Dune (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Dune Fabio Bego (bio) Directed by Denis Villeneuve, performances by Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, and Oscar Isaac, 2021. 156 mins. Denis Villeneuve’s film Dune (2021) provides interesting insight on how notions of race, gender, and empire that are at the core of current post-colonial critique are being transferred into popular culture. Analyses of the short- and long-term consequences of colonialism in the contemporary world pervade public discourse in shows and documentaries for mainstream media, blockbuster movies, institutionally financed film festivals, and art exhibitions. From a political perspective it is possible to distinguish two broad approaches. On the one hand there is a critique from the left which is focused on the deconstruction of race and ethnicity. On the other hand, there is a critique from the far right that aims at restoring race and ethnic divisions and privileges which were presumably spoiled by “globalization” or “communism.” Without wanting to draw strict lines between the two political orientations of current postcolonial critique, in this review I argue that Dune squarely falls into the second category. I became interested in this film after reading some positive comments on Italian far right blogs. To understand the reasons why fascists appreciated this film, I take a look at Dune through the book Revolt Against the Modern World, by Italian racist and fascist philosopher Julius Evola. The book was originally published in 1934 but is still a major reference for fascists around the world.1 In order to highlight the analogies between the book and Dune’s anti-imperialist discourse, it is necessary to present the basic concepts of Evola’s ideas of empire. Evola thought that world history evolved around the dialectic between a supernatural order and a worldly or inferior order. He identified the supernatural order with the term “tradition.” Evola affirmed that traditional societies were organized according to races, caste systems, and sexes. This form of organization allowed societies to live harmoniously, although not peacefully, according to their status. The decay of traditional values and hierarchies led to the advent of the inferior order. This is the reason why modern societies are dominated by greed and individualistic interests. Evola affirms that the [End Page 404] supernatural order is ruled by men and has a masculine character whereas the inferior order has a feminine character. Drawing on this division, Evola defines two types of empires. The traditional empire, where the emperor has authority because he is sacred, and modern imperialism where the ruler has lost his sacredness and can obtain authority only with violence. Evola associates the term imperialism to the expansion of Western European states in the modern era and affirms that Europeans have destroyed the traditional societies that they colonized. He also believed that modern slavery in North America has been much crueller than the slavery of the ancient societies. In his view, in Indian traditional society, slavery was inconceivable because the persons that belonged to the caste of workers accepted their social function and, differently from modern slaves and workers, they did not feel alienated from their work. He justifies the hierarchical divisions of traditional society by claiming that workers were free to belong to their caste as their rulers were to belong to theirs. Evola criticized modern nationalism that, in analogy to more recent Marxist-inspired theories, he considered invented traditions. One of the first similarities that emerge by the comparison between the two works is the division of society into castes. In Dune there is an aristocratic class represented by the emperor (that we do not see in this film), the duke of Atreides, his son and the main antagonist of the film, the baron. Then there are warriors who, in analogy to Evola’s imagination, are depicted as ascetic persons, devoted to fighting and to the rituality that surrounds it. There is a class of clerks that mediates the relations between the different rulers. And finally there is the “people,” which is represented by the mass from the planet Arrakis, the Fremen. The latter praise and chant the name of their prince. They recognize his sacredness and seem spiritually aware of the mission that the prince is about to undertake...