During the weekend, while taking a break from
writing the latest instalment of Short Story Sunday, I watched Jodorowsky’s Dune, a movie about
Alejandro Jodorowsky’s doomed attempted at adapting Frank Herbert’s Dune to the silver screen. As always, I
started this movie with some personal baggage, something that is also known as
expectations. I was apprehensive, to say the least. I was worried the movie
would be the celebration of an incomplete film project, filled with
commentators who would enthusiastically call it a masterpiece even though no
footage of it exists. People who would tell you that by not sharing their
opinions of this unmade movie your life has somehow been poorer than it
otherwise would have been. I was expecting an audio visual check list with a narrator
marking off each instance where the legacy and influence of this lost Dune could be seen in other science
fiction movies that followed. In essence, I was expecting a lot of back patting
and celebration for something that, by my understanding, simply doesn’t exist.
Something that was nothing more than a dream. I was worried that I was about to
watch a documentary of overzealous film enthusiasts verbally masturbating over
their lost holy grail. I cannot express my excitement and relief that Jodorowsky’s Dune isn’t that movie.
To be honest, there is a little bit of what I’ve
described in this movie but it’s presented through a filter of pure creativity
and exhilaration that it’s hard to not give in an accept it for what it is. You
can’t avoid making this kind of documentary and simply ignoring all of the
adoration some people will have for the subject matter. The movie has some
moments where fans of Jodorowsky lament the loss of what could have been one of
the most culturally significant and worthwhile science fiction movies of all
time. It’s also inevitable that people will talk about the lasting legacy that
this movie had on parts of the film industry. That’s great and it’s worth
mentioning, but playing “spot the influence” simply isn’t for me. Most of the
movie, to my surprise and great enjoyment, is about something else.
