Subject: Retrospective: Dune (1984)

From: Tim Voon <[email-masked]>
Date: 24 Oct 1997 00:00:18 GMT

DUNE 1984
                      A film review by Timothy Voon
                       Copyright 1997 Timothy Voon
                    2 :-) :-)  for the Spice of Life

Directed by David Lynch Cast Francesca Annis, Leonardo Cimino, Brad
Dourif, José Ferrer, Linda Hunt, Freddie Jones, Richard Jordan, Kyle
McLachlan, Virginia Madsen, Silvana Mangano, Everett McGill, Kenneth
McMillan, Jack Nance, Sian Phillips, Jürgen Prochnow, Patrick Stewart
Paul Smith, Sting, Dean Stockwell, Max von Sydow, Sean Young. Based on a
novel written by Frank Herbert

When one attempts to recreate a science fiction masterpiece, and a novel
as thick as Dune, it had better be well done, or there will be cries of
lynching or stoning from an angry mob. I cannot say that Dune is
exceptionally well done, when a good second half of the novel is
compressed into minutes of narration to help shorten the movie. So my
after thought is that perhaps a mini-series may have done this Epic
novel more justice than a feature length film.

One has to at least commend David Lynch for attempting a feat as
difficult as Dune. Although the special effects are not wiz bang
spectacular, he has managed to recreate the feel of the desert planet
Arrakis (aka Dune), which is the taste of Spice itself. Spice is the
most precious commodity in the universe. He who controls Spice controls
the world. For with it space travel or jumping is made possible, and it
is only found on one planet in the entire universe, on the desert planet
of Dune. The political scene is of an Emperor who controls the Spice but
is worried about the ascendancy of a rival House Atreides. To secure his
throne, he pits one powerful House against another. Namely Atreides
against Harkonnen, in order to weaken them, yet strengthen his own seat.

David Lynch best known for his dark, gothic, new age features like Twin
Peaks, in some ways is ideal for a movie like Dune. After all, one needs
a director to match the likes of the twisted yet brilliant mind of
author Frank Herbert. A prime example of the darker side, is the
homoerotic scene where a young man brings flowers in to the throne room
of the raving mad Baron Harkonnen. The obese and disfigured Baron
approaches the boy with a look of insatiable lust before ripping out his
heart plug. As the boy is dying, the Baron bathes in his victim's blood
before climaxing with an orgasm. The other scene of note is when an
enemy of the Baron is made to suffer by being made to shamefully milk
the antidote from a cat to counter the effects of a poison. Now if these
scenes do not encompass the meaning of perversity, I'm not sure what
does.

On a lighter and brighter note, less shadowed by the darker side of
Herbert and Lynch. This movie captures and recreates the wonders of dry
desert winds beating against frail human flesh; in a wilderness where
water is as precious as blood. Here the protectors of Spice are giant
Sand Worms which tower over the precious commodity like monolith
Colossi. This is a world where Bene Gesserit priestesses mind bend and
control the feeble minded, and the Fremen await the coming of a foretold
Messiah to inflame their blood with long awaited freedom. This is the
legacy of Dune.

Although Lynch has failed to recapture the immensity of the epic events
that unfold in the novel, he has succeeded in recreating the unique
flavour and feel of this most inspired of Herbert’s works. On Dune,
Spice is the essence of life.

Timothy Voon
e-mail: [email-masked]