[kode]

I think that the film was focusing to much on the fall of the atreides, and not so much on the rise of the kwizatz haderach.

oh, and I've been told that the book is kind of metaphoric. I'd guess it's some middle eastern oil thing.

[Stryke 9]

I think that's reading a bit much into it. The culture in Dune was almost entirely based on the modern Middle East, with the feudal system, the names, and the militant Messiah. And, of course, the Spiceoil. Much of everything else, too. But I don't know about allegoric... bit of a (huge) stretch, near as I can tell.