah, I already know what's going to happen next."
- Witnessing Bhandaphod's aparpyaar for popcorn in action. Never have I met anyone who skips dinner in anticipation of movie popcorn - that too for the last show of the day. Ladies and gentleman, Bhandaphod !!
- Just having Mumma ChocoLuva around, giving her a pre-movie primer of the DUNE universe, and peeking across and checking whether she'd dozed off.
Watch the movie, folks. It's well worth your time. It's worth the pricey popcorn.
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