Hacksaw Ridge 2016

     This film takes place at the beginning of WWII with some family history from an earlier time.  Seventh-day Adventist Desmond T. Doss has seen a lot of fighting in his family because his father is an alcoholic.  He feels he needs to join the Army after the events at Pearl Harbor but he’s a contentious objector.  He wants to serve as an Army Medic but he cannot carry a gun or kill other human beings.  U.S. Army Corporal Doss was in the Battle of Okinawa during the bloodiest engagement of WWII against the Japanese.

      There is extremely graphic war violence in this film.  A lot of different types of battle injuries are shown during the attack on Hacksaw Ridge.  I always wonder why there isn’t more bombardment by the heavy guns on the battleships at sea using 16” guns?  Wouldn’t the losses of men on the ground be reduced?  Doss gets a beating by his fellow soldiers during basic training because he caused the denial of liberty passes.  A lot of racist terms are used such as Japs and Nips.  Of course, war is brutal but some of the graphic violence could have been slightly toned down.  It’s as if there are two sections to this film.  One person is standing for his beliefs and unable to turn away from them.  War is shown as a character builder, it brings out friendships among the men and it’s noble and brings out grit.  But isn’t this same war hell??  The area of Hacksaw Ridge is also knows as the Maeda Escarpment.

139 min, Bio directed by Mel Gibson with Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Richard Pyros, Jacob Warner, Milo Gibson, Darcy Bryce, Roman Guerriero, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths, Teresa Palmer, Vince Vaughn, James Lugton, Nathaniel Buzolic, Bill Young.

Note:  Imdb 8.2 out of 10, 87% critic 92% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2 ½*, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 2130 Video reviews and 2138 DVD reviews, The Guardian 3* out of 5*.

Special Note:  Filmed in Camden, Southern Highlands, Richmond and Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina.  In the 1950’s, Hal B. Wallis tried to buy this story from Desmond T. Doss and he hoped Audie Murphy would star.  Doss didn’t want his story to be turned into a typical Hollywood movie.