Viking Night: Dune
By Bruce Hall
September 14, 2016
BoxOfficeProphets.com
That ecosystem was a lot smaller back in 1965, when novelist Frank Herbert published the first of his seminal Dune series. Here was a sprawling, modern epic almost as fascinating and wildly ambitious as The Lord of the Rings. No, it hasn’t had the same staying power as classic Tolkien, and the bottom half of that aforementioned demographic probably has no idea who Frank Herbert even is. Just take my word for it – if you’re into science fiction, then a lot of the things you like probably owe at least a spiritual debt to the man’s work.
And there’s a surprisingly large legion of fans out there who can recite every word of it.
So, it’s a good thing the Internet wasn’t a thing in 1984. When counterculture darling David Lynch set about adapting this beloved story for film, it triggered a Nerdpocalypse of then unprecedented proportion. With no World Wide Web to ruin, the Nerd community’s rage-fit was entirely analog. This confined it to magazines, basement gaming sessions powered by warm beer and a bag of dice, and 300 baud modems connected to PCs the size of a Prius.
Every issue of Starlog that came to my mailbox was already on fire. CompuServe was catastrophically divided. And good luck keeping a game of D&D going once the subject came up. Ah…those were the days.
Hmmm. I see I’ve lost the under 40 crowd. Let me try again.
Peter Jackson and Ben Affleck know nothing of nerd rage, is what I’m saying. Dune isn’t a perfect book, but it’s one of the most absorbing and complex fictional universes ever created, and the only reason it emerged from development hell when it did is because of the original author’s enthusiastic involvement. So, you had classic source material, an established fan base, the creator was on board…it must have turned out well, right?
Not really, no.
The film version of Dune has a poor reputation, despite the author’s endorsement. It lost money on its original run, fans were baffled and critics hated it (Siskel and Ebert couldn’t stop vomiting, as I recall). My initial reaction to the film was also negative, but having re-read the book since, and just taken in the film again, I feel a lot more sympathetic. Dune is a novel that might have benefitted from being split into two films, what with the source material being roughly as dense as expired gelato. But since it wasn’t split, the finished product is kind of a confusing mess, and the visual effects are maddeningly inconsistent in quality to boot.
And yet, I would classify this as the only David Lynch film other than Eraserhead that really does anything for me. Eraserhead is a masterful interpretation of the effect of impending fatherhood on an already psychologically overwhelmed young man. Dune, however, stands as the broad interpretation of a novel that’s paradoxically thick with ideas. As a result, while the film version touches on most of the novel’s plot points, it also aims for an expansive, almost stream-of-consciousness approach. It attempts to evoke the themes of the novel without dwelling excessively on the details – it wants to be a dream!
The minutiae of this universe are presented via near constant chunks of expository dialog, endless visual cues, the occasional dream sequence and of course, the obligatory Christ allegory. But I want to focus on the exposition; it’s part of the reason I feel this might have worked better as multiple films. Herbert’s source material is far too dense to cram into 136 minutes, so it’s fair to say that of all the Lynchian flourishes present in Dune, the most alienating might be the dialog. Literally every word of it is an expository clue; a tiny fragment of the actual key necessary to unlock what the fuck is going on in this film.
If you haven’t already read the novel, or are unwilling to take careful notes, you have no hope whatsoever of unraveling this most Byzantine of plots. You’ll notice I’ve written almost 800 words without mentioning anything about the story – that’s because I HAVE read the novel, I DO kind of like the film, but I’m still not entirely sure I am clear on everything.
So I’ll try and put it in a nutshell.
Tens of thousands of years in the future, humanity has colonized most of the known universe. All of this is ruled by a single Emperor, and an assortment of ruling families that do his bidding. It’s more or less the way Medieval times worked, except…in space. The most important planet in the universe is called Arrakis, and it is the source of a mysterious Spice called “mélange.” Without this substance, interstellar travel is impossible, meaning of course that this technology is tightly controlled by a shadowy and powerful few.
But in the right hands, the Spice can also bestow certain individuals with remarkable abilities. This gives rise to some of the beliefs and religious practices that make the Dune universe so enthralling. What’s less interesting are the political machinations that result in the Emperor (Jose Ferrer) turning against one of the most powerful ruling families, House Atreides. The Matriarch of the family, Leto Atreides (Jürgen Prochnow), is made governor of Arakkis as part of a ploy to make him vulnerable. Once the Atreides are in place, their arch rivals, Clan Harkonnen, have orders to move in and wipe them out.
There’s just one problem. Well, two, actually. Remember the Spice, and the mystical powers it can bestow upon a chosen few? Well, Leto’s wife/girlfriend/concubine (women are essentially tools in this universe) Jessica (Francesca Annis) and her son Paul (Kyle MacLachlan) are two such people. And it happens that the indigenous inhabitants of the desert planet Arakkis have a Prophecy about a Chosen One who will someday free their planet from bondage and bring rain to the deserts.
So…I guess it’s the Hero’s Journey, okay? Strip away all the hoopla and flowery wordplay and Dune is basically about a kid who is the Chosen One. Everyone wants to kill him, but they can’t because he’s on a Mission from God, his mentor dies, there’s a girl, there’s a villain, there are trials of faith and courage…. blah blah blah. You’ve heard it all before - the difference with Dune lies in the presentation.
As I’ve already mentioned, the novel is one of the pre-eminent works of the 20th Century. But I think Lynch’s film deserves…if not more praise, then at least less hate. I would dare say that his effort at least rivals the source material in pure ambition, and that more effort was made to faithfully interpret the book than resentful fans might realize.
One of my favorite things about Dune is the way we’re ushered into characters’ minds – where expository dialog leaves off, we’re actually allowed to hear the characters’ inner monologue a-la Taxi Driver, or Memento – or an expositional balloon in a comic book. Yet in Dune, the device is used (in my opinion) to great effect, and despite sounding closer to the Chuck Norris film Octagon than to Taxi Driver thanks to Lynch’s vision, it still works.
This movie is an emotional tapestry that you must embrace completely to have any hope of getting anything out of it. I don’t mean to imply that this is an entirely adequate interpretation of the novel, or that it’s even a particularly great film - at least in the traditional sense. But it IS a unique and fascinating experience that takes some very old ideas, and gilds them with an appealing sheen that makes you see ancient truths as new ones. Is that good? It’s up to you.
Dune is a messy, often impenetrable mélange (pun intended) of ideas and concepts that’s based on a novel far too ambitious to cram into such a short runtime. And while the set design and visual effects are by and large highly innovative, far too many of the VFX shots are nothing short of laughable; even for the time. But I would insist that despite its flaws and limitations, Dune does a credible job of bringing a genuinely alien universe to life, and in making you feel like a part of what’s happening – even if you can’t figure out what the hell IS happening.
I don’t love Dune, and I don’t hate Dune. But I definitely appreciate it. Whether it’s more success than failure; I’m honestly not sure. But whenever I’ve seen it, I can’t stop thinking about it for the longest time. Just like Eraserhead, this is, on some level, a weirdly affecting film. It may be as close as I ever come to understanding what Lynch’s greatest fans are seeing in his material. And I guess it’s that debate that makes Nerd Culture go ‘round - from one generation to another.