Andrew Garfield Sam Worthington Vince Vaughn Hugo Weaving Rachel Griffiths Teresa Palmer
You
are not surprised in a Mel Gibson movie to begin with the fiery fields of war. That’s how Hacksaw Ridge starts, along with
a voice-over of a sermon. After
that, we’re introduced to the Doss family, first the two brothers Desmond and
Hal in horseplay and climbing on cliffs.
Then the father Tom (Weaving) with PTSD, alcoholism, and abusiveness and
mother Bertha (Griffiths).
Although Tom received medals of honor after his service in WWI, he is
bitter about losing his comrades on the battlefield. To his horror, both his sons sign up for WWII, Desmond
(Garfield) wanting to go as a medic because of his conscientious objection to taking
up arms. (To the film’s credit,
clear lines are drawn connecting this belief to his religion as Seventh Day
Adventist, to his father’s abuse of his mother, and to the guilt he feels after
almost killing his brother by hitting him in the head with a brick.)
Just before he signs up, Desmond falls in love
with a nurse at the hospital after he has saved a man’s life with a tourniquet
after an accident. He’s trying to
retrieve the belt he used in the save, and Nurse Dorothy (Palmer), who is
drawing blood from donors, agrees to get it for him, especially after he offers
to donate. Love quickly turns into
an engagement, and Dorothy gives him her personal Bible and a picture of
herself in bidding him goodbye at the train station as he leaves for boot camp.
Boot camp is a major test of Desmond’s
beliefs. He is taunted, beaten up,
and called a coward, and the army tries to get him disqualified for psychiatric
reasons. He tries to argue that he
is a “conscientious cooperator”
rather than an objector, but the brass do not get the distinction. Finally, he faces a court martial when
his father comes through with a letter from a brigadier general saying he has a
right to his beliefs and that he is to be trained as a medic.
By this time, some of his superiors, like
Sargeant Howell (Vaughn) and fellow privates are starting to respect him
somewhat. But little do any of
them know how he will prove himself on the battlefield using ingenious methods
and extraordinary persistence to save 75 soldiers in three battles on aptly
named Hacksaw Ridge that took away most of his unit. (We “get” to see all three in detail, since Gibson doesn’t
seem to know when to stop.) The
film is based on a true story, and Desmond Doss was later awarded the Medal of
Honor for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action” for his bravery in
Okinawa in 1945.
Hacksaw
Ridge should be commended for showing the effects of war both during the
time of battle and afterwards, for showing that one doesn’t have to have a gun
to be brave, and for highlighting the extraordinary military service of one
individual, Medic Desmond Doss.
Director Mel Gibson is clearly a talented filmmaker,
who grasps the essence of a major story and turns it into a film that captures
your attention. In this, he is
clearly helped by cinematographer Simon Duggan, accomplished in focusing in on
sensitive human exchanges and using special effects for battle scenes. He is also helped by Garfield, Weaving,
and Griffiths bringing just the right dramatic tone to their characters,
especially Garfield, who plays the modest but intelligent rube
masterfully.
A startling work about the heroics of a
conscientious medic in war.
