“What, you figure this war is going to fit in with you, your ideas?”
It feels as though a number of comic-book superheroes could be based on the true life story of Desmond T. Doss (Andrew Garfield) who displays more than just the ideals of morality as he signs up as a medic to help against the battles of WW2. However, his strong will to help others and his firm faith means he’s soon coming into conflict with the army; for his determined that as a medic he doesn’t need to take lives. Problem is no one else agrees with him, for as his father states, it’s going to be impossible for Doss to survive in the army as he isn’t like ‘everybody else’. Starting with his refusal to bear arms – he won’t hurt anyone even if it means he’ll be beaten blue himself.
Based on a true story, and inspired by the 2004 documentary The Conscientious Objector, the film isn’t laden with false stories of saving privates named Ryan, and monstrous men the heroes will eventually defeat – it doesn’t need to be. Its story is astounding enough not to be fictionalised, and truly heartfelt – its focus being about staying true to yourself and the strength this can hold. In a current world of peer pressure, trolling, and a general lack of trying to walk in another’s shoes, it’s beautiful to see someone who optimises the opposite. For though Doss faces an onslaught of bullying and pressure by his peers into dropping his beliefs, he won’t let them win.
Another difference to many war films is that half of this movie focuses on the events in Doss’s life, concentrating on moments that have brought him to have such strong convictions and why he won’t be swayed from them – for if he did it would be an act of betrayal against himself, and that’s something he just can’t afford. For as a young boy he acted out in a moment of rage, causing him to feel the weight of the bible’s commandment: ‘thou shalt not kill’. Raised in a home of abuse and with the past act of his own, Doss comes to appal anything violent, which brings him into wanting to do his part in the war; to fight against its brutality. Another powerful moment in Doss’s life is when he jumps to rescue a hurt boy; his quick actions having saved him, and in this his eyes are opened to the soldiers lying hurt in the hospital and most importantly to their recovery.
Emphasising the fact that Doss was real and not a piece fictional writing, Hacksaw Ridge shows him not to be a hard-lined hero who was buffed and longing for action, but a kind and simple-natured man, who at times is much like the character Forrest Gump; seeing the best in what’s around him while marvelling at the world. Although it’s going to get a lot darker as he leaves behind the tranquil countryside of his hometown, and heads to the battlefields of Okinawa, Japan. Adding to what Doss risks in going to war, the film explores the endearingly sweet love story that unfolds between him and Dorothy (Teresa Palmer), a nurse from his hometown. The romance isn’t lustful, but almost comedic and innocent as Doss is shown to be a walking newbie in the ways of romancing. Being just as unsure of himself as he is in ungainly in his actions leaves you doubting as to his success, but, as with his later resolve in the war – he’s not to be undermined.
Andrew Garfield is superb in the role of Doss, pulling you into the film’s setting and to being empathetically endeared to his easy going and persevering Doss, while Hugo Weaving, who plays his father Tom, manages to balance a perfect line of a broken man against his acts of violence. Leaving you to meet him with a degree of sympathy and tears – the trauma of his first world war experiences shouting as a warning to what will happen for the next generation.
In focusing so heavily on Doss, Hacksaw Ridge looses the individual members who become more caricatures in memory, and lack that degree of connection. Only Vince Vaughn, who plays the harsh Sgt Howell really stands out, his character being different to most Vaughn has played, and with the seriousness of the role suiting him. It’s also thanks to the nicknames his character gives to the squad that they’re faces have any degree of being recognised on the field. In choosing not to giving them individual stories of any depth, they lack a dimension of relatability or reality, and as such the audience isn’t given a chance to be attached to them. But perhaps this is for good reason, capturing the sense that Doss really owes them nothing, especially following their cruel attempts to push him out, and so it makes his actions that much greater.
When the film finally reaches its namesake of ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ – a large plateau reached only by a sheer rock-face – it doesn’t feel as if you’ve waited half the length of the movie to get there. What hits you right away is its ominous form and the fact that it lives up to its reputation as a place of death. The audience soon being thrown into gunfire, explosions, bayoneting and repeat, repeat, repeat, which, without the earlier build-up would make it harder to feel the weight Doss is carrying – being unprotected and heading into the fray to shield those who’ve been unkind. But in having the film’s earlier build-up of his beliefs, along with the physical and mental demands put upon him, you can start to feel the pressure he has to succeed and his amazing ability to forgive – something that would otherwise suffocate and bury anyone else.
The only pretentious part of the film is the ridiculous iconography at the end; a hero stretched out below an open sky, his arms falling to the side, and in this it feels somewhat close to religious symbolism, and for a man who was humble and modest, it felt a little out of taste.
Hacksaw Ridge is a mile away from any other war film, with its narrative being on kindness and that it’s okay to be more than a little like Doss.
Director: Mel Gibson
Other notable works:
- Carrier 2008
- Braveheart 1993
Writer: Robert Schenkkan
Other notable works:
- All The Way 2016
- The Pacific 2010
Writer: Andrew Knight
Other notable works:
- Ali’s Wedding 2017
- Rake 2010-2018
Based on the documentary The Conscientious Objector by Terry Benedict
