Review of Hacksaw Ridge (2016) by Jennie H — 16 Mar 2017

Mel Gibson is back. His latest feature is a beautiful outing that proves that all a faith-based film needs to work for everyone, religious or not, is a sense of heart and a general respect towards universal human values.

Through thick and thin, Desmond Doss perseveres with every fiber of his being: in his case, it's faith that guides him in particular, but it shows that just caring about our fellow humans really can make a difference.

So much of why Doss works as a character is the way Andrew Garfield portrays him: with a heavy Virginian accent and a boyish charm, he's an immediately loveable soul, and you immediately relate to his unfaltering desire to "save one more.

" This is far and away some of Garfield's finest work as an actor. Gibson himself proves that not even a decade long hiatus has weakened his sensibilities as a director. The juxtaposition of a faith-based story against the sheer brutality of World War II is almost poetic, all without the violence ever seeming gratuitous.

The battle sequences in the second half are certainly gruesome (the squeamish should probably avoid this one), but it never feels like it's there for shock value or to try to push boundaries of how graphic a film can get: it's simply an extension of the themes of this utterly beautiful story of the human spirit.