The Hollywood blockbuster Dune, shown in Venice in 2021, has become a real event of the movie year. And it is no coincidence that interest in it is so high: the film adaptation of the picture was unsuccessful and extended in time for a long time, and this year Warner Bros. gave Denis Villeneuve $165 million to direct one part of the film. The picture has not yet been released, but it has attracted increased attention and interest from the general public.
Painting genre
Active action with the participation of Oscar-winning heroes against the backdrop of unique special effects makes Dune: Part One an adventure and fantasy film. However, a few additional lines within the plot, giving depth and enhancing the effect that captures the viewer, make it possible to classify the picture as a drama.
Initially, “Dune” was positioned by Villeneuve as a complex work, in which there are many small but significant details. Subsequently, adapting the book, the screenwriter reflects on the realities associated with the active and harsh exploitation of the Earth by man. And the film shows a veiled appeal to the youth, motivating them to accelerate the period of their maturation and awareness of the most important world problems.
The plot of the film “Dune”
The far future comes, and the Universe becomes a feudal empire: it is ruled by individual Houses, which are aristocratic clans. The most valuable substance in the existing world is spice, or “melange”: a drug that provides people with supernatural vitality and the ability to make superluminal flights.
In the course of time, Duke Leto Atreides became ruler of the dangerous desert planet Arrakis. It is here that the only source of the valuable substance melange in the Universe is located, and there it is required to bring peace and establish relations with the Fremen tribe living in the deserts of Arrakis.
Duke Leto Atreides suspects that his enemies have set a clever trap on the planet. However, taking with him his concubine Lady Jessica, his son and young heir Paul, as well as trusted advisers, he sets off for Arrakis.
Here, as a result of a vile betrayal, Lady Jessica and Paul are left alone to eventually find refuge with the natives of Arrakis, who live in the very depths of the desert.
The meaning of the first part of “Dune”
After viewing the picture, there is a persistent feeling of an ellipsis at the end: together with his mother, Paul Atreides is nailed to the Fremen tribe. You can call the first part of “Dune” the epic of the protagonist growing up, where he learns to perceive himself as the chosen one and is aware of his voice, and in a literal sense. After all, he inherits from his mother a suggestive technique with which you can control people by the method of intonation and speech.
The regularity of the narrative rhythm, combined with the insinuatingness of the story, allows the viewer to see in the film unasked, but very tangible questions about the nature of mankind, turning the picture into a version of philosophical fiction.
The specifics of presenting the picture to the viewer
The traditional seriousness of Villeneuve is diluted with a few funny episodes. One of them occurs at the moment when the head of the Fremen clan Stilgar, on the promises of Atreides of peace for the tribe, spits relish at the feet of the ruler. The courageous warrior Halleck explodes from such impudence, but Paul, an expert in ethnography, stops him. Paul’s reasoning is based on the idea that in the particularly arid climate of the planet, where any kind of liquid is worth its weight in gold, even spitting can be considered a symbol of deep respect.
Modernist spaceships, dragonfly helicopters, giant earthworms and other original props were designed by specialists with an excellent track record and unique experience. Masters of special effects will surprise the viewer, leaving an unforgettable impression after watching the first part of the film “Dune”.
Hot passions, desert heat and unique surreal accompaniment in the form of special effects made the first part of the film “Dune” especially memorable and vivid. Famous faces and heroes await the audience in every frame: the hardships of power and the intricacies of the policy of interstellar colonialism are discussed entirely by Oscar nominees! And, even having appeared for only a few minutes, they received memorable and vivid roles from the author, which only gives the whole picture a special value.
