Burning Sands (2017)

Burning Sands (2017)

IMDB Rating : 6.2/10 (as on 26.03.2017)

Deep into Hell Week, a favored pledgee is torn between honoring his code of silence or standing up against the intensifying violence of underground hazing.

Director: Gerard McMurray

Writers: Christine Berg, Gerard McMurray

Stars: Segun Akande, Sidney Alexandria, Malik Bazille

1h 36min | Drama

IMDB Link Here

Movie Rating ★★★★☆  

 Grim drama uncovers brutal hazing at black fraternity

“It’s easier to build strong children than repair broken men.”

It’s a Frederick Douglass quote frequently, and accurately, used in the bleak college drama Burning Sands which shows that a) in 2017, we’re still struggling to teach boys how to grow into decent, well-adjusted men and b) he really is getting recognized more and more.

Hazing is prohibited in the majority of US colleges. It’s an often barbaric practice that serves as an initiation for young men eager to become part of a fraternity. For many, it’s humiliating but for some, it’s far worse and a string of extreme examples have resulted in death. The frat scene on film has traditionally been filled with knockabout comedy, from Animal House through to Neighbours, leaving such dangerous practices relatively uncovered. But last year’s shocking Nick Jonas/James Franco drama Goat lifted the lid on the darker side of campus brotherhood, and following boldly in its footsteps is this starkly effective thriller.

Burning Sands is the debut feature from Gerard McMurray, whose most notable producing credit is on Ryan Coogler’s devastating Fruitvale Station, and there’s a similar sense of dread tying the two together. In that film, familiarity with the true story of Oscar Grant’s untimely death at the hands of a racist transit cop made us aware of the horrific end to the day we saw unfolding. In his new offering, we also have a ticking clock but we’re less aware of what’s to come – we just know that it’s going to be bad.

From the outset, McMurray displays a tight control of his material, throwing us in at the deep end and plunging us further into murkier waters with barely a note wasted on the way down. Jackson dominates, there’s scarcely a scene when we’re not by his side, and as the ground slowly falls around him, we feel the devastation. A maturing child star, most recently seen in the second season of American Crime, he’s an empathetic, subtly commanding lead and the camaraderie with his fellow pledges is authentically played, helping to draw us into the escalating crises they’re pulled into.

As seen in Moonlight, the struggle for black men to appear vulnerable can be stifling and here it helps to add another layer to the difficult journey from boyhood to becoming a man.

There are slight flaws, however. The female characters are arguably just ciphers while the action is largely predictable – but that doesn’t prevent the grueling finale from cutting deep. When “hell” finally arrives, it’s dripping in tension and McMurray reveals himself to be adept at choreographing horror. There’s a lingering pain as the credits roll, a reminder of the misconception that to be a real man, one must endure physical and mental pain inflicted by other men, similarly misunderstanding true masculinity.

It might ultimately be difficult to truly empathize with the decision to undergo such torture, but it’s merely an extreme example of wanting to fit in and, at such a young age, not understanding the importance of self-worth over blind conformity. As this tragic realization hits, you can see Zurich finally cross over into adulthood, tears filling his eyes. It’s a haunting image that burns deeper than any of the violence.

Read full review at The Guardian

Burning Sands is a workmanlike but unavoidably predictable yarn about the perils of college fraternity hazing. The fact that, this time, the setting is an all-black school really doesn’t change anything, as this kind of story can only really have one possible trajectory: Gung-ho young men embrace the spirit of the institution, go all out and then too far, resulting in tragedy from excess zeal. But the drama’s intensity, and the novelty of the context, will be enough to draw viewers to this Netflix presentation upon its March 10 debut.

Set during Hell Week, when aspiring inductees are put through the wringer by their superiors to earn the right to join the fraternity at (fictional) all-black Frederick Douglass University, the script by first-time screenwriters Christine Berg and director Gerard McMurray dives right in to demonstrate how the brutal drill instructors rough up the candidates.

Frustratingly, the script makes no effort to differentiate these game young men as individuals; we know nothing about their backgrounds, what their interests are and why, individually, each one decided that Greek life was important enough to subject himself to the ordeal he's embarking upon.

First-time director McMurray, who worked as an associate producer on Fruitvale Station, does a decent job of staging the action and maintaining viewer attention on the straight-line story. But there’s no subtext, investigation of his characters’ various stories or motivations for doing what they’re doing. It’s a very shallow film.

As the only actor asked to do anything but the obvious, Jackson exudes some undeniable charisma and has a tendency, like method actors of yore, to posture a bit, retreat within and make the viewer follow him there. Future films will no doubt provide a more comprehensive sense of his talents.

Read full review at Hollywood reporter

The rites, rituals and sadistic extremes of fraternity hazing come in for somber if schematic scrutiny in “Burning Sands,” Gerard McMurray’s promising directorial debut. It’s a subject McMurray has wanted to tackle since his undergraduate days at Howard University, and this cautionary tale serves as the darker mirror image — literally and figuratively — to Richard Linklater’s sweet-natured “Everybody Wants Some!!” last year.

In both films, the dynamics of performative masculinity are on florid display, with men strutting their macho stuff to gain the approval of their male peers, even when they’re with women. Linklater played those interactions for gentle, self-aware laughs. In “Burning Sands,” McMurray and co-writer Christine Berg warn of the inherent dangers of group­think and militaristic tribal aggression, here given an extra sting when they’re perpetuated by African American men on their young brothers. (If McMurray’s name is familiar, that’s because he co-produced Ryan Coogler’s astonishing first film, “Fruitvale Station.”)

There’s no doubt that “Burning Sands” is heavier on the polemics than naturalistic, spontaneous drama; it has “message movie” written all over it (and all through it). Still, McMurray delivers a thoughtful treatise on the most painful contradictions of black frat life, which celebrates brotherhood, scholarship, leadership and compassion but also perpetuates violence and disrespect.

Although McMurray could have done a better job of delineating his characters, a few stand out by way of memorable performances, including DeRon Horton as a privileged pledge nicknamed Square; Nafessa Williams as a sexually liberated townie; and Trevante Rhodes — most recently seen as the adult Chiron in “Moonlight” — as a Lambda Phi with at least a modicum of conscience. Nicely shot by Isiah Donté Lee, “Burning Sands” feels candid and heartfelt — even brave. McMurray deserves credit for telling this story, welts and all.

Read full review at Washington Post