Hacksaw Ridge (2016) Directed by Mel Gibson. Starring: Andrew Garfield, Teresa Palmer, Sam Worthington. IMDB says: “WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first Conscientious Objector in American history to be awarded the Medal of Honor.”
Hacksaw Ridge was the nickname for a World War II battlefield in Japan, it was so bloody and devastating in lives lost. It would be an even deadlier scene if not for Desmond Doss, a medic who single handedly rescued around 75 injured soldiers left on the field when they were forced to retreat. Still under threat of active Japanese soldiers in the area he went back again and again to rescue the wounded and lower them down by rope off the ridge, administering life-saving treatments as he went over the course of hours. All this achieved without a weapon or an intention of using one, even if it meant death.
Doss was a devoted Seventh Day Adventist, who went to war as a conscientious objector who refused to fire or even hold a gun because of his belief in not taking another human’s life. Instead he was resolute in saving lives as a medic. His courage and faith inspired him to keep returning into danger to save lives because he truly thought it was the right thing to do. He won the medal of honor without raising arms.
The movie Hacksaw Ridge is a glowing showcase for Doss and a brutal depiction of the horrors of warfare. After watching Saving Private Ryan and other WWII films you’d think you might be desensitized to images of war and carnage but this still feels shocking. Mel Gibson’s visceral direction is unwavering and pointed in showing you gory scenes of torn apart bodies and gnarly wounds. It is hard to focus your eyes on it because you know that level of violence happened and so many young people lost lives (and still do).
Andrew Garfield transforms into Doss in a naturalistic way that shows his sweet nature and idealism, even his hokey innocence. The film starts on his childhood as a son of a WWI veteran dealing with serious trauma and alcoholism, and moves into Doss’s early 20’s where he’s a gentle and eager young man falling in love and enlisting to the horror of his father. The more melodramatic, biopic notes happen while he’s at basic training and fighting the system that was resisting someone who refused to completely participate. He was seen as a coward and holier-than-thou and the movie shows his struggles in a way that positions him as an underdog. It’s an abrupt shift in the movie when he’s deployed to Japan, and the battlefield is the foreground. The filmmaking is full of confusion and rapid pacing as you feel surrounded on all sides by violence. When it turns to the main showcase of Doss’s incredible rescue efforts, it feels like a superhuman achievement. It’s the second half of the movie that really makes it, turning the more basic biopic notes in the beginning scenes into meaningful conclusions in the second.
Hacksaw Ridge definitely has pronounced religious themes with lots of metaphorical imagery but in a broader sense it is about the courage of conviction, which I think anyone can admire. It is about bravery and the value of human life. It has heavy war action that will make it one of the bloodier entries in the genre, but it comes down to the story of someone who, while for the overall goal of this particular war, is against the practice of war itself. All the intense violence in the movie highlights that ideal instead of glorifying war. It feels sincere and is about a remarkable person deserving of the biopic treatment.
FTS SCORE: 84%
Hacksaw Ridge is currently in theaters nationwide.