BURNING SANDS: A FILM THAT NEVER REALLY GOT ITS DUE

Burning Sands is an American Drama Film released in 2017, about a student at the fictional Historically Black College, Frederick Douglass University, who is proud to be a pledge of the fictional black fraternity, Lambda Phi. But as he and his line brothers get closer to finishing the process, and new anti-hazing rules have driven their Hell Week process underground, the veteran members of the fraternity begin implementing more and more vicious techniques to test he and his line brothers’ resolve.

The film was written by Christine Berg and Gerrard McMurray, who also directed it. It was produced by Netflix and Mandalay Pictures (among other, less notable companies). It stars Trevor Jackson, Alfre Woodard, Steve Harris, and a host of other name actors and up and comers in supporting roles. The film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and was later released exclusively on Netflix in March of the same year. It currently holds a more than respectable 88% on Rotten Tomatoes (based on just 26 critic reviews), but it has a rather puzzling Audience Score of just 59%, even though that score is based on only approximately 250 audience ratings. It has a 63 on Metacritic, but that’s only based on 7 reviews, and it only holds a 6.0/10 on IMDb, with only 3,000 reviews.

The story in Burning Sands is a familiar one, but what makes it stand apart from others that came before it, is the raw docu-drama style with which the film was shot. The plot points move quickly and rather predictably, but that’s to be expected in a film like this one. The characters felt real, and their personalities were chosen with great care, coming together as a collection of necessary ingredients in order for the film to ultimately make its point. The dialogue felt authentic, which allows you to be truly drawn into the predicament that the young men are facing as they pledge Lambda Phi. The finale of the film is as equally predictable as the rest of the film, but the ending is one that truly makes you walk away from the film having been changed by what you’ve seen.

There have only really been a handful of black films made that have broached the topic of frat culture at historically black colleges, Spike Lee’s School Daze, released in 1988, being the most popular. But those films all fail where “Burning Sands” succeeds: McMurray’s take on modern day pledging is unafraid to properly get down to the “nuts and bolts” of what pledging actually is. It’s the freshest take I’ve seen as it pertains to the growing sub-genre of films about the American college fraternity experience, sparking discussion about Greek letter organizations' and their obsession with bonding rituals and tradition as a way to both prepare for and criticize the world that exists beyond college. Gerald McMurray takes that feeling and places it where a lot of black men can better relate to it: a historically black college campus.

In this film, we watch the pledges be dehumanized, renamed and stripped of their individuality in order to present themselves as empty vessels into which the history and traditions of the Lambda Phi brotherhood can be poured. Hazing is illegal in all fifty states in this country. We all know that, but it's still very much a reality for a lot of college students who seek entrance into “Greek Life”. And while, McMurray doesn't rely on the weirdness, brutality or borderline torture that these experiences sometimes entail. Taking it literally underground—as many fraternities do by hazing pledges in basements where authorities cannot see or hear what's happening—wraps a shameful practice in a nice tidy metaphorical bow.

You can watch Burning Sands exclusively on Netflix with a paid subscription.