Dune: part 1 - 2021

 Mah, I didn’t like it much, it was rather boring for my taste. Good scenography though.

Planet Arrakis is full of sand and ‘spice’, and at night the Harkonnes, some outsiders who land with their ships, raid all they can, ruthless and cruel. Have been doing that for a long time, they became richer than the emperor. Until one day “they were gone”, just like that, “by Imperial decree”… They flew away on their ships, left… not sure I get this. Doesn’t make much sense. (At least at first, when I thought the Harkonnes were like pirates or invaders, but after watching the rest of the movie I'd say there were actually there legally. It seems people are people everywhere, and they care nothing about poor ones when there's money to be made).

People wonder “who will our next oppressor be?”

Year 10191, Caladan is the homeworld of House Atreides. Paul can use ‘the Voice’ to command others, not very well yet, still learning, mom is much better.

Arrakis is too hot for living, but Fremen people adapted, they live in deserts with giant sandworms they know how to avoid.

Paul’s books say they are unreliable, dangerous. 

The Spice is important because “without spice, interstellar travel is impossible, making it by far the most valuable substance in the universe”.

There’s a big ceremony, where ambassadors say that the Emperor ‘asks’ House Atreides to bring peace to Arrakis. Paul asks Duncan to take him too, he has been having dreams about Arrakis and the Fremen, about a girl but also, apparently, about Duncan dying.

To Duncan it’s just a dream. Paul asks his father to let him go with Duncan to Arrakis tomorrow instead of in a few weeks with them, but father says no. “By taking Arrakis from the Harkonnes and making it ours, he (the Emperor) sets the stage for a war, which could weaken both Houses”.

Leto, Paul’s father, wants to make an alliance with the Fremen, and he sent Duncan for that.

Gurney, the weapon master, says “for 80 years, Arrakis belonged to House Harkonnen. 80 years of owning the spice fields. Can you imagine the wealth?” and also “they’re not human, they’re brutal” so they all need to be ready.

Vladimir of House Harkonnen confirms theirs ships have left Arrakis and asks his uncle why they let it happen, but his uncle thinks that the emperor didn’t give it to the Atreides out of love, but out of jealousy because Atreides’ Voice is rising.

Paul has not only the Voice, but something from his mother as well, something like the power of dreams. Usually only females have it, but a male could be “the one”, “a mind powerful enough to bridge space and time, past and future”. These women (his mother Jessica is one of them) influence politics somehow. The woman in charge of Jessica’s Order agrees with the Harkonnens to kill of the Atreides but Jessica and her son, who are under the Order’s protection.

Duncan admires the Fremen. There’s many more of them than the Harkonnens thought.

The equipment they need to work is faulty, the Atreides realise they were set up to fail.

Even the emperor’s soldiers are going against the Atreides.

At night they are attacked, the shields are down, it’s a sneak attack in the castle to kill the duke, and everything is then destroyed with missiles.

There’s a lot of soldiers fighting and dying. The Harkannons leave nobody alive.

Jessica and Paul are abducted, the plan is to leave them to the worms but Paul manages the Voice once, freeing mum of her gag, so she uses the Voice on the others and they free themselves.

The Doc that betrayed them wanted to free his wife from agony, but they’re both dead now. Still, his little parting gift worked: he gave the Duke the way to kill the Baron (or so it seems at this point) and the poisonous air took out a few others as well. Unfortunately the Baron can fly, or float, so he managed to survive, if barely. Not sure why, the poisonous air stayed low and never reached the ceiling? Absurdly he is cured rather quickly.

Duncan fought and managed to fly away and understands that the Emperor sent them there to die. He finds Jessica and the new Duke, Paul. He brings them to the Fremen. Paul accepts his role as The One their stories speak about, the Lisan Al-Gaib or something.

The emperor’s soldiers attack their place Duncan dies protecting mother and son.

Paul has visions of a Fremen girl and a Fremen man that help him, and then he does meet a group of Fremen, with the girl Chani and the man Jamis, who at first is hostile and challenges him, and he has a vision that he must die so that he can rise again as another name, guess it’s their way to say The Chosen One… but then Paul doesn’t die, he kills Jamis instead… becomes one of them and follows them into the desert. He smiles and follows them… The end… which is why the title said Part One, the story is not finished.

So, he saw in a vision that there will be a war, sort of in his name, or lead by him, and it scared him, but he accepted it in the end and took the first step in that direction by killing that Fremen that challenged him… something like that. Those dreams are confusing.

Paul Atreides - Timothée Chalamet

Lady Jessica Atreides - Rebecca Ferguson

Duke Leto Atreides - Oscar Isaac

Gurney - Josh Brolin

Vladimir - Stellan Skarsgard

Glossu Rabban Harkonnen - Dave Bautista

Chani - Zendaya

Duncan - Jason Momoa

Stilgar - Javier Bardem

ITA Dune