Dune: Part 2 criticized for its failure to include Middle Eastern and North ... trends now

Dune: Part Two is easily the biggest movie of the year thus far, and while it's a hit with an overwhelming majority of fans and critics, some are speaking out.

The film is the second half of director Denis Villeneuve's two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 sci-fi magnum opus, which gives fans a closer look at the Fremen - the desert-dwellers on Arakis - and their way of life. 

The original book - considered one of the best sci-fi novels of all-time - delved deeply into themes prevalent in Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) socieites while also commenting on Western imperialism.

Now that the film is out - having earned over $575 million worldwide - many critics are speaking out about the production failing to cast MENA actors while also diminishing the MENA influences from the book.

The first half of the book and the first movie introduces fans to this massive world and the main characters like Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet), whose family has been chosen to preside over Arakis and the lucrative spice production on the planet.

The second half of the book and the second movie follows Paul and his mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) as they integrate themselves into the Fremen culture.

Herbert - who passed away in February 1986 at 65 - had said he was influenced by Middle Eastern, North African and Islamic culture.

Such touchstones he drew upon for the Fremen people in his book included the Algerian War for Independence, T.E. Lawrence and the iconic 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia and the Bedouins of the Arabian plateau. 

Still, many critics took issue with the fact that only one MENA actor who was cast as a Fremen - the Swedish-born and Tunisian-raised Souheila Yacoub, who plays Shishakli, a friend to Zendaya's main character Chani.

Earlier this month, Furvah Shah wrote a piece for Cosmopolitan UK mentions that the filmmakers specifically left out a word used frequently in the book - jihad - which literally translates in Arabic to 'struggle' but is now synonymous with acts of terror.

'For me, to leave it out of the script is an intentional choice which shows that creators recognise their influences, yet choose not to highlight them on screen if it didn't serve an aesthetic purpose. Like, Dune can be Muslim, but not too Muslim,' Shah wrote.

She also linked to a 2021 article that mentions Herbert's own book editors asked him to diminish the, 'Muslim flavour' of the book. 

Shah added, 'From the use of beads and prostration in prayers by the Fremen, to the almost-Arabic language, phrases pulled from religious texts and the wearing of veils, it felt like Dune takes a heavy amount of inspiration from Islam, Middle Eastern and North African cultures yet simultaneously erases us from screen.'