KEITH T. DENNETT | New South | CONTACT
In good news for Australian documentary filmmakers, a small independent production is maintaining the number 1 spot on the nation’s box office charts with its captivating story about the plight of the Sand People of the West.
Dune 2, a film directed and produced by Denis Villeneuve, is expected to take over $20 million at the box office this weekend, whilst also hauling in an impressive $500 million worldwide.
Whilst many cinema goers are flocking to the film thanks to it’s stellar cast of hotties including Austin Butler, Zendaya or Timothée ‘Hot Rat Boy’ Chalamet, it’s believed many are shocked to learn the film is actually a re-enactment-style doco about the Western Australian resources trade and the Democratic People’s Republic Of WA (DPRWA).
As the story follows multiple wealthy families warring over the stewardship of the desert and control of the WA resources sector, the film explores themes of land disposition, ecological destruction and the human suffering at the hands of bloated totalitarian mining dynasties.
Featuring Stellan Skarsgård playing a live action roleplay of Baroness Gina Rhinehart, who for legal reasons had to be named Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in the film, the movie is already expected to sweep up at the AACTA awards.
Speaking to Betoota’s veteran film critic Margie Pomeranian, the film is described as ‘so poignant it’s expected to land on the prescribed text list for Year 12 students across the country.’
“Not since Bra Boys (2007) has a documentary captured the attention of the nation, its exploration of tribalism, violence and family power structures is astounding filmmaking,” Margie told The Advocate, over a chai latte at Kubrick’s Croissant House in the French Quarter.
“And whilst Austin Butler’s portrayal of Twiggy Forrest as a shirtless bloodthirsty maniac is captivating, I actually would have preferred the original casting of Jacob Elordi.”
“But this is without a doubt the most powerful doco I’ve seen about Western Australia’s addiction to the unregulated economic sugar hit of mining”
“I’m giving it five stars!”
