Angelus News | March 22, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 6

Just before the sequel starts, the
dukedom of Arrakis has been taken
away from the vicious House Harkonnen
by the galactic emperor and given
to Paul’s father, Leto Atreides. The
move is revealed as a trap set by the
emperor for the Atreides family, whom
he fears as rivals. When the empire
attacks Arrakis with troops disguised
as Harkonnen soldiers, Leto is killed
while his wife, Jessica, and their son,
Paul, barely escape.
Jessica, who belongs to a secretive
caste of women with secret powers
known as the Bene Gesserit, and Paul
hide among the Fremen, the Bedouins
of Arrakis, who live in the desert and
who even manage, to a degree, the
enormous sandworms that are the
source of the precious spice.
There are signs that Paul is the
Fremen’s long-awaited messiah figure,
and when they realize it, set out to
train him in all things Fremen. Along
the way, Paul gets to know Chani, a
Fremen woman warrior (played by
singer-actress Zendaya), who gradually
falls in love with him.
A guerrilla war develops between the
Fremen and the Harkonnen forces.
Paul’s abilities grow while his mother
moves to another part of the planet to
exercise some spiritual leadership and
encourage Paul to accept his fate as the
messiah.
But Villeneuve made some telling adjustments
to the original “Dune” story,
like giving Chani a greater role. In the
book she is devoted to Paul and is the
mother of his son, but in the movie is
a Fremen leader who opposes some of
the ideas of Paul and his mother. She
detests Paul’s veneration as Mahdi by
some of her fellow Fremen, whom she
dismisses as “fundamentalists,” and
considers religious hope as a form of
enslavement.
Herbert was against the exaltation and
divinization of leaders, which he said
was “painful,” but the metamorphosis
that happens to Paul in the series of
books is a much more complex and
grotesque process than the stereotypical
distrust of religion expressed in
“Dune: Part II.”
With increasing boldness, many
“influencers” on social media have
accepted as axiomatic that religion is
not a part of the solution to the world’s
problems. “Fundamentalism” is the
new enemy of human progress. While
Chani doesn’t say so explicitly, her
attitude resembles the old canard that
religion is the opiate of the people.
“Hope” should not be based on
something that transcends our individual
experience, and we should save
ourselves and not wait for a savior. All
the altruism that religion can inspire is
discounted because it is manipulation.
Herbert said that any comparison to
Christ and Christian beliefs was out of
bounds in “Dune.” Nevertheless, his
depictions of Alia, Paul’s weird sister,
and of the Bene Gesserit sisters illustrate
the cynical use of faith to political
ends.
If religion is just about power
relationships, however, it is not about
redemption. “Dune II” lightly mocks
the sensibility of the Fremen warriors,
their gullibility, and their straining to
believe. Villeneuve has said that he
did not think anyone could watch this
installment and still have admiration
for Paul Atreides or see him as a hero.
Perhaps he is contemplating moving
Zendaya in “Dune:
Part II.” | IMDB
on with the story, and has read the ugly
transformations ahead for Paul, but he
seems to forget that there is really no
alternative to Paul’s “Mahdi-fication.”
The empire is corrupt, the Harkonnens
are barbaric, and the possibility
of the Fremen’s “greening” of Arrakis
without achieving power is negligible.
In other words, the “Dune” films
don’t seem to want to acknowledge
the obvious: that in (most likely)
naming the titular family after a clan
in Greek mythology, Herbert probably
conceived of his saga as a tragedy. The
House of Atreus was no city on a hill,
but rather a family whose members
committed fratricide, adultery, and
child sacrifice.
Fate is an inexorable nemesis for the
Atreides. No Brady Bunch, barrel of
laughs kind of story. Perhaps Herbert
was signaling that to us with the classical
name.
Msgr. Richard Antall is pastor of
Holy Name Church in Cleveland,
Ohio, and the author of several books,
including the novel “The X-mas Files”
(Atmosphere Press, $17.99). He served
as a missionary priest in El Salvador for
more than 20 years.
March 22, 2024 • ANGELUS • 29