Review of Hacksaw Ridge (2016) by Lauren L — 26 Mar 2017

Despite a slow and sometimes awkward beginning, the movie paints a more than colourful portrayal of the US advance in Okinawa equalling the brutality and intensity of Saving Private Ryan. Although thoroughly absorbing, it struggles in surrounding the pivotal moment of the film - when medic Desmond Doss miraculously lowers more than 70 wounded soldiers to safety from a battlefield cliff edge - with enough background to make it truly fulfilling.

This is in contrast to Eastwood's Letters to Iwo Jima which offers more substance and less filler. All the same, it's an absolute must see for war picture advocates. And it's another reminder of the stunning sacrifices made by our elders to preserve the freedom that many in the west are currently treating so frivolously.