DUNE, religious fanaticism, and Paul Atreides/Paul The Messiah

This review contains spoilers for DUNE (2021).

In a crucial moment of DUNE (2021), the Reverend Mother (Charlotte Rampling) of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood presents Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) with the “Gom Jabbar Test for Humanity,” a wordy phrase for a life-and-death situation to test Paul’s control over his emotions. The Mother, feared by Paul’s mother Bene Gesserit acolyte Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) for her sheer power and her position as the Emperor’s Truthsayer, asks Paul to put his hand in a box, which will prompt intense pain. If Paul removes his hand, the Reverend Mother will stab him with the gom jabbar, a poison needle causing instant death.

“An animal caught in a trap with gnaw off its own leg to escape. What will you do?” the Mother asks.

That quote describes much of Paul’s troubling circumstance at the start of Denis Villeneuve’s adaption of Frank Herbert’s foundational 1965 science fiction novel. Set across the galaxy in the year 10191, DUNE shows Paul caught between his role as the ducal heir of House Atreides and the religious fanaticism of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood. Paul’s identity is a trap of expectations, a long list of roles and positions he must fulfill with little choice. He inherits too much power, both thanks to his lineage and Jessica’s decision to train him in the Bene Gesserit ways, which include witchlike superhuman abilities.

While being the leader of the feudal House Atreides is a more clear-cut example of Paul’s status, the Bene Gesserit side of him exists in the shadows. After Paul passes the gom jabbar test and the Reverend Mother leaves the Atreides’ home planet Caladan, Jessica tells Paul that the Bene Gesserit have been hard at work crossing bloodlines and spreading galactic propaganda to bring about the Kwisatz Haderach, a messiah with “a mind powerful enough to bridge space and time, past and future.” Is Paul that messiah, the leader who will usher in new peace and harmony for the galaxy?

There’s plenty of evidence, even for skeptics: his knowledge of events and memories belonging to other time periods and people, as well as his dreams of the planet Arrakis and a native Fremen girl named Chani (Zendaya), all give Paul a clairvoyancy that surprises even Jessica.

It isn’t until later in DUNE that Paul fully understands what being the Kwisatz Haderach means—or the Fremen’s worshippings of him and the galactic holy war that will be fought in his name—but the early signs make him practically crack under the pressure. Chalamet’s subdued performance here aids much to Paul’s coping with his purpose, although his acting often keeps audiences at a distance, which I find frustrating when Paul becomes our sole perspective about halfway through DUNE. Prior to that shift, the film’s talented ensemble cast keeps much of our attention.

Out of everything I’ve written so far, the most notable thread might be Paul’s connection to Arrakis, the previously mentioned planet and setting for much of DUNE. A harsh desert environment, Arrakis is the galaxy’s only source of spice—or melange—which is an incredibly valuable resource for its health benefits and use in interstellar travel.

Thus, Arrakis is an occupied and heavily desirable territory, a place that the Emperor contracts one house to oversee as its fief ruler. At the beginning of DUNE, we learn that the Emperor plans to replace House Harkonnen—who has ruled Arrakis for 80 years, making them immensely rich from spice production—with House Atreides.

This should be an exciting moment for the Atreides, but Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac), Paul’s father, recognizes the dangers of the situation. While Leto hopes to form an alliance with the displaced native Fremen, which would make Atreides a powerful galactic force, he remains wary of the Harkonnen. 80 years on Arrakis made them greedy, and only time will tell how their leader, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård), will react.

But the changing of Arrakis’ occupant is a secret scheme set in motion by the Emperor, who hopes to set up a civil war between the Atreides and the Harkonnen. Both houses are immensely powerful and popular in the galaxy, making them a threat to the Emperor’s rule.

It’s Shakespearean drama and tragedy, albeit burdened by a variety of complex science fiction terms and concepts. But the larger political forces are easy enough to identify, and their personal impacts become omnipresent in every scene. No one can escape the sense that Atreides is a pawn in a larger plot. Few understand the immense change that’s coming, especially once Paul becomes a fully realized messiah.

All of this is more or less the premise of DUNE, titled onscreen as PART ONE. Covering roughly the first part of the original 1965 novel, Villeneuve gambles that the film’s worldbuilding and foundational work will interest audiences enough to bring them back for PART TWO (which was recently confirmed for a 2023 release). It certainly pays off, thanks to the sheer scale and gorgeousness of Dune’s production. Every aspect of the craft is created with immense attention to detail and care.

This is a blockbuster where every single dollar is clearly visible on the screen. It’s an expensive movie that looks expensive, which might be a dumb thing to write, but how many times have we all watched a blockbuster that looked sloppily thrown together, with CGI that distracts us from the story and characters?

Anyways, I’ve seen DUNE three times now. As of yesterday morning, I’m on my fourth re-watch and my first read of the book started this past Sunday. Every time I see an ad for the film, I get an itch to go see it again. Am I sick in the head? Did Villeneuve drug me? I can’t remember the last time a blockbuster, a fictional world and mythology, become so fascinating to me. Truly the DUNE-ification of my personality!

And I think part of my love for DUNE is my perspective on its main plot. I don’t see it as an unsatisfying film, which many viewers might because we don’t see the payoff of Paul’s role as the Kwisatz Haderach, or a spectacle you simply must see on the big screen (although it doesn’t hurt). Rather, I think DUNE: PART ONE works so well for me because it is the fall of House Atreides and the (metaphorical) death of Paul Atreides. Its structure follows the destruction of what Paul knows best and the deaths of those closest to him. And when DUNE finally reaches its climax, it is less about Paul accepting the religious plans involving him.

The climax is instead Paul killing a Fremen warrior to gain a spot on the tribe, a ritualistic fight where Paul takes his first life. The scene is incredibly powerful, especially cut with visions of Paul’s own death and a sort of distorted voice claiming that to kill another person means we also kill ourselves. In that moment, Paul does kill himself, the Atreides version of himself.

Of course, the burden of the future of House Atreides and the Bene Gesserit’s plan remain, even when Paul Atreides no longer exists. Paul won’t be able to escape the holy war that’s coming and the purpose that he must fulfill. But for a brief moment, it feels a character who has so much thrust upon him can finally make his own decision.