Deborah Ahonen

I unfortunately found the movie “Dune 2021” to be depressing, ugly, a bit confusing to follow, and off to a slow start. It thankfully picked up some steam in the 2nd half, after Paul and his mother are forced to go into the desert alone. I read the book decades ago, and while it kept me on the edge of my seat, it was certainly no “Lord of the Rings”, as “Dune” the movie is being marketed. A big part of my difficulty with the film is the constant dull gray look of it with barely any color or green plants anywhere. I understand it’s a desert with little water, but how are plants grown which are needed for survival? As an artist and gardener who lives to create beauty, I found no organic beauty in this film, other than Timothee Chalamet’s incredible face, and a shot of the sensuous curves of the desert dunes. Other than that, the only color I recall was red blood. All that gray, between the coldness of the machines, the monotone clothing of the characters, and the stark environment of the living quarters, seemed austere, cold, and dead-looking. I had difficulty caring about any of these cold, gray people in their cold, gray environment. Contrast “Dune” with say, “Avatar”, with its’ beautiful blue-skinned populace, lush plants and trees, and fascinating animals - a visual feast- and Dune: a dreary, scary, dull, gray, depressing, and very long opus, and I was left feeling, well, cold and depressed.