Do I write about these movies when they are still fresh in my mind or do I contemplate even more and write later? May be I should write now, because I want to write how these three movies made me feel. So I watched 3 movies within in a month in 2024, "Dune 2" on the last day of February, "Oppenheimer" last week and "Aadujeevitham" yesterday. "Oppenheimer" was from last year, but I got to watch it this year only. These movies were "heavy", dark and/or depressing, but they all belong to the category of "must watch in a theatre". Here I am with a not so light heart sitting and going to write about how these three brilliant movies may be connected to each other at some level and why everyone must watch them. Let us start from Episode 1 "Dune 2". Shall we?
/*------------------------------------ Episode 1 - DUNE part 2 ----------------------------------------*/
Disclaimer - Have some spoilers read only after watching.
My introduction to DUNE was quite unexpected. In 2021 my then supervisor and we went to a multiplex in Geneva to watch DUNE part 1. And my goodness I was blown away! At that time I was unaware of the fact that Dune was based on a book series and had been made into series prior to that.
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(franchise) ) Dune definitely had a Star Wars like quality (i.e like Episodes 4, 5, 6) and was visually stunning with a complicated and excellent background score. While watching some scenes I was thinking "this scene looks like a painting!", especially the death of Duke Leto Atreides. Then there was the near closing scene where Paul smiles at Chani...
The most remarkable thing about Dune is that the Fremen wear the "stillsuit"
(https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Stillsuit) so that they recycle their own body water and can survive the harsh desert conditions. I will not describe too much, because I have not read the books yet so I feel a bit under-qualified to talk on this topic.
Another aspect of "Dune" is that it is an extremely "good-looking" movie (with very famous cast members). Ofcourse the protagonist of this movie is extremely handsome (Timothée Chalamet). Then ofcourse Zendaya. Then Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem (you can't help remembering "Skyfall"), Josh Brolin (who doesn't look like Thanos anymore), Dave Bautista (who also doesn't look like Drax the Destroyer) and many other famous actors and actresses. The good looks are not limited to the cast though, each frame of Dune was stunning. If you are someone who loves photography you will understand why. Plus the logo of this new "DUNE" series by Denis Villeneuve (yes, that Denis Villeneuve who directed "Arrival") is brilliant - an almost palindorome.
So when a friend asked me the next day how Dune was, my response was "Timothée Chalamet is so handsome and this is a cult movie to be viewed in a theatre." Apart from all these, "DUNE" is interesting to neutrino physicists because there is actually an experiment which abbreviates to "DUNE". People were saying that "oh look they have a movie named after their experiment". Ofcourse "dune" can mean anything from sand dunes to the name of a book. :)
I have still not read this book series, but now, I understand to a small extend why this story is important and significant. I got to know about this from a TED-ED video https://youtu.be/yhYU4ZbLmmk?si=lr-xbm8--3krTAxR. You will partly realise this analogy while watching the movie also, i.e, spice is like oil and the story of Dune is not far from what has happened in the name of oil. You will figure out that there are serious themes like exploitation of natural resources, colonization, how charisma and religion can create narratives to control people and so on. To understand these themes we may have to read the books carefully and understand more history and think carefully. But even a viewer who has not read the books and gone down that rabbit hole, you still can identify the similarities of the story with the world we live in.This brings me to Dune part 2.
How I watched Dune 2 in a theater is a bit funny. After a week of torturing myself in the name of teaching and not going anywhere, I badly needed a break. So I knew that I had to go somewhere and decided to go shopping. But I also knew that Dune was releasing on the same day and had been contemplating watching this movie. There was no ticket in IMAX, where ideally one should have watched it. Then there was the question "do I want to wait till Saturday and watch it"? But then fomo got the better of me and I booked a ticket to one of the immediately available shows and went to watch it on the release day itself!
And I loved Dune 2. Infact it was better than Dune 1. No wonder Christopher Nolan compared it to "The Empire Strikes Back"! It is so visually stunning that there is one scene where a small object like a breathing straw is shown in a frame. If something as small and seemingly insignificant in that movie looks so good, you can imagine how the rest of the movie looks.
There are some more good looking people like Florence Pugh (who doesn't look like her MCU character), Ausitn Butler and Lea Seydoux (yup one more person from James Bond franchise) but it is the visual aspect of Dune 2 which stands out above all. One can read about how the black and white portions of the movie were shot with an infrared technology! That is simply mind blowing! https://variety.com/2024/artisans/news/dune-2-shooting-arena-fight-scene-infrared-1235927682/.
