Film Review - Burning Sands

The experience of fraternity pledging is usually depicted a certain way, putting heavy emphasis on the brutality of hazing rituals, which often push pledge minds and bodies to the breaking point, guaranteeing lasting loyalty. Rarely does a film showcase the initiation process as one of hearty exchanges and firm handshakes. “Burning Sands” is the latest in a long line of college disaster movies, but it manages to locate a few new avenues of humiliation to explore, taking in the choreographed barbarity of fraternity life at a black college, pitting the savagery of daily abuse against clearness of though provided by historical leaders who’ve truly gone through their own version of hell night. “Burning Sands” has a problem with formula and predictability, but it’s also distinct in its point of view, with co-writer/director Gerald McMurray creating terrific scenes of anxiety and confusion to help support a periodically disappointing feature. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com