A combination of competitive masculinity and blind conformity has Gerrard McMurray’s debut feature film highlighting the barbaric and out-dated practice of hazing in U.S institutions. We only wished it had gone further.
Burning Sands, one of Netflix’s latest original movie releases, showcases the intensity and gruesome nature of the college ritual of hazing. Unlike typical college movies, director and co-writer Gerard McMurray shows the other side of fraternities and what it takes to join. The film mostly focuses on a new pledge named Zurich, played by Trevor Jackson, as he tries to find a balance with his new college life.
Set during Hell-Week, the freshmen are roughed up and thrown for a loop by their superiors to earn a place in the fraternity at the fictional all-black Frederick Douglas University. After receiving a severe beating, one of the candidates is kicked out, leaving five others to battle out the daily assaults while trying to keep up their academic and personal lives.
Zurich starts to feel the pressure from the expectation of his peers and the school dean, played by Steve Harris, to uphold the historic black tradition of joining a fraternity. Black fraternities exist for black men to help other black men succeed in life, and the film portrays that aspect as well as the flip side quite well. Zurich gets taken under the wing of a young doctor, who as a former pledge member becomes his mentor.
The script for this film lacks individuality. The entire focus of this coming-of-age film is on the protagonist Zurich. We don’t learn why each of these men decides they want to join the Greek fraternity and aren’t clued into their individual interests. These men are being beaten and humiliated on a daily basis but we don’t know why they continue to endure it. Could it just be to prove their masculinity and not crumble under the weight of societal expectations or is there a deeper meaning that we just don’t know about?
Watching Burning Sands inflicted some contradictory feelings within. It became easy to sympathise with the five freshmen, but you had to also remind yourself that they chose to join the brotherhood that is the fraternity. The thought-provoking film lacked depth but managed to capture the seriousness of the underground hazing issue that is happening at colleges all around the U.S.
Burning Sands is available on Netflix now. Take a look at the trailer below.