4000 Days

For journalists, one of the dangers of getting too close to a big story is that it might not let you go. Daniel E Catullo made his first film about hazing practices in US universities seven years ago, and he’s been returning to the subject ever since. Sandwiched in between other works, yet of sufficient quality to have made it to Tribeca, 4000 Days is a more personal take on the theme, looking at the long term consequences for families of losing young people this way. It also follows some of those families through their 4,000 day struggle to bring about legislative change.

Responsible for the deaths of over 300 students to date, fraternity hazing – often the point of entry into the US secret societies collectively known as ‘Greek life’ because of their adoption of Greek letters for their names – consists of various elements of ritual used to test newcomers’ willingness to be loyal to a social organisation. For most of their history these have centred on beer drinking and humiliation, but in recent years, as the documentary explains, they have come to incorporate increasingly dangerous behaviours. Catullo blames this partly on social media and the increased sharing of videos of rituals, leading to organisations trying to outdo each other. By far the most common cause of death, however, is alcohol poisoning. On entering university, many US students have little to no experience of alcohol, and rather than beer they are increasingly being presented with hard liquor.

Contrary to the spirit of brotherhood professed by these organisations, the stories here are of young men poisoned by their peers and then left alone to die. In one case a video shows cursory attempts to position an unconscious student so that he can safely be sick, but no-one appears to know what they’re doing. Medical help is summoned far too late. Then the cover-ups begin.

One of the attractions of fraternities is the networking opportunities they provide. With alumni high up in law, politics and related professions, they’re well placed to defend themselves, and when none of those present are willing to testify it can be difficult to prove exactly what happened. Where is the borderline between individual responsibility and social responsibility not to put somebody under undue pressure? How should factors like forced sleep deprivation and other forms of disorientation be accounted for? Even when it’s not discussed explicitly, one can hear in parents’ voices the additional pain that stems from being told their kids must have been ‘wild’ or self destructive. Some also talk of being personally blames – scapegoated, in effect, by a society unwilling to acknowledge any complicity of its own.

In such a climate, changing the law is no easy task. Catullo details the provisions of the REACH Act (requiring all hazing incidents to be reported) and the efforts of allies to get it through Congress on multiple occasions. The focus on the families means that we get a real sense of the emotional effort this took, as it forced them to engage continually with their worst memories, making it impossible to move on. We also see how the experience bonded them together (to extent fraternities might well envy), and it’s clear that Catullo himself feels a similarly close connection to them. Inevitably, this compromises the film in some ways. A sense of decreased objectivity is the price paid for intimacy and a wealth of acutely observed personal detail.

The families here show tremendous courage in exposing their still-raw feelings: memories of a little brother resting his head on the chest of a youth who lay dying in hospital; of the years of trying before a longed-for child was born, only for him to be lost far too soon; or the death of a young woman who left behind a two year old son. The specificity of it gives it power.

The same cannot be said for the national fraternities, with only one, Sigma Epsilon, willing to discuss the matter freely. Its approach remains flawed, but provides valuable insights and, by opening up a conversation, creates a way forward. Although they take part in other, adjacent protests, like young women’s anti-campus-rape protests, the parents are not looking for an end to the fraternity system, just for ways of keeping young people safe. Why is there resistance to that? This is where the film gets most interesting, as Catullo begins to look at who is making money from keeping things the way they are.

An important contribution to a still pertinent debate, 4000 Days is also a tribute to relentless campaigners, and a reminder of what ordinary people can achieve when they simply refuse to give up – perhaps because they have nothing left to lose.

Reviewed on: 11 Jun 2026