Review of Hacksaw Ridge (2016) by Armando G — 26 Feb 2017

Hacksaw Ridge is a good film, but too uneven to be a great film. There is noticeable talent at work both in front of and behind the camera. It has received a total of 6 Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Director (Mel Gibson), Actor (Andrew Garfield), Editing, Sound Mixing, and Sound Editing. Noticeably, and rightfully, not among those nominations is the screenplay by Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan, which is by far the clunkiest element in an otherwise well-made, well-acted war film.

It seems like a paradox that a movie about a pacifist should be so bloody and gory, but the incredible true story of Desmond Doss, the first conscientious objector to win the Congressional Medal of Honor, is exactly that. Doss saved the lives of 75 fellow soldiers at the gruesome Battle of Okinawa in 1945 without even carrying a gun. Andrew Garfield plays Doss, a Seventh Day Adventist who enlisted as a combat medic during World War II, despite his vow to never touch a gun or take a life. His beliefs and refusal to use a weapon-not even for target practice-does not win any favor with his army superiors or fellow soldiers.

There are two distinct halves to Hacksaw Ridge: Doss's life and experiences stateside at home in Virginia and at basic training, and the Battle of Okinawa. It isn't just Doss's religious beliefs that compel him to never use firearms. We see him as a child nearly kill his brother with a brick during a fight. There is also his troubled, abusive, alcoholic father, Tom, an emotionally and psychologically scarred veteran of WWI, played with a superb performance by Hugo Weaving. A brighter side of his life in Virginia is his sweet romance with a nurse named Dorothy, played by Teresa Palmer. They marry and he enlists in the army. If there were so many people taking life in the war, Doss thought, then he would be one person saving life. The movie stops just shy of making Doss into a saint thanks to Garfield's performance. He makes Doss a believable person of strong conviction and goodwill.

When Doss arrives at basic training we meet characters with names like: Vito, Tex, Hollywood, Smitty, and Grease. You might think that Hacksaw Ridge accidentally used the screenplay of a war movie from the 1940's or 50's that would've been clichéd then. There is scene after scene of ham-fisted dialogue of people underestimating Doss, then realizing that they had him all wrong. It's a bit much, but just as soon as you're ready to write off Hacksaw Ridge, it wins you back, usually thanks to one of the great performances. It's at basic training that we meet Vince Vaughn (the lone American in a cast of Brits and Australians) as Doss's tough and serious but somehow hilarious sergeant. It's a role that is perfect for Vaughn. He's great at delivering amusing insults to the new recruits but his stern face and formidable stature, especially when confronting the slender Andrew Garfield-Vaughn is 6'5" after all-make him quite intimidating. Like Doss, he's a character you believe because of the talent of the performer.

Hacksaw Ridge really shines in its second half at the Battle of Okinawa and the skillful direction of Mel Gibson takes the film to another level. Frantic, hellish, and horrific violence and battle sequences are what he excels at, but he never loses the underlying humanity that the first half of the film builds. The scenes set in Virginia are also well done, but only Gibson could craft the second half of this movie. Doss spends three days on the battlefield, day and night, finding wounded and dying soldiers and taking each one to safety by lowering them down a steep cliff one by one. Each time, Doss asks God to help him get one more. This film revels in blood and guts but it does not glorify or make war seem adventurous. It makes war look dirty and gross and frightening and bloody and scary and awful.

I'm perplexed that the movie telling the true story of Desmond Doss is steeped in war movie clichés. It's almost frustrating. These clichéd scenes with stiff, uncreative dialogue occur throughout the movie. It is the excellently shot battle scenes and great performances from Andrew Garfield, Vince Vaughn, and Hugo Weaving that make the film substantial. Despite its flaws, Hacksaw Ridge has enough quality moments and performances to make it well worth watching.