#so learning that it was originally conceived as a much longer sequence was hmm. interesting

[fuckyeahisawthat]

Forever thinking about the ten-minute war-documentary-style long take of the aftermath of the attack on Sietch Tabr, only a few seconds of which made it into the final cut of Dune Part Two.

Image: text from page 214 of The Art and Soul of Dune: Part Two. The text reads:

MELTING ROCK

Before the Atreides atomic arsenal is deployed, another Harkonnen attack on Arrakis further fuels Paul's desire for revenge. It's the point of no return. As he awakens to the sound of explosions, he realizes that Sietch Tabr is being bombarded. This scene echoes the extermination of House Atreides in Part One, with newly designed bombers destroying everything in their path.

What's left of the Fremen people after the air strike is heartbreaking. Wounded survivors seek refuge at the Cave of Birds, where Paul finds Stilgar heavily injured. "We'll have sixty-five to seventy Fremen, wounded families, all civilians," Denis noted in preparation for the scene. The ailing refugees within the cave were filmed in one continuous sequence that lasted ten minutes. "The extras were trained and had rehearsed what to do," recalled Denis. "On 'action,' everyone launched into the scene, creating a maelstrom of pain and chaos, through which Greig improvised shots to capture the intensity, as a war photojournalist would do."

To escape the Harkonnens' wrath, the Fremen flee to the south. And when Feyd-Rautha arrives at the Cave of Birds to witness the damage he has caused, he meets the only survivor who has chosen to stay behind and cover the retreat. Shishakli, who has killed nine Harkonnens with one single blade, will die like the birds, torched with a flamethrower.