Actor Trevor Jackson plays main character Zurich Condoll in the movie “Burning Sands”. The Netflix original movie is a hard hitting drama focused on the perils of hazing and Greek Life. Photo fair use by Netflix.
By COLES EHLERS – Staff Writer
Burning Sands is a Netflix original movie released on Jan. 24. This drama has comedy, tragedy and several important messages.
Burning Sands is a drama focused around college student Zurich Condoll (Trevor Jackson) and the hazing he goes through in an attempt to join the prestigious African-American fraternity Lambda Phi, which is famous for its extreme hazing rituals. The men who join the fraternity go on to become the most powerful African-American men in the world.
He starts out with a group of his “line brothers” in the woods, while a Lambda Phi veteran yells at them and then beats them, breaking some of Condoll’s ribs. As the hazing continues throughout the week, it begins to affect Condoll’s school work, attitude, and relationships with people like Rochon (Imani Hakim), his girlfriend.
Eventually their relationship becomes too strained and Condoll is faced with a tough choice: the fraternity he’s dreamed about joining all his life or the girl he loves.
Throughout the movie, Condoll’s professor, Professor Hughes, (Alfre Woodard) tries to contact her increasingly distant student, who brushes off her questions. Condoll then tries to confide in his sponsor for the fraternity, Dean Richardson (Steve Harris), only to find that Richardson remembers a very different Lambda Phi than the current one. Condoll’s attempts to convince Richardson of the changes all fall flat and he is left on his own.
So, faced with a professor he doesn’t want to talk to, a paper he doesn’t want to write and a dean who won’t listen to him, Condoll goes to the final night of hazing called “Hell Night”, where he will have to make his final choice.
“Burning Sands” is a an excellently acted movie, especially by Alfre Woodard’s performance in the role of the professor. She gives the role real personality, and brings in the movies only real racial message; quotes of Frederick Douglass. For a movie where the only white characters are cops, racism is not featured, which is different from many movies focused around minorities.
Yet, it’s easy to forget quality performances delivered by the actors because of the excellent cinematography. The movie was beautifully filmed with wide shots, close ups and drone shoots.
Critics of the movie claimed the Lambda Phi brothers portrayed a negative stereotype of African-American men, as they are violent and sex-hungry. The viewer can draw their own conclusions from the movie, which may or may not be taken as a race piece.
“Burning Sands” is a great movie, with quality filming and acting. The movie does have a fair amount of violence, so while it may not be a family pick, it’s a great for adults or adolescents. Among, the generally disappointing Netflix originals, “Burning Sands” is a must-see diamond in the rough.
