Oh btw here's an interesting Dune Part 1 review by historian Bret Deveraux, specifically about how the movie handled imperialism. Hope he makes one for Part 2 at some point: acoup . blog/2021/11/05/miscellanea-reflections-on-the-sands-of-dune/
(I got both your asks and I'm answering them out of order; trust me it'll make sense.)
Oh this was such an excellent review; he picked up on a lot of things about the way the Atreides are presented that are there but easily missed if you go into it thinking they're the good guys. That scene where Stilgar comes to meet Leto is so so telling because you can see Leto believes he is being respectful and diplomatic (while still asserting his right to go anywhere on the planet) but all the Atreides characters are literally standing a step above Stilgar looking down at him (except Gurney, who's gotten closer because he considers Stilgar a threat).
Even Paul, who is symbolically standing a bit apart from his family here, and agrees with Stilgar that foreigners have done nothing but exploit Arrakis, comes off looking well-intentioned but a bit full of shit, inviting Stilgar to stay and be "honored" like he's a guest on his own fucking planet.
I think Devereaux really hits the nail on the head when he talks about how Denis Villeneuve is able to "create this post-colonial reading of Dune, not by preaching to us about the evils of imperialism but simply by turning the camera, as it were, and getting us to view the question from the Fremen point of view." Because yeah turning the camera around, from what is often the default POV--that of the privileged, the powerful, the colonizers--is exactly how I think of this type of shift in perspective. It happens metaphorically in the Villeneuve Dune, with things like using Chani instead of Irulan to frame the whole narrative, and it often also happens literally.
Every time I watch Part One, I always get smacked in the face by this moment:
...where we transition from a series of fairly objective wide shots of the harvesters descending to this shot, which is not objective at all. We are literally being introduced to this world from behind the barrel of a resistance fighter's gun; it is pretty hard to think of a stronger POV choice than that. This is less than two minutes into the movie by the way.
And Part Two goes so much further in terms of showing us the world from a Fremen point of view, as Paul's own perspective on the world shifts. I really hope this guy does a review of Part Two because I am super curious to see what he has to say.
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The whole genetics project of the Bene Gesserit may have been dubbed a failure because Paul wasn't a girl but there was nothing stopping Paul and Feyd-Ruatha acting on that sexual tension they had in both book and film.
Paul could have taken Feyd as a third Consort. Just imagine Paul with his Empress Irulan and his wife Chani sitting at his side and Feyd just sprawled on the dais steps just wearing something scandalous like
You were right Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, wasted potential.
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"There were a couple of scenes [in Dune (2021)] that were all about the training technique. There was one scene that I was quite sad they cut away. There are physical training methods, where Jessica teaches Paul the art of fighting with the knives that he later uses on Jamis [the Fremen warrior played by Babs Olusanmokun]" - Rebecca Ferguson for The Hollywood Reporter
Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica and Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides photographed by Chiabella James on set of Dune (2021) | "The Art and Soul of Dune" and "Dune: Part One : The Photography"
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Realized something abt Dune Part 1. The scene when Paul first uses the voice at the breakfast table. Only our second scene with him in it and the first time we hear him speak. The camera cuts around to create suspense while he's building up to do it, and one of the things it lands on - twice I believe - is that fucking bullfighter painting. Which seems random if you don't know the lore about that, and a few scenes later when it's explained the earlier insert shots have probably already been forgotten about. But the bullfighting motif/metaphor. Arrogance that leads to self destruction, not wanting to be like your ancestors, choosing self indulgence over duty, believing yourself to be indestructible. The very first time Paul is shown demonstrating any kind of power - the voice - and they cut to that. This is our introduction to the main character. Between that and what loads of other people have mentioned already with Chani's opening narration ("who will our next oppressors be" cutting immediately to our first glimpse of Paul), his character arc is basically spelled out within the first few minutes of meeting him. Within two scenes and like 5 lines of dialogue, the movie is already telling us that this harmless seeming little dude is going to become really fucking dangerous, actually.
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