Before going to the theater to see Dune: Part Two, I did something far more important.  At the Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle, the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg, they had on display for veneration something rare: the arm bone of the follower of Jesus who gave his name to the mother church of my diocese.  These sorts of things do not come around every day, and I wanted to be sure that I got a chance to go.  It does not hurt that by doing so, you get a plenary indulgence.  How these things work is a little above my Catholic paygrade, but there were some helpful signs along the line as you stood waiting to come face-to-marrow with this precious relic.  I have less of an idea about the movie I saw proceeding this special moment.  I even went back and read my review of Dune: Part One (2021) to see if it would help.  I was just as confused then as I am now.  All the same, perhaps because of what I had just experienced at the Cathedral, or maybe it has something to do with the Lenten season, but my Catholic senses tingled early and often while watching it.  It did not help me understand the plot at all, but there are some clear parallels between the film and the Faith.

I guess Dune: Part Two picks up where its predecessor left off, though beginning with Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh), the daughter of Emperor Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken).  One of my complaints with the previous installment is that we never meet this galaxy-wide ruler, but at least we can cross this off the list right away.  Anyway, Princess Irulan speculates that Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), the surviving heir to the House Atreides, is still alive on Arrakis.  Do not bother trying to figure out what any of this means based solely on this movie.  It does not seem interested in explaining much of anything.  Anyway, Paul is there on Arrakis, along with his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), a member of a clairvoyant group of women called the Bene Gesserit.  Lady Jessica and Paul are being led through the rocky, sandy terrain by Stilgar (Javier Bardem).  He is a member of the local Arrakis people called the Fremen, and they are trying to protect the “spice.”  We are two films into this mess and I am still not sure why this substance is so important to everyone outside of something having to do with Fremen culture and space travel, the last of which is even more hazy to me.  Anyway, Paul and company are wandering around, but Stilgar believes Paul is potentially the fulfilment of a prophecy about an off-worlder who would learn the desert ways and lead their people to victory.  Paul is not so keen on this, partially because he falls in love with Chani (Zendaya), a Fremen woman who does not believe the prophecy, and also due to his belief that being a foretold prophet would impede his desire to avenge the death of his father at the hands of House Harkonnen.  This last pretentious sounding group, like all of them, are the current rulers of Arakkis and protectors of the lucrative spice trade.  For now, Paul contents himself with learning the ways of the Fremen.  At the same time, Lady Jessica is offered the opportunity to be the next Reverend Mother of the Fremen.  Doing so grants her visions of what needs to be done, not necessarily regarding revenge for Paul.  Or maybe it does?  I do not know.  Instead, they are confirmation of the prophecy connected to her son’s role on Arrakis and beyond.  Thus, she sets out on a campaign to make the rest of the Fremen believe what has been foretold, despite those who are incredulous like Chani.  As this goes on, Paul is waging a successful guerilla war against Harkonnen forces, bringing spice production to a near halt.  The Harkonnen representative in charge, Glossu Rabban Harkonnen (Dave Bautista), is replaced by his ruthless brother, Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (Austin Butler).  Feyd Rautha wastes no time in locating the Northern Fremen base and destroying it, as Stilgar and the others watch in horror.  In order to solve this situation, Stilgar calls upon Paul to take the next step in making the prophecy a reality.  This involves traveling to the southern part of the world and leading the millions of Fremen fundamentalists awaiting the arrival of the so-called “Muad’Dib.”  Paul is hesitant to do so because the brief, confused glimpses of the future he has been afforded show him the deaths of billions by doing so.  Yet, at his mother’s forceful request, he drinks the same “Water of Life” that made Lady Jessica the Reverend Mother.  Somehow, this gives Paul a clearer picture of what he must do, and he starts by openly defying the Emperor.  It is all part of a trap Paul has laid since he anticipates the massive Imperial army that lands on Arrakis.  The person who is less on board with this is Chani, who for some reason continues to refuse to believe the prophecy and somehow thinks it will lead to slavery.  Nonetheless, she goes along with the plan out of loyalty to the Fremen.  Thus, she is on hand when they rather easily defeat over their enemies.  After their victory, Paul looks up to see the warships of other galactic houses coming to the assistance of their Emperor.  Paul responds by threatening to destroy the spice unless the Emperor steps down and gives Paul the throne and Princess Irulan in marriage.  Sorry, Chani, I guess.  Instead, the Emperor chooses Feyd-Rautha as his champion to challenge Paul in a duel to the death.  When Paul triumphs, the Emperor concedes, but the other houses do not follow suit.  So, it ends with Arrakisian soldiers boarding warships to begin what Lady Jessica calls a “holy war,” whatever that means.

