KILDARE TV COLUMN: Dune - similar to a renowned classic

Director Denis Villeneuve has said that it was a long held ambition of his to adapt Dune, Frank Herbert’s epic science fiction tale.

Villeneuve’s Covid delayed re-working stars Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya and Jason Momoa.

This is an ambitious and accomplished film from the outset. The story revolves around Paul Atreides. Paul and his family are sent to a planet called Arrakis by the emperor Shaddam IV. The ostensible reason for this appointment is that the emperor wants Paul’s family to replace the current plenipotentiaries, House Harkonnen.

In reality, however, the emperor fears that Paul’s clan is growing too powerful. He lays a trap for House Atreides. In sending them to the planet, he aims to have them all killed.

On arriving on Arrakis, Paul is taken aback by the harsh beauty of this desert world. He also admires the uncompromising steadfastness of the planet’s native people, the Fremen.

This period of calm does not last long, however. Before long, they realise that the emperor has set a trap for them. In the battle that ensues, Paul will lose many of those he loves.

He will also have to make tough decisions on where his loyalties lie: with the ‘international order’ represented by the Emperor or the native Fremen, the rightful heirs to the planet.

It is true that no fable is written in isolation, and Dune owes a lot to another epic story. David Lean’s Lawrence Of Arabia is also set in an unforgiving desert environment, where fractious tribes and ruthless colonisers vie for control.

Lean’s film is his take on the life of a real figure, T.E. Lawrence.

Lawrence was a British Army lieutenant who was sent by the British to assess the feasibility of aiding Arab tribes in a revolt against the Turks during WW1.

Lawrence (Peter O’Toole) begins to identify with the natives in their struggle. He disobeys orders and starts to dream up a future where the tribes unite and rise up against their Turkish masters.

Like Paul Atreides in Dune, his loyalties begin to shift.

Dune’s director Villeneuve has acknowledged that ‘there’s some similarities between the journey of T.E. Lawrence and Paul Atreides.’ On viewing the two films there is certainly a lot to be said for this.

Both characters ‘go native’, siding with the tribes they were originally sent to pacify.

In Dune, Paul is viewed as a messiah like figure by the native Fremen, who use his name as a clarion call in their quest for freedom.

In Lean’s film, Lawrence begins to see himself as a messiah: ‘Who will walk on water with me?’ he blurts out during one of his paroxysms.

Water is a truly finite resource in both films. For the characters involved, it is viewed in life and death terms. Some scenes from both films were shot in the same area of the scorched Jordanian desert.

Both worlds are destined to be consumed by the ‘mineral curse’.

In Dune, the sought after element is ‘Spice’, an hallucinogenic found on the planet that is essential for superluminal (faster than light) travel, which is the life blood of the galaxy.

In Lawrence Of Arabia, the commodity soon to become central to that part of the world is obviously oil. The tragedies endemic to this mineral need no introduction here. They play out every day on our TV screens.

Both films come highly recommended. Dune (Sky Cinema and Amazon Prime) is certainly the easier watch.

A restored version of Lean’s classic (complete with the original intermission) is currently on Netflix. At three hours 47 minutes, though, you might not soldier through it in one sitting.