This movie definitely is no pleasant entertainment, it slaps you right in the face and belly, it's unsettling and at many points utterly repulsive. Yet it's also fascinating, honest in its meaning (at least so it seemed to me) and very well made and acted.
In this story (based on true facts) we follow two brothers to college, the one (Brett) already has a place in a very sought-after fraternity, the other (Brad) is (although reluctant) persuaded by his brother to apply for the same fraternity. For this he needs to partake in a hazing-process together with a group of other applicants.
The next hour or so we witness this process. In what is called hell-week they are bullied, stripped, beaten, degraded, exhausted, filled up to nausea with liquor, covered with mud and excrements and urinated upon, one terrifying experience after another. It's appalling to see how far these hazings go and how the board and administration turn a blind eye, evidently for the same reason as the fraternity-brothers year after year repeat these hazings: because it's "tradition". Things deteriorate to the point that one of the group dies, supposedly by heart-failure due to the physical and psychological stress, and that's when Brad throws in the towel, joined and supported by his brother.
This movie rests in my opinion on three major pillars: the overwhelming power of social pressure; the relation between the brothers, where in the end their love prevails over that social pressure; and the right to be yourself, even if that is someone who is not as brave as you would hope to be. This is all very convincingly brought by director Andrew Neel, not only with unrelenting realism in the harsh hazing-scenes but also with insight and compassion in the more reflective scenes between the brothers. Ben Schnetzer and Nick Jonas as the brothers are both outstanding.
It was a tough ride to see this movie but it was also a very rewarding experience that lingered in my mind for a long time. I rank it a heartfelt 10.
In this story (based on true facts) we follow two brothers to college, the one (Brett) already has a place in a very sought-after fraternity, the other (Brad) is (although reluctant) persuaded by his brother to apply for the same fraternity. For this he needs to partake in a hazing-process together with a group of other applicants.
The next hour or so we witness this process. In what is called hell-week they are bullied, stripped, beaten, degraded, exhausted, filled up to nausea with liquor, covered with mud and excrements and urinated upon, one terrifying experience after another. It's appalling to see how far these hazings go and how the board and administration turn a blind eye, evidently for the same reason as the fraternity-brothers year after year repeat these hazings: because it's "tradition". Things deteriorate to the point that one of the group dies, supposedly by heart-failure due to the physical and psychological stress, and that's when Brad throws in the towel, joined and supported by his brother.
This movie rests in my opinion on three major pillars: the overwhelming power of social pressure; the relation between the brothers, where in the end their love prevails over that social pressure; and the right to be yourself, even if that is someone who is not as brave as you would hope to be. This is all very convincingly brought by director Andrew Neel, not only with unrelenting realism in the harsh hazing-scenes but also with insight and compassion in the more reflective scenes between the brothers. Ben Schnetzer and Nick Jonas as the brothers are both outstanding.
It was a tough ride to see this movie but it was also a very rewarding experience that lingered in my mind for a long time. I rank it a heartfelt 10.