Hacksaw Ridge (2016) Review

Hello everyone!

It's been a long time since I've done a movie review. Admittedly, I don't do very many - only on occasion, when I feel a movie deserves a full post. Well, the other week, I watched just such a movie, and I won't be able to get over it until I devote some time to explain how much I appreciated it. (Also, this post will be unashamedly littered with spoilers, so read at your own risk, or skip to the last 2 paragraphs.)

A brief summary of the plot: 

A true story of Private Desmond Doss, who won the Congressional Medal of Honour, even though he refused to bear arms during WWII on religious grounds. (He was dubbed a "Conscientious Objector", but preferred to be called a "Conscientious Cooperator".) During the bloodiest battle of WWII, he saved 75 men without firing a single shot. He was the only American soldier to fight on the front line without bearing a weapon. As an army medic, he single-handedly evacuated the wounded from behind enemy lines, braving the enemy fire. (He was even hit by snipers and wounded by a grenade!)

So first of all, no, this is not a horror movie - the title is eerie, I grant you, and the reason for it is also rather eerie. It's a war movie. It's also got a high rating (MA 15+ in Australia) for violence, for good reason. I will openly admit it was a violent movie, and not everyone's cup of tea. I do not enjoy watching violence, but I greatly dislike it if there is no particular reason for the movie to be violent, except to add "more excitement" or "intensity". No, thank you. But if it is a war movie, where the reasoning behind it is to give you a more realistic idea of what the people who serve go through, based off a real-life event... that I can handle. 

(To give you an idea of the level of gore we're looking at, Mel Gibson directed this movie - he also directed "Braveheart", "The Patriot", "The Passion of the Christ" etc... and this movie has also been compared with "Saving Private Ryan".)

So basically, if violence, even if it's a true story movie based on war-time settings, isn't your thing, this movie is not for you. But, if you can handle a bit of blood and gore, let me give you a few more reasons to watch this movie.

The main reason is because it's a true story! I read a bit more online about how close it was to what happened in real life, and it seems as though they were very accurate with their portrayal. Of course, there are always a few liberties taken - especially (in this case) with the romance between Desmond and his wife, but nothing dramatically different to the truth. And the main focus of the movie - when Desmond rescues 75 main, alone, on Hacksaw Ridge - is particularly intentional in every detail to be accurate. 

The story starts off giving you an overview of Desmond's life before the war. You see him fall in love with a girl, sign up for the army, and survive the brutal boot camp. You get a good picture of Desmond's character in this first section - he was a goofy, thoughtful fellow who didn't put much value on what others thought of him. (Can I add here that I really appreciated Andrew Garfield's portrayal? He played both the silly side and the intense, emotional side exceptionally well. And boy, did he have a ridiculously cute smile.) His romance with his wife - Dorothy - was sweet, although in parts not accurate to the true story. They were married, and stayed together for 49 years, until her death. 

It was difficult to watch his alcoholic father Elrond, but I guess that was the whole point. (Apparently, the movie exaggerated it, as his father wasn't abusive to his mother, nor was he that addicted to alcohol.) I spent ages trying to figure out where I had seen the mother, before realizing it was the lady who played the Aunt (/Mary Poppins) in Saving Mr. Banks. 

Sam Worthington, who played Captain Glover, is a household favourite of ours (hello, Aussie actors!) and it was great to see him in another role. He always makes the TV screen more pleasant to look at. :D

The first half of the film was basically a lead-up to the pivotal moment when one of his mates dies, and the entire army battalion have retreated and scaled down the dangerous ridge. Desmond stands at the top, hesitating. He couldn't bring himself to retreat when he knew so many of his fellow men were wounded, bleeding, and crying out in pain behind him. So he decided to run back behind the enemy lines, alone, dodging the bullets and grenades, and rescue the wounded. 

This was the most powerful part of the story. Desmond went back, slowly, one after another, dragging, pulling, carrying the wounded any way he could, attending to their wounds, then tying a rope around them and letting them down the side of the cliff. His hands were bloodied and raw, blood and mud covered his body, and sweat dripped down, but he prayed, desperately, "Just one more, Lord... just one more."

There's an article I read (it's fantastic - you can check it out here) where the real Desmond said he prayed "Lord, please help me get more and more, one more, until there [are] none left, and I'm the last one down."

He saved around 75 men, alone, within about 12 hours. 

It was truly incredible. Not only that, but the next day, they all went back up the ridge to fight again, and Desmond went with them. This time, he got badly wounded while protecting others. A grenade was thrown at them, and he kicked it out of the way, but it blew up and the impact shattered his leg and imbedded 70 pieces of shrapnel into his body (which gave him a life-long injury). Then, the men carried him on a stretcher, and while they were hurrying him back, they passed another injured man, crying out. Desmond slipped off the stretcher to help the injured man, and gave up the stretcher so they could carry him first. They eventually came back for him, and on the journey back he was also shot in the arm by a sniper. (There were so many other astounding, providential details - Mel Gibson actually left out some of these details in the film because he felt as though the audience would never believe it to be credible!)

The most disappointing factor was the ending for me (but even then, they made up for it). It ended with Desmond being rescued off the ridge and the other men lowering him down, just as he had done for the wounded. I wanted to see the after-war story, have a glimpse of the joyful reunion between Dorothy and Desmond, and see a little of their incredible life after the war. However, the film ended with photographs of the real people, and excerpts from interviews with the real-life Desmond Doss, and other people (including Captain Glover and some of Desmond's family members). So I guess I forgive them.

Not only was this film wonderfully produced, I was a better person for seeing it. It's a bit like what the movie and book "Unbroken" did for me, about Louis Zamperini; it reminded me of why I put my trust in God. It helped me realize how God can raise up men and women of valour in this day and age - people of faith, not just people from the Bible. Just because we live in the 21st century doesn't mean we are not to have the boldness and faith like Joshua or Esther or David did.

It also reminded me how important conviction is, and not only to have a conviction, but to live it. To live for what you know is true, and, by God's grace, to have the courage and strength to carry it out... that is the message that I took from this movie. And I think any movie that reminds you of truth, is a movie worth watching. :)