There are large sections of Dune: Part Two over which I glossed because, frankly, I did not understand what was happening.  For instance, it is revealed after Paul drank of the Water of Life that Lady Jessica is the daughter of Baron Vladimir Harkonen (Stellan Skarsgård), head of House Harkonen.  I suppose this is meant to be a big deal given how angry Paul is when he confronts Lady Jessica about it.  All I could think during this scene was: so?  Sure, the Houses of Atreides and Harkonen are enemies, but I did not see how that changed anything of what Paul is destined to do.  Another is this whole mishigas over spice.  The first thing you see in the movie, even before they show the studies responsible for this nearly three-hour odyssey, is the following words: “Power over spice is power over all.”  Fine.  Yet, how is Paul and the Fremens efforts on Arrakis disrupting the lives of anyone with that power?  Is it making their spaceships hard to fly?  I could go on, but arguably the biggest problem is that it is unclear why I should have any sympathy for Paul as a character.  He does okay for most of the film as he genuinely wants to learn how to be Fremen.  Yet, when the time comes, it appears that he betrays everyone and everything about which he had come to care.  In the end, it looks as if he is just as power hungry as anyone else, including the supposedly villainous, monochromatic Harkonens.  Thus, when it came to the climactic showdown between Feyd-Rautha and Paul, the outcome truly did not matter to me.  Perhaps the galaxy would be worse off with a sadistic guy like Feyd-Rautha on the throne, but according to the Bene Gesserit, he can be controlled.  As such, who cares?

What I cared more about while watching Dune: Part Two were the Catholic images it evoked for me.  As I mentioned in the introduction, there is a Lenten parallel.  You go through this period of mortification to, in our own way, mirror the exodus of Israel for forty years in the desert, as well as Jesus’ own forty days spent in wilderness.  No matter which you use, you are talking about a new person(s) by the end of these sojourns.  The same can be said for Paul.  He wanders off into the dunes to be tested, and eventually becomes one of the Fremen.  Still, there is a more specific Christian tie-in, though one that comes after Paul sets off on his path of conquest.  Upon receiving his visions, despite what we are told are overwhelming odds (though with the way the final battle turns out, I am not sure about this), Paul sees a “narrow way” forward to ultimate triumph.  Once more, I could not tell you what this final victory entails, but the words used for how to get there is what interests me.  It can be likened to Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those that enter through it are many (13).  How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life.  And those who find it are few (14).”  This life gives us plenty of excuses not to be faithful to God.  Like a broad, well-defined highway, many choose the wiles of the world because they are easier and/or more pleasurable.  They are also shortsighted.  The narrow gate is more difficult to find, the path to it more difficult to follow, but the rewards once reached are incalculable.  Like most of what happens in this movie, we are told about these things, but their effects are never fully shown.  As for us, we will never know the full extent of this truth until we die.

The one Catholic parallel in Dune: Part Two I did not want to discuss is Lady Jessica being a type of Mary.  I appreciated the pro-life message by showing her fetus, though the part where it talks to her from the womb is strange.  I am not sure Jesus did that with his mother.  The problem with these somewhat interesting aspects is that they are buried in layers of things happening without any attempt at helping the audience understand their significance.  As such, I was surprised I did not fall asleep in this one, though I would not be surprised if you did.  Take that as a warning.