If you don’t have 155 minutes to review Denis Villanueve’s “Dune: Part,” but you need someone to remind you what happened before you go to the theaters on Wednesday, Feb. 28, I gotcha, fam.
I understand that 155 minutes of your life is precious. That time could be spent learning origami, mastering a song in a foreign language, or getting acquainted with the basics of beatboxing. So, naturally, you need a recap that you can read within three minutes.
While the rest of the world wait for two more days, we are lucky enough to have “Dune: Part II” grace our cinemas early. But before you go to the nearest theater screening the continuation that’s already popular with critics, let’s recap the first film. I’ll remind you who the Harkonnens are, why they want the Atreides’ gone, why the planet Arrakis is important for this universe, and what the blue-eyed Fremen get by being spitting all over the place.
Table of Contents
The Planet Arrakis and Its Spice
Let’s start with this very important planet.
Arrakis is basically the Dune-iverse’s Venezuela, only more hardcore. The difference is that Arrakis does not hold 18% of the world’s oil reserve. Instead, it’s the only place where oil can be mined. And in this universe, it’s not called oil—it’s called spice. (Although you need to think of this “spice” as a metaphor for anything on earth that is limited. Water? Yes, that’s Dune’s spice. Land? Yes, that’s also Dune’s spice. Politicians with brains? Y—
Back to Arrakis.
This place is also called Dune, hence, the title of the book and the popular media based on it. Within Arrakis are settlements called sietches, where the Fremen live (more on them later). I’m sure it did not escape your memory that Arrakis is a desert planet where sandworms called shai-hulud (sounds like “ulod,” the Bicol word for “worm”) will eat whatever it is that can fit inside their thorny mouths—a spice-harvesting equipment, Harkonnen men, or a useless Judge of the Change (I do not miss you at all, Dr. Liet Kynes).
The spice melange (from now on, we’ll just call it “spice”) mined from Arrakis are used for anything that needs to work in this universe. Mainly, they use it for space travel, but the Fremen and the Bene Gesserit also need spice.
House Atreides
Leto Atreides I (Oscar Isaac) is the head of the House Atreides. In “Dune: Part I,” the house was tasked by the padisha emperor, Shaddam IV, to replace the House Harkonnen as the rulers and managers of the spice mining in Arrakis. The film explicitly tells us viewers that this move by the padishah emperor, was not due to his love or respect to the House Atreides.
It seems like the emperor has given this task to Leto Atreides I as a death sentence, basically. The emperor knows that Arrakis, being the only planet in the known universe that produces the valuable spice melange, will be the cause of everybody else’s jealousy, and thus would start making the house a target. Douche move, but brilliant if you look at it objectively.
So Leto Atreides I brings his family with him to this drug den planet—the Bene Gesserit mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Fergusson) and Paul Atreides (Timothée Hal Chalamet)—but not before they let the swordsman Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa) and the mentat Thufir Hawat (Stephen McKinley Henderson) make sure the planet is safe for the family.
Paul has dreams of the Fremen people. He sees Chani (Zendaya) in his dreams. Chai is a Fremen, but he won’t meet her until the last few moments of the film.
Paul and his mother Lady Jessica can use “the Voice,” a power from perfected by Bene Gesserit members that enables them to control the mind of people who can hear it.
House Harkonnen and the Sardaukars
Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan John Skarsgård) leads the House Harkonnen. If the Atreideses are the planet Caladan, the Harkonnens are from Giedi Prime. The powerful but darkly ambitious Vladimir Harkonnen has been in control of Arrakis for years, so they are one of the wealthiest houses in the universe.
When fiefdom of Arrakis was given to the Atreideses, Harkonnens left the planet in poor condition. The mining equipment did not work as intended, endangering the Atreideses during one of the expeditions.
If you were confused as to why Vladimir seemed to be floating in the film, that’s because he was floating. He has suspensors that allow him to levitate. He needs this equipment to be mobile since he is too fat to move. Excessive wealth leads to gluttony.
House Harkonnen was able to persuade Dr. Wellington Yueh (Chang Chen) to betray House Atreides in exchange for a chance to be with his family again. That didn’t end well for the doctor and everyone in the House Atreides.
Now, with the alliance of the House Harkonnen with the emperor, Vladimir was able to send his men and Sardaukar men to attack Arrakis. The Sardaukars are the elite forces of the emperor, known in the universe to be brutes.
Bene Gesserit
The Bene Gesserit is a religious order in the galaxy. Remember the Kwisatz Haderach mentioned multiple times in the film? That’s the messiahnic figure that was imprinted by the Bene Gesserit in the minds of the Fremen in Arrakis.
The Bene Gesserit will have their own television show on HBO soon. I have been waiting for it for yeeears. Hopefully, we get an update about it soon.
Fremen
The deeply religious Fremen are the inhabitant of the planet Arrakis. They didn’t feature enough in the first film, although we get a sense that:
- They respect their traditions.
- They are fierce fighters.
- They live in sietches.
- They must have an Olympics for spitting.
Stilgar (Javier Bardem) leads the Fremen from the Sietch Tabr. At the end of the film, Paul and Lady Jessica joined their group after Paul defeated Jamis (Babs Olusanmokun) in an amtal, a sort of a trial by combat for the Fremen.
Shai-Hulud
Arrakis is protected by gargantuan sandworms, which the Fremen call shai-hulud. They believe that shai-hulud are their god in physical form. They also use shai-hulud as their sand skis.
That’s it. That’s everything you need to remember before you go to the cinemas today or this weekend. Let me know what you enjoyed the most in the first and second part of “Dune” by sending me a message via ra@ravstheworld.com or by dropping a comment here.