Hence DUNE 2 as a visual feast, deserves to be viewed on a big screen, IMAX or otherwise. Yes it is a sci-fi with visual effects. But at the same time the desert is an integral part of the story and looks so beautiful.
But it is not without a message or some emotions. If you expect too much emotion out of a sci-fi you may be disappointed. I think the point of this movie is to entertain us first and foremost and then to give us fodder for thought because we thoroughly enjoyed it. I was entertained for the 2 hour 46 minutes duration I watched it (without a bathroom break). This is the shortest of the three movies I am writing about. The other thing is also that, once you get into that world and set your mind towards the story, you will find this duration necessary.
Also we have grown up watching three hour movies so. When I hear people complaining "oh this movie is too long", I think, "It is not! Sholay was 3 hours 24 minutes! Titanic was 3h 14m! Each of the Lord of Rings movie is 3 hours +- 20 mins!" We are the binge generation who is ready to sit 8 hours to finish a series in one night; we are the generation who would go to university film festival and binge world movies from morning till night!. :D So don't complain that some movie is 2 hours 46 mins long! It is also remarkable that even in the ott generation people are willing to sit though long movies without a bathroom break.
By the way there were double shows of Dune somewhere here, i.e Part 1 and 2 together. May be if there is a Dune 3 I will binge them in theater! :D
Now I have to mention why I loved this movie more than its prequel. The first and foremost reason is Zendaya as Chani. Zendaya is a brilliant actress who should win all the awards one day. And her portrayal of Chani acts as the emotional and moral anchor of this story. Had there been no Chani, you would never have understood how Paul Atreides is a shady character. Chani of this movie is the one who constantly reminds us of the consequences of herd mentality and believing in charismatic leaders. Some of her most remarkable lines are :
"Want to control people? Tell them a Messiah will come and they’ll wait." "This prophecy is how they enslave us."
(You can read this article too: https://www.vulture.com/article/dune-part-two-review-this-is-zendayas-movie.html)
And she gets betrayed at the end. Though Paul says "I will love you as long as I breathe" to her, the moment he saw the Princess Irulan he asked her to marry him. So much for star crossed lovers. And that is a wake up call too. The pretty face you love may not be as pretty inside. That one scene also reminds you of the themes you might have been familiar as an Indian audience. The guy always goes for the upper caste or upper glass woman even though he claims he is in love with a lower caste/class woman. Here is it Chani a Fremen being abandoned by Paul an aristocrat for Irulan the emperor's daughter.
Though Paul says "I’d very much like to be equal to you" that was only a tactics he uses to impress others and make them help him achieve his ultimate goal - i.e power. The Fremen were genuinely worried for him when he was riding his first sand worm. But he rides it like a pro. This makes you feel that he was actually crafting an image of himself as a powerless gentle person where as he was always well trained and all he needed was a group of people who will ultimately do his bidding.
He broke both Chani's heart and her trust and also did a huge disrespect to Irulan. She is asked to marry him as a political tradeoff. That one scene when he becomes the emperor and everybody except Chani and Irulan bow to him is remarkable. It is upto the viewer's interpretation - how I interpret is that both women are unimpressed by this man. Chani's heartbreak will leave you in tears. And when Chani was riding away at the end of the movie it feels that free will is...
Here I have to mention how you will start despising Lady Jessica for making vulnerable people to follow her and revere her and how she fans the fire to make people believe in the "prophecy" which would aid her son ascend power.
What the movie brilliantly depicts via its casting is that the is the race factor. You must watch the it carefully to appreciate who are cast as vulnerable and who is manipulating them. Take this race factor, put it in a caste or class context, it is similar.
Why, apart from all the visual glory and exceptional making, DUNE 2 must be watched is because of the statements it makes. Beware of charismatic people. Beware of the unholy combination of religion/superstition and power. It is a cautionary tale against charismatic leaders and hero worship.
(https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2024/03/07/dune-part-2-is-paul-atreides-a-hero/?sh=1f75409c12e0)
That's precisely a reminder we need to have in a world where people are following populist ideas (it stands true for the entire world) and being swayed by the so called "charismatic leaders". I don't know what happens in the books after Paul Atreides' ascension to power. But we can make a guess from what we have seen in our own world. So the question is, are you going to be mindful of your hero worship, mindless following of charisma and oblivion to what can happen to free will as a consequence?
PS : My most favourite scene in Dune 2 is when Chani teaches Paul how to walk on the sand with the peaceful score "A Time of Quiet Between the Storms" plays. It looked like they were dancing. <3